Some benefits of having a control and automation system installed in your home are:

• All equipment can be in an out-of-sight and central location and routed to many different rooms.
• The Prodigy system by Crestron allows you to have one, easy-to-use remote for audio and video controls (and others, as mentioned) in each room.
• You can check the status and adjust the settings of your HVAC, lighting and security systems, from any room or from your mobile device, if you’re away from home.
• Conserve energy and lower electricity bill by programming lights to dim or turn off when room is vacant.
• Affordability: systems are much more affordable than in the past, starting at $1000 and up.

For more information on whole house control and automation systems, audio, video, media room, security and any other low-voltage needs, please contact us.

Jesse Korsban
Stafford Home Service
Click here to contact Stafford Home Service

Letting Stafford Home Services choose the right furnace for you is not only easy, it’s green as well! –We’re talking environmentally conscious, 90-95% AFUE Bryant units that lower utility bills, and are so technologically advanced that they use computer generated algorithms to know how long to run and how much heat to produce. Many of us consider the environment when making renovation decisions, and choosing a furnace is no exception. According to bryant.com, one of the best ways to protect the environment is to purchase energy efficient products that require fewer energy resources to operate. Not only will you make a difference to the environment, you’ll also save on operating costs. Make sure your heating and cooling products have high energy efficiency ratings such as SEER and AFUE.

Another great way is by using Energy Star products.  Stafford Home Service use many Energy Star products in their work. “ENERGY STAR promotes energy efficiency among residential appliances, because household appliances have the potential to contribute a great deal to air pollution. ENERGY STAR promotes energy efficient furnaces, heat pumps and air conditioners, and thermostats, among other products.” (source: www.bryant.com)

The 80% rating that used to be a great is now a thing of the past. Now units can be rated 90-95%. AFUE means Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. Your furnace’s AFUE tells you how much energy is being converted to heat.  For example, AFUE of 90 means that 90% of the fuel is being used to warm your home, while the other 10% escapes as exhaust with the combustion gases.

We all want lower bills, right?  Having Stafford Home Service install a Bryant gas furnace in your home you could lower you utility bill by 50%?  By knowing when to turn on and how much heat to produce Bryant Brand furnaces can reduce the amount of heat and energy you use. Dan from Stafford Home Service will help chose the right model for you.

These Bryant brand furnaces are so advanced they use computer generated algorithms to know how long to run and how much heat to produce. Older model furnaces used to run for a set amount of time even if the house was warm enough. These energy efficient furnaces are also multi-stage and are able to tell how long they should run, in order to be most efficient.  Let’s say it’s a sunny day in December, your furnace might never reach its highest heat stage, it can tell that it only needs to stay in stage one, the lowest amount of heat. However, as the sun goes down it will also be able to tell if it is more efficient to jump to stage three, the highest amount heat, rather than going through all three stages.

In looking for an HVAC contractor, I recommend finding one that will give you many options and thoroughly discuss the pros and cons. Since renovation projects require so much on the fly changes and so many compromises, you want to know that your HVAC contractor can think creatively as well as aggressively protect your interests. In the case of Stafford Home Service’s HVAC installation, they have went to the trouble of splitting ducts to get around a beam, tucking things in hard to reach areas and placed the returns in the attic to give more headroom in the basement. Now that’s some great HVAC service.

Add to all that, just the other day I come in late, just to check up on the place and Stafford is still there, working overtime to get the furnace in. Nice!

One thing he explained is how he was going to mount the basement ducts a couple inches lower then I had first assumed. He said these critical few inches would make the ducts that much more quiet, as they would better isolate the vibrations of ducts and movement of floor. Brilliant! He was also very concerned with the placement of vents for cosmetic and functional reasons. He explained many situations where ducts would be a problem. If it were up to me I would have ended up choosing locations that would have essentially heated the outside and the furniture. Nothing like a great HVAC contractor to save the day!

