Questions about shared thermostat?

[Edith TenBroek]

Hello!

DH and I are looking at some long term goals. We hope to accelerate our mortgage payments, pay off this house and build a nest egg over the next 10 years. Then we want to move further into the country to a house with some land.

Our current house is in a small town. There is definite need for rental housing in the small town. When we bought the house it was flatted out into an upstairs and downstairs apartment. The previous owners lived downstairs and rented the upstairs. We are thinking of renting both the upstairs and downstairs when we move out. There are separate electric meters, but only one gas meter. The furnace is gas, and the thermostat control is on the lower floor. How would we handle two tennants with one in control of the thermostat?

This is the only thing that is stumping me with this endeavor.

Alternatively, we could just sell this house, and buy something else and rent that out. But if I can overcome this issue, renting out this house seems simpler.

Thoughts?

[Brian Mathews]

Heat rises, so the upstairs will also be hotter than the downstairs. The downstairs will raise the thermostat up to get their space hotter and overheat upstairs. Install 2 furnaces or add a zoning system which will give both people a thermostat, it uses dampers to close off the airflow to the upstairs or down.