Yes, I really am sitting here in 95 degree heat thinking about winter.

A little history first. My condo is part of a three unit building. From the front, if there was only one front door it would look like any run-of-the-mill 2 storey brick, 40s suburban home. Built in the late 40s it started life as three 2 bedroom apartments. Living, dining, kitchen downstairs. Upstairs, bath over the kitchen and 2 bedrooms over the living and dining areas. There is a porch on the front with 2 front doors and on the right side of the building, another porch and front door. Hence 3 apartments.

This large development of apartments covers a 6 block or so area. Some buildings have 2 units, some have 4 or 6. Collections of other apartments and single family houses were built nearby. And the shopping center was also built at the same time.

In the mid-80s this section of apartments was converted to condos. To offer different price points, my building remained 3 units, the one on the right side has 3 bedrooms, the middle (mine) has 1 bedroom and the left side has 2 bedrooms (the original configuration). I do not own the bedroom on the back side of the upstairs,the bedroom over my dining area. The attic upstairs was divided up the same way, meaning each unit has an attic entrance to a private space. The crawl space underneath has one common entrance. Meaning someone can crawl under any of the three units. The side units were given duct work and heat pumps. My unit was given 2 “hotel/motel’ units. One up in the bedroom and one down in the dining area.

My first husband and I bought the condo (second owners after it became a condo) in the late 80s. We bought it as a temporary home after moving back to Raleigh from Wilmington. We lived in it for 18 months or so. Then it became rental property. When Ben and I moved back from Italy, we had the property remodeled to accomodate his needs. And moved in to live.

During this remodel some insulation was added. All the windows were replaced. The HVAC was replaced. Because the upstairs bedroom doesn’t have a straight line thru the attic to the back, ductwork could not be run. That meant that upstairs retained the “hotel/motel” unit and while the one downstairs was removed and replaced with a mini-split heat pump. (If you are not familiar with this, there is an air handler mounted high on the wall that blows heat or AC. No ductwork) I was not happy about that. The downstairs is a large open space. The kitchen at the far end was never properly heated or cooled. So much so that I stopped using the oven from June thru August to cut back on the heat in that space. And on cold winter mornings would turn the oven on, just to heat up that space. I complained to every HVAC person who came to work on it. For YEARS I complained. “No there was nothing that could be done”

After last winter’s unusual cold I had had enough. In February I went online and found a service offered by my electricity company called “Find It Duke” (yes there is Duke Power and Duke University). I wanted to see about getting the underneath of our building insulated. The two side units still have the original wooden floors. I have tile. (easier to roll a wheel chair) The tile is like an ice cube in the winter. (don’t even get Guppy started about that). I wanted 2 estimates. One for doing just my bit underneath. And one for doing the whole building, figuring we could split the cost 3 ways. “Find It Duke” gave me 4 names of contractors, saying they would get in contact. I waited 10 days. Nothing. So I called and was able to get in touch with 3 who came out and gave me quotes. One, spent a huge amount of time videoing under the buliding and said they would get back to me. Never heard from them again. The entrance to the crawl space is small.

So small that many folks can not fit in it.

The second group said that there was mold that needed to be sprayed, the old insulation pulled out and new put in and the space encapsulated. It was $6000 to do that just for me. But if my space is encapsulated then no one else can get to the space under their unit.

The third group wanted to spray foam the walls and underneath. I don’t even remember how much that was going to be.

I was pondering my choices when I saw an article in the News and Disturber about the NC Energy Savers Program. https://www.energysavernc.org/ Because I live in an expensive county to live in and because it is income based, rather than asset based, I qualified for program. A whole house inspection, lots of paperwork, a new contractor to give an estimate and work happened.

Sam from One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning

https://www.onehourheatandair.com/raleigh-durham/

figured out a way to get a mini-split upstairs so the “hotel/motel” unit could be removed. And he sized the downstairs unit so that the kitchen is cool too. (I have broken the hard and fast rule and turned on the oven in June. And did not suffer) And both of them are so quiet. And they put insulation under the house and in the attic.

The blow-in insulation under way.

So for the first time in the over 35 years that I have owned this place I am happy with HVAC here. I am comfortable. I know this winter I will be warm. And I did not have to sell my soul or take out a loan to pay for it.

photo credit Sam Ferrel

Thank you to the State of North Carolina for having this program. Thank you to Sam and all the folks at One Hour for thinking outside the box and coming up with a solution.