All Forum Posts by: Seth Borman

If your drywall guy is good he can get it smooth with a trowel, no sanding. 

Fixing textured drywall is almost impossible.

@NA Jones a radiator provides no heat, it merely distributes it.

Where do you think that heat is coming from? 

Mini splits are more efficient than any other way to heat and cool. You gas boiler with radiator heat is limited by the thermal efficiency of the boiler. It can't be more than 97% efficient. Meanwhile, a mini split is more like 250% efficient, because it uses one unit of energy to move 2.5x as much heat.

This is effected by temperature. When temperatures are warm (47° is where this is tested) a Mitsubishi unit might have, depending on the unit, an efficiency of nearly 400%, meaning it is 4x as efficient as electric resistant heat. At 17° that will fall to 280% or so. Still very efficient (almost as efficient as gas heat once you include the losses at the power plant. In other words, above 17° you will use less gas to heat even if your power grid runs on gas). At -5° if will still put out the heat that it is supposed to, but efficiency will fall.

You may need supplemental dehumidification and if you have a tight enclosure you might need supplemental ventilation.

Anything you can do to tighten and insulate the building will help ensure that this project is successful.

The proper way to size a mini split is to use a Manual J calculation and to use results from a blower door test as an input for air infiltration. Some of the HVAC guys I talk to tell me that they routinely find heating equipment that is 2x or 3x the size that the space actually needs, because there are so many fudge factors built into the heat load calculations. Furnaces can handle short cycling much better than heat pumps can, so it is important to be accurate.

If you want to reduce your construction costs, look up advanced framing. Most framers use way more lumber than the building actually needs to hold the roof up

 A mini split with hyperheat doesn't have a heat strip and doesn't hit COP 1 (the same efficiency as baseboard heat) until below 5°F. At 17°F it is still 2.5x as efficient as baseboard heat. It doesn't stop producing heat until like -13°F.

VRF technology isn't the same as some single stage heat pump from 20 years ago. If you don't believe me, look up Nate Adams at Energy Smart Ohio. He's installing heat pumps in people's houses in Cleveland.

I can get a mini split installed for about $3,000. I also get cooling in the summer which helps get the rents up.

ETA: We have 35 doors where we, as the landlords, are responsible for unpaid utility bills. If the tenant decides not to pay the bill we get stuck with it anyway.

 Electric resistance heat is 97% efficient. Mini splits are 200% to 400% efficient, depending on temperature, so they use a fraction of the energy.

1) Start with replacing your lighting with LEDs.

2) Replace your water faucets, toilets and shower heads. The shower heads will save you energy.

3) Look into mini splits. You either need one unit per unit, or a three pipe system that can heat some and cool others. Guess which costs less...

4) Split the electrical, if you can.

5) Get a Sanden heat pump wanter heater with a 119 gallon tank and crank it all the way up to 175° so it can service all five units.

6) Look for rebates on new refrigerators. A few years ago I got a new fridge from a rebate program, for free. Old refrigerators use a lot of power.

My experience with HVAC has been that the price goes up when the system is broken. Planned replacements are about 25% cheaper than emergencies, because they don't have you bent over the barrel.

Start calling brokers and finding ones that will talk to you about the market.

I followed this hoping to see what people said, but since no one replied I will tell you what I would do... I buy ready to assemble cabinets, vinyl plank flooring, I prefer shower enclosures but at minimum use a tub for savings, and for HVAC I prefer mini splits for heating and AC.

A lot of this is market dependent.