I have an inline duct booster fan with a control. I would recommend just putting one in your existing HVAC duct that runs upstairs. Also, if you don’t already, use your HVAC fan on “On” rather than “Auto” whenever there is an unwanted temperature differential. Overall I don’t think your idea about repurposing the chimney with additional duct work to move air is a bad idea. Especially given your description that multiple renovations have been done and perhaps a holistic approach to the HVAC system wasn’t taken. Our HVAC contractor re-routed our gas furnace’s exhaust gasses that had been going from the basement all the way through all the floors to the attack, the newer model just goes out the wall in the basement. The old exhaust was used to add a return from the upper floor to the basement. And of course, always check that you have more than enough insulation.

A better solution in this case would be a split unit to move the heat out of the home envelope completely.

We added a return to our upstairs and added an in line booster fan to our HVAC system to move more air up stairs. This helped a lot, but I have to agree that first I would look into insulation as it is a cheaper solution and closing a few downstairs vents as needed.

I initially had the opposite problem where my uninsulated cinder block basement was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter and my basement didn’t have any HVAC registers or returns. The only air conditioning it got was from a window AC unit and leakage from the HVAC ducts. Over several years I ended up adding 2" foam insulation internally to all the exterior walls, insulating the ceiling to the basement (mostly for sound absorption but it also helped with floor temperatures), and adding returns and registers in the basement. I also added an inline booster fan to help pull air up to a second floor bonus room that was an addition. Now the basement is always comfortable, the second floor is much more comfortable, and the energy costs are about the same. My moisture levels are 30-50% in the summer.

I did a radiant barrier on my rafters to guide heat up from the soffits to the ridge vent and then insulated the joists. Blown in insulation is pretty cheap. While doing other work I also insulated my southern facing garage wall and of course insulated the garage door (and sealed the edges). This made a noticeable difference in the temperature of the garage. I can turn a couple of fans on in the garage and leave the door to the house open and achieve a very reasonable temperature in the garage if I plan on being in there for a length of time. This helps in both summer and winter.

We have one boy and it didn’t really change our life that much. Some time running him to activities and overseeing homework and such, but our hobbies and friends didn’t change.

Not everyone who has kids ends up feeling this way though :(

Milk Shakes at just about any fast food restaurants. The machines always seem to be down! Pulled up to an Arby’s a few months back to order a Jamoca shake and they said their machine was down. I asked them if I had pulled into the McDonald’s drive through by mistake. We all had a big laugh… but that was months ago and they have now put a sticker on the menu that says their shakes are not currently available :(

Went to a Baskin Robins to order a Chocolate Milk shake and they were out of Chocolate ice cream… on multiple occasions. At least they don’t have a machine to break down!

I run just one Windows machine with some VMs for various services if needed. Less to maintain and have to tinker with.

I installed cable in a couple of apartments I rented. I just made it look professional and nothing was ever said about it. In one apartment town home I even had access to the attic and was able to run cable in the walls. I did have to drill through the floor and door headers in some instances, but it can be done.

I still use Dia Diagram Editor for most things. I just wish it was still being updated.

I like it, it shows someone put some effort into it!

I have a list of of interesting characters, but sticking to pure “fantasy or folklore” I will go with Aasimar.

I have two IoTaWatts (https://iotawatt.com/) for all the circuits in my home. I also use Z-Wave and Zigbee devices to monitor individual plugs (I love these). I send data from all of this to an InfluxDB database and then into Grafana for displaying pretty graphs. Everything is running on my Windows desktop. The IoTaWatt doesn’t require internet access to work. I have been very happy with the setup and once setup it hasn’t required much maintenance.

The system is also good for recording temperatures, solar power information, and anything else that can make an API call. Not sure why your Z-Wave is falling off the network, for that I use a Hubitat and mostly Inovelli, Zooz, and THIRDREALITY ZigBee plugs.

Out the side will be much better than through the roof as long as you don’t place it too close and directly under a soffit air intake.

Crazy idea, but if you can’t get the bandwidth to support a media server like Jellyfin or Emby where you live, what about placing a server at a trusted relatives or friends house that does have access to high bandwidth? You might need/want to help offset a better internet plan for them though. You could then setup a VPN connection to be able to manage the server remotely and sync files and media to it. You could even use it for off site backup.

For me it is Youtube, Lemmy, Verity or Mastodon. Sometimes it is Hacker News or Slashdot.

I wouldn’t worry about the soft spot too much, it could just be the foam supports underneath the tub itself and not the floor. Even if it is the floor, that’s probably within your skill-set to fix if you can manage a circular saw and swing a hammer. I hired a contractor to install a shower for me in a new bathroom because I don’t have the plumbing skills or time. He outsourced the plumbing, electrical, and did the, framing, tiling, and everything else himself. The shower alone took them about a week, one of the main issues he encountered was keeping the tile lines straight. His tile saw wasn’t exact enough and the cuts were ever so slightly off which caused compounding problems.

I don’t really know of a way that you can add insulation without taking up interior space, exterior space, or replacing the wall with more modern materials.

• What about the sides of the home not facing the street? Can you add an exterior layer of insulation and then new exterior siding to those walls?
• On the side facing the street, you could replace the stone wall with a different type of wall that was more thermally resistant. This would of course be a major undertaking.
• I am sure you have considered fully insulating the floor and ceiling as best you can.
• If rodents and or insects are a concern, look into Mineral Wool/Rockwool Insulation.

If you leave the driveway in front of where the garage door is, you may want to think about a curb stop or two so no cars accidentally accelerate into your new living room. You also mentioned leveling the graded garage floor so you are probably fine on this point, but, you will just want to make sure that outside the new wall water doesn’t run back and stand.