Converting Large Old House to a Duplex

[Nina Davenport]

I am purchasing a house that was built in the early 1900's as a SFH. It has one boiler and radiators throughout. I want to meter the electricity separately, and, of course, the heat.

I had thought of shutting off the radiators to the upstairs floors and just having the boiler heat the downstairs and have those tenants pay for the oil.  For the upstairs, perhaps I could remove the unused radiators and put in electric baseboard heat.  I don't like the cost of running dedicated circuits for each baseboard though, which is what I think would be required.  Does anyone have experience with this type of conversion, and a better idea?

I live in Central VA where heat pumps are common, however, they are very expensive to run especially in old homes with high ceilings and no insulation in the walls, and are inefficient at low temperatures. I would rather use gas or oil heat, ideally.

Thanks a lot!