<p>You can also save time by getting a good book that explains this stuff and being familiar beyond what you can find online.</p>
<p>I found that a company that had a scheduler who liked to yak and was knowledgeable saved me a lot of money. It isn’t just the person does the bid and onsite work that has to be considered.</p>
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<p>sorry, I have five workers on site this am doing three different projects. and I have to keep going out to say: please, do you remember what we discussed? yes, that IS what I want. thank you thank you thank you (for doing what we agreed :()</p>
<p>so, if you really want the renovation and you are in a financial position to afford a contractor you already trust to do the job right and to your specifications (and this is not necessarily a question of how much you are willing to spend, but the individual - again I guess everyone knows this but me!) I would just pay more than it is “worth” to get it done as easily as possible and to get moved in and settled.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>“sorry, I have five workers on site this am doing three different projects. and I have to keep going out to say: please, do you remember what we discussed? yes, that IS what I want. thank you thank you thank you (for doing what we agreed )”</p>
<p>On my last project…I was doing that constantly…a little annoying…but there are fewer mistakes…</p>
<p>alh, I do like the contractor and my wife would agree with you.</p>
<p>“^^True but you get hot water fast everywhere in the house. My kitchen is at the opposite end from the water heater.”</p>
<p>Our hot water heater is in the garage, and we get instant hot water in the kitchen (which is really far away) because we have a recirculator. I prefer any unit that holds a lot of hot water under a great deal of pressure to be as far from my living spaces as possible. </p>
<p>dstark, have you looked into individual heaters for each room? They are not your parents’ baseboard heaters! Ditto for tankless water heating systems. Since you are renovating your house, you might look into what the 21st century technology might offer.</p>
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<p>^^I could really use this info. Do you have links or a name I could google? Thank you!</p>
<p>All that has been suggested to me is the sort of large units you see in motels.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree tankless is the way to go if you are on city water (and it is in your budget). With well water, there may be concerns.</p>
<p>alh. I will have to look in the pile of brochures that we brought home from a home show. I remember seeing several types of such things. </p>
<p>dstark, if you are not in a hurry to do a remodel, visit several home shows and street of dreams type of places to get some ideas. This is how my H got his TV in the master bathroom and I got my Euro-style mirror :)</p>
<p>^^sorry to be a bother,
but do you remember anything that wasn’t larger than 6"x12" ?</p>
<p>I might go tankless…that is not an issue for me…</p>
<p>We aren’t going to take too much time deciding because of varying reasons…</p>
<p>^^ I am sorry to say that whether you like it or not, moving gas heater into the garage from upstairs is not a good idea. Major duct works. It should be on the attic, in your case, where the duct work is already done. IMO. Millions of houses had done that, it should not be a problem.</p>
<p>Gas or electric room heaters are good, but the dry wall work is not a joke and its very messy.</p>
<p>ok…the contractor is coming today…</p>
<p>i’m open to putting the heater in the attic…or the garage or</p>
<p>might not do anything.</p>
<p>“dry wall work is not a joke and its very messy”</p>
<p>Actually, sheetrocking is a piece of cake compared to many other home improvenment projects - it is not a joke, but even I can do it. Been there, done that. The mirror install required a lot of drywall removal and reinstallation. It is not much messier than painting.</p>
<p>Sorry, alh, I have not seen any heater that small (6 inches X 1 foot).</p>
<p>^^ we are not talking about a small patch, which I do it myself as well. This is like to rewire the house over. You need new gas pipes or new 240v service to each room, not a pretty scene.</p>
<p>I am not talking about a small patch :)</p>
<p>Overflow pans overflow–living proof here. Nothing like it dripping (flowing) into your closet–thank goodness I caught it fast. The AC guy installed two safety switches (like he said used to be standard and then companies got cheap about them). I simply can’t believe people put hot water heaters in the attic–simply a nightmare when one goes as they are bound to.</p>
<p>We used to have our HVAC outside under an overhang. Replaced it with an HVAC just inside from the old unit in a closet but the can is still outside. Water is pumped via plastic tubing to the sewer line.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine that you need much heat in your part of the country. Do you have a space adjacent to the house where you could put it. Is the garage attached?</p>
<p>Thank you, BunsenBurner</p>
<p>I agree with you re. sheet rock: It is possible to do it (or have it done) with minimal sanding and mess …
and it is possible to have your whole house full of dust, in everything and on everything. This is a fact I can swear to. :)</p>
<p>Hot water heaters in the attic: I haven’t heard of this.</p>
<p>hvac in the attic: Very common but I don’t know why. I think because it is easiest for the installers. Our brand new system had an improperly installed drain line. The overflow pan filled and the system did cut off. It was a pain to access the unit to even tell what was wrong. They wanted to just give us a bucket to drain the line into where it ended down in the crawl space under the house. This would have happened if I hadn’t crawled under the house to see what was up and insist they make the line go into one of the drains that end up on the exterior of the house.</p>
<p>I had asked the contractor and the hvac installers to put it in a closet that was especially designed for that purpose. I wasn’t on site when the installation happened. I was on site to tell them they couldn’t leave the outside units in exactly the wrong place, but that they had to follow the plans I could see, right there in plain sight, in the bag with their tools.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, yes, we actually need a heater; although, I try not to use it that much.</p>
<p>It doesn’t get too cold. Nothing like NH. Usually it doesn’t snow. The temperature almost never gets in the teens. </p>
<p>The garage is attached, and that is a possibility where the gas heater and water heater can go.</p>
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<p>One of ours is in the attic. If it ever needs to be replaced we will have to tear out the ceiling!</p>
<p>A good friend had a hot water heater in the attic and a pipe ruptured and destroyed a good bit of her house.</p>
<p>Regarding the C part of HVAC, how do you exhaust the hot air?</p>
<p>I have a separate outdoor air conditioning unit. I have no idea how it works. It doesn’t get that hot here. On the few days it does get hot, I was not really planning on using the air conditioning. I am looking forward to the hotter days.</p>