It’s been coming for years – my mother has had to move in with us, being unable to care for herself.
First she needed to have open heart surgery to have a heart valve replaced.
After that her lungs started to give her problems, even though she has never smoked a day in her life. She now needs to supplement her oxygen intake while she sleeps. And finally we started noticing the early signs of dementia, just enough to fear what might happen if she still lived alone. We had a small apartment built as an addition to our home, and although it cost quite a bit to build, we were able to use the money from the sale of her house. The HVAC contractor said that our existing heating and air conditioning system had the capacity to heat/cool the additional square footage. He strongly advised that we install a ductless mini split system, as older folks tend to have very different preferences for thermostat settings than others. We chose an HVAC controller that looked a lot like the remote control for our television. This remote control would allow us to turn the system on or off, set the temperature, air speed, and vane direction. We did look into having a wi-fi adapter installed, which would have allowed control over the HVAC system from a mobile device. But we decided against the extra cost. Once my mother moved into her new apartment, she was very grateful to us, although it took her awhile to adjust to her new home. But we have no regrets regarding our HVAC choices. Had we not chosen the mini split system and corresponding controls, she would have wanted the heat and air conditioner set too high for our comfort level.
new air conditioning