making attic into bedroom

girlbuilder

Hello! I (and a builder or a few friends) am making a bedroom upstairs in my attic. My house was built in the 1940's and the only source of heat is a vent-less (natural gas) fireplace in the living room. Obviously I will need heat upstairs (Ky winters get pretty cold). I don't know what my best heating option would be. I am trying to do this relatively inexpensively as I have a farmhouse that I am hoping to move into. Basically this renovation is to boost the property value so I can sell this house. I will have a bedroom and a half bath upstairs. The attic is 24'x24' (and of course that is before it has completed walls or anything, so the finished room will be much smaller). I like gas heat. I think it will be cheaper to operate than electric and I believe it is warmer. So what are my options? Thank you for any advise :-)

SWEI

girlbuilder said:

Basically this renovation is to boost the property value so I can sell this house.

What are your rates for electricity and gas like? Don't look at the top of the bill, just take the total dollar amount at the bottom and divide it by the number of kWH or Therms used.

Gordy

What SWEI said.

Looking at the big picture is the gas fireplace working for the house now?

I ask because maybe your return on dollars is better spent on a comfort system that involves AC, and some kind of heat.

I would also walk carefully when making renovations to increase value. Get with a realtor to see if adding that bedroom, and 1/2 bath is going to return some coin. Sometimes buyers are more lured to a clean slate with their own ideas of how they want things. Sometimes it's not worth the work to only get a few extra grand on the Reno. Especially if this is a short term stay.

Larry Weingarten

Hello: If you have exposed rafters, you can insulate between them with rigid foam and adding sheetrock over. Before doing that, I'd look into using a "blower door" to find and seal air leaks wherever they are. With tightening up and insulating, you heat source will be easier/smaller. It could be something as simple as a direct vent wall furnace.

Yours, Larry

ps. If you have any knob and tube wiring, it will want to be replaced with romex before insulating.

SWEI

The decision is driven by a combination of installed cost (what you have to pay for the system) and perceived value (which affects the price you will eventually get for the property.)

There are cases where a bit more first cost can produce several bits more in sales price. There are others where it will not.

If you help us understand your energy costs, we can give you much better advice. For example:

If you have very low cost natural gas service and high electric rates, a direct-vent wall furnace might be the best option.

If you have even moderately expensive LPG, a heat pump could be quite a bit less expensive to heat with than a furnace. You would then be getting A/C at no additional first cost.

Even if the seasonal heating cost somewhat higher with the heat pump, there is a definite cache to refrigerated air, particularly in much of the eastern and southeastern US.