My house is extremely big, very old and difficult to temperature control.
The weather in my local area makes both heating and cooling necessary.
Along with struggling to achieve year round comfort, the cost of running the furnace and air conditioner has a major impact on the budget. When we first moved into the house, there were concerns with the ductwork, furnace and air conditioner. However, even having the duct system cleaned and sealed and replacing the heating and cooling unit didn’t solve all of the problems. The house was not tightly sealed. We dealt with drafts, cold and hot spots and our conditioned air leaking out through gaps in the thermal envelope. While caulking, weatherstripping and insulating helped a lot, we needed to replace the windows. The majority of energy losses can be blamed on windows. My house has twenty-five windows of assorted sizes. Many of them were painted shut and all of them were single pane and super old. Replacing them was an expensive project, especially since I wanted to purchase Energy Star rated, thermal pane options. Most of the windows required custom ordering due to their odd sizes. I started replacing the windows one at a time and learned how to complete the installation on my own. It took me over five years to finally have all new windows in the home. I have noticed a significant improvement in comfort and utility costs. There is far less temperature fluctuation from one room to another.The furnace and air conditioner no longer need to run as often or as long.