House Thoughts #2

Some things about our house that we could be improved... dare I say CONS. I'll try not to defend, rank, or judge any of the following issues in an attempt to just lay out some facts (no promises though).

1. No central air - the swamp cooler just doesn't cut it July and August. I'm not going to say that it's unbearable, but if it's 100 degrees outside, it's 80 degrees in the house. There are 3 air ducts where the cooler blows in rather than only one as in most houses with swamp coolers.
   
   • One of the main related issues here is that our house doesn't have air ducts so installing a traditional central air system isn't really possible. We did, however, recently talk to an HVAC company about an A/C system that doesn't require duct work.
     
2. No forced air furnace - our house has a boiler with baseboard radiators in the rooms (not the old fashioned cast iron radiators). This one will be tough to not defend because there are a number of benefits to this system. Maybe I'll just list a few to get the defending out of the way:
   
   • I've been told by a number of professionals that a boiler is actually the most efficient way to heat your house. A lot of high efficiency homes use a boiler with in-floor heating.
     
   • A boiler is a simple device that just heats water. A boiler can last a long time unlike an electric furnace (I will say that our furnace is 24 years old).
     
   • A forced air furnace creating and circulates a lot of dust.
     
   • A boiler produces an even heat that allows your house temperature to stay more even as opposed to heat from a furnace that comes on for a while and then turns off.
   Done defending, back to the facts. Because boilers aren't the norm, it's been difficult to find a good/knowledgeable company to service the boiler (luckily I've solved this issue by finding Tingey Plumbing).
   
3. No real yard and the one we do have isn't fenced. This wasn't ever an issue/concern, and was actually rather nice, until we had kids. The need for a place for the boys to run around, be secured, and leave all their stuff laying around is definitely a real need for us now.
4. 2200 sq. ft. seems a lot smaller these days. Again, not an issue until the boys showed up and probably wouldn't be an issue if our house was laid out differently. Our house is very open. Our main floor is essentially one space so without any doors. As such, the entire main floor has turned into a giant kid room with toys everywhere.

More to follow