My house was built in '72 (3 br, 2 1/2 bath). The original owner
added a 2 story addition (top part was addition to the master
bedroom). Unfortunately, he didn't put in a new furnace to take care
of the extra sq. footage. When we bought the house in '04, we put in
a new furnace (1 zone) to take care of the 3100 sq. ft. My problem is
that the master bedroom is on the top floor at the end of the house
and furtherest away from the furnace (bottom floor, opposite end). It
is always the hottest or the coldest room in the house. I've got 2
ceiling fans to help with air flow, but it's darn cold in there in the
winter. Oh, and the guy put in 4 skylights in the addition where the
bed is. We've replaced 2 of them due to the fact that he didn't put
the flashing in correctly and the old ones leaked during Gaston in
04. That's when the repair people found the on-going leaking.

My question is: Considering this guy was a DIYer who had wonderful
ideas but his implementation sucked BIG time, what can I do before I
call in the pros and spend big bucks? I have a feeling he didn't wire
things right or that maybe the duct work isn't right.

JD wrote:
My house was built in '72 (3 br, 2 1/2 bath). The original owner
added a 2 story addition (top part was addition to the master
bedroom). Unfortunately, he didn't put in a new furnace to take care
of the extra sq. footage. When we bought the house in '04, we put in
a new furnace (1 zone) to take care of the 3100 sq. ft. My problem is
that the master bedroom is on the top floor at the end of the house
and furtherest away from the furnace (bottom floor, opposite end). It
is always the hottest or the coldest room in the house. I've got 2
ceiling fans to help with air flow, but it's darn cold in there in the
winter. Oh, and the guy put in 4 skylights in the addition where the
bed is. We've replaced 2 of them due to the fact that he didn't put
the flashing in correctly and the old ones leaked during Gaston in
04. That's when the repair people found the on-going leaking.

My question is: Considering this guy was a DIYer who had wonderful
ideas but his implementation sucked BIG time, what can I do before I
call in the pros and spend big bucks? I have a feeling he didn't wire
things right or that maybe the duct work isn't right.

Instead of "re-designing" the whole shoot'n match, why not consider a
ductless? They're realatively easy to have installed, take up little space,
solve difficult to heat / cool problems, and are extremely efficient.

You could have one condenser [outside unit] that can have two wall mounted
air handler's, one larger size for the master bedroom, and one smaller unit
for the walk in closet / bathroom area.

Consider you could just heat / cool off the maters bedroom and let the rest
of the house be on it's own. Ask you neighborhood HVAC/R professional for a
quote today.

--
Zyp

Well, the house I'm in now is a dual/split system. Separate heating/
cooling for upstairs versus down stairs. Works great. There is enough
heat "leakage" due to rising hot air to preclude actually having to
use the heat much in the winter upstairs. Summer, I need the cooling.
I'd go for the dual system myself. I had a somewhat similar problem
in a previous house where the master BR was over the garage. Not
enough heat in winter --- furnace was at the other end of the house.
Just added an electric heater to the BR. Closing the doors and use of
fans seemed to be Ok for cooling, however. By the time we were done,
3 of the 4 bedrooms had ceiling fans. In the new house, I got the pre-
wiring done for the fans by the builder, and put them in myself later.

JD wrote:

My house was built in '72 (3 br, 2 1/2 bath). The original owner
added a 2 story addition (top part was addition to the master
bedroom). Unfortunately, he didn't put in a new furnace to take care
of the extra sq. footage. When we bought the house in '04, we put in
a new furnace (1 zone) to take care of the 3100 sq. ft. My problem is
that the master bedroom is on the top floor at the end of the house
and furtherest away from the furnace (bottom floor, opposite end). It
is always the hottest or the coldest room in the house. I've got 2
ceiling fans to help with air flow, but it's darn cold in there in the
winter. Oh, and the guy put in 4 skylights in the addition where the
bed is. We've replaced 2 of them due to the fact that he didn't put
the flashing in correctly and the old ones leaked during Gaston in
04. That's when the repair people found the on-going leaking.

My question is: Considering this guy was a DIYer who had wonderful
ideas but his implementation sucked BIG time, what can I do before I
call in the pros and spend big bucks? I have a feeling he didn't wire
things right or that maybe the duct work isn't right.
Hmmm,
What a mess! I never buy a second hand house. Always had my house built
from scratch wherever I lived to avoid such problem. Ideally you should
have 2 zone system and it'll cost $$$ to do it right the first time.
Is the addition properly built? I mean building permit was taken out for
the work and official building inspection done properly? Is it of sound
structure?