Buying a 2 Story Home? Have That Air Conditioning and Heating Unit Double Checked

If you are in the market for a new home are considering a 2 story property and have never lived in one before, there is one critical factor which you really need to check and double check before you even consider finalizing the purchase. That factor is how well the home cools the upstairs living space in the heat of the summer. It may seem easy to spot this it, after all we all know that warm air rises right? Well, Spotting the problem before you buy the home is not always so simple. What happens when your home buying does not coincide with summer? How do you know the upstairs is cooling properly? Another common obstacle to spotting this problem is the fact that sellers are more than likely already aware of it and will do everything in their power to mask it from you by lowering the thermostat. You may be thinking that this is something that a home inspector will easily uncover. About the only way this is likely to occur is if your inspection takes place in the summer and the seller forgets to lower the thermostat.

The fact is, unless the Air Conditioning unit is obviously faulty or is severely undersized for the home, your home inspector is unlikely to site it as a problem. This is exactly what happened to me and I have found the upstairs cooling problem to be so common place here in Nashville that I wonder if the home inspectors bring it up even when it is an obvious issue. While researching the problem, I have found that there are various different factors that contribute to this issue and your average home inspector is simply not equipped to diagnose it. In my case, there was no mention of it on the inspection report and since it was Spring when we viewed and purchased the home, there was no way of knowing what was in store for the summer.

So what do you do? Well, you can simply not take the chance by not buying a 2 story home. This is not always the practical solution so the best solution becomes to hire a Heating and Cooling professional to perform an additional heating and cooling inspection. You might be thinking that this is a costly and somewhat extreme solution but when you consider the costs of getting it fixed you may think otherwise. I know of two other homeowners who were facing the same problem I am and both had to spend over $10,000 to correct it. To make matters worse, this situation also contributes to higher electrical bills! So in conclusion, do not make the same mistake we made. If you have your heart set on a two story property, get a second inspection on that Air Conditioning and Heating unit before you commit to buying. Also make sure you communicate to the seller that you would like a provision in the purchase contract so that you have the option of backing out or getting a lower price to compensate for future costly repairs.

Here are some of the contributing factors to stuffy upstairs syndrome:

* Leaking Ducts: Leaky ducts can raise your heating and cooling costs by 10%-30% in addition to losing hot/cold air intended for the home.

* Improper Airflow caused by poor ducting: Poor airflow can cause one room or the entire upstairs living space to be hot and and the rest of the home to be cold.

* Low Refrigerant Levels: Low refrigerant levels can cause icing on your ac coils, your unit to stop cooling and can lead to ac compressor damage.

* Inefficient/improperly sized unit: An older inefficient or improperly sized unit can increase your heating and cooling costs by up to 50%! They may also not provide adequate cooling/heating capacity for the entire home.