Next was the Stafford Electric team. Kris came in on Thursday and walked through the entire space with me and Jason from Stinson Builders. Even though we had blueprints (do they still call them that?) and had previously discussed many of the options, Kris insisted on walking through every detail again and making sure we were all on the same page and that we were moving forward in the best possible way. As we walked through, Kris proposed new options that were better then the old, like recessed lighting in the basement guest bedroom and workout/craft area. Jason and Kris pointed out that those spaces would benefit by having finished ceilings. I am so happy that I began this process with Stinson Builders; Jason’s subcontractors are friendly, committed to the job and my satisfaction, and unbelievably helpful.

One exciting idea Kris cooked up, for the rest of the basement was to put in conduit and cage lights, in between the floor rafters Something like this (but cheaper, more industrial, and steel instead of brass):

This is perfect for the industrial look I am going for. I had the ceiling spray painted with BIN paint which has shellac in it (the only thing sure to lock out the lingering dog and cigarette smoke odors.) which I tinted a light blue-grey. I think it’s going to look great. Thanks Kris!

As we walked around the space I got a glimpse at the complexity of a good electrician‘s job. The melding of practicality, ease of use, efficiency, code compliancy, cosmetics and the like creates for a difficult terrain. Make sure you have a great firm like Stafford Home Services’ electric department to navigate the landscape or you may find yourself pulling things out later (at much higher expense), and being disappointed with the results.

One simple, electrical Green Renovation solution that Stafford is installing is dimmer switches at all locations. (there are even 3-way, adjustable light switches!) Did you know light dimmer switches were Green? Well they are. Kris and Dan told me about a Green Home workshop they attended that trained electricians and home services on going Green. Evidently the human eye only needs about 80% of a room’s full lighting. They were shown a demo and said they could not tell the difference, once their eyes adjusted. I assume that’s a 20% savings in lighting bills! Nice!

As we walked through the space, Kris stopped one of his electricians and had him move a flush, floor-mounted electrical outlet. It was just a rotation of a outlet that already had been installed. The electrician did not look happy but Kris insisted. I went back later and saw why: to rotate the box, there had to be new framing to support each unit. To think, here they are making more work for themselves, work that I would not have thought of until another contractor was done and gone, and they doing it just to make sure the aesthetics are just right. That’s the kind of electrician I want!

All said and done, this has been a good week. Stay tuned next week for updates on the Green electrical and Green HVAC installations.

-M

Kris and Dan, partners at Stafford and Jesse, head of low-voltage, came in and created a whole slew of new opportunities for the house. It’s amazing what you learn and what opportunities can be opened up by people who really know their stuff and work together well. It’s also very helpful to have all of these people under one roof, as their work is so interdependent. Not only did they come up with better ideas (IMHO), they also save us time by communicating more fluidly then disparate subcontractors. And, like all of Jason’s subcontractors, they are perfectionists, care deeply about their work and are easy-going and fun to be around. Seriously, I can’t imagine working with a better team.

For our little project they will be doing the following:

• Redoing most of the electrical in the home while bringing up the old wiring to code
  • Moving the electrical mast to the garage.
  • Installing a 150AMP service (50 to the garage, 100 to the house.)
  • Installing 220V in the garage (for welding, air compressor, etc…)
  • Running the electrical from the garage, through a trench (which we dug) to the house.
  • Moving the panel to a better location (allowing us to move the stair and consolidate utility space.)
• New electrical for the kitchen
  • Kitchen lighting.
  • Wall oven.
  • Cook top.
  • Bar refrigerator.
  • Under-counter lighting.
  • Counter-top power.
  • Exhaust hood.
• Cleaning up the gas line in the basement
• New lighting
  • Dimmer switches for better efficiency.
  • Recessed lighting for higher ceiling clearance.
  • Under-counter lighting.
  • New entrance lighting
• Installing a new furnace.
• Installing a new AC unit.
• Installing an Ecobee HVAC controller for greener heating and cooling.
• Installing recessed speakers in the kitchen.
• Installing a media room in the basement.
• Installing HDMI cables, USB and speaker cables so we can centralize the media source (PS3, Wii and Blu-ray on every screen!)
• Installing a security system in the entire house, including basement and garage.
• And a whole slew of other things (will be updated)

Stay tuned for updates from the Stafford team!

Stafford Home Services