My house is very big and extremely old.
When we bought the house, my husband and I realized that we’d need to make a ton of updates.
The previous owner had done nothing to modernize the home. The electrical wires and plumbing were around fifty years old. The furnace was at least twenty years old, and there was no central air conditioning installed. The walls and ceilings were still constructed of the old plaster and lathe, with zero insulation. All of the appliances were positively ancient. We weren’t quite sure where to begin. We couldn’t afford to do all of the projects at once. We decided to prioritize safety and hired an electrician. For the sake of accessibility, we tore the walls and ceilings down to the bare studs. This made it easy for the electrician and also allowed us to add insulation. Realizing this was the perfect time to make improvements to the plumbing and duct system, we hired a plumber and HVAC contractor as well. The plumber informed us that the hot water heater needed to be replaced immediately. Hoping to avoid a ruptured tank and flooding, we bought a new tank. The HVAC contractor recommended a new furnace. He said that the existing heating system was a health hazard, safety risk and terribly inefficient. By upgrading to a high-efficiency furnace, we’d save a tremendous amount of money on heating bills. Since we were already taking out a loan to purchase the new furnace, we went ahead and included air conditioning. It only made sense to handle both of these installations at the same time. Although our project continued to grow and become more costly, we significantly improved the comfort, safety and efficiency of our home.