What's the best heating system to install in this house?
April 28th, 2010 | 
Author: We are considering purchasing a home that has no conventional heating system and no basement. It was originally a hunter’s cabin that was added onto over the years. It’s a very interesting home with lots of great features and a LOT of land, but it basically has no heating system and no basement in which to install a furnace. This home is in Massachusetts.
The previous owners used only a wood burning stove and space heaters. I don’t want to rely on the stove, I would prefer conventional heating. What kinds of heating systems could be installed without spending megabucks?
I think electric baseboard would be the easiest, but I hear it’s not a great choice for cold climates. I’ve also heard about radiant floor heat, and found a company online that says it will only cost .50 square foot to install (the home is no more than 1500) and that seems pretty cheap, and from what I can understand, it’s more efficient? But doesn’t the floor have to be ripped up?
What would be best?
Well, it has absolutely nothing underneath the house, but it does have a decent, clean crawl space in between the 1st and 2nd floors, if that is what you mean. 
A system can be installed in there? There is no attic. Interesting thoughts about the radiant heat, I didn’t realize that they were water pipes.
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Tags: Insulation, Heating, hvac
Tags: Heating, hvac, Insulation
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you say it has no basement . does it have a crawl space? if it has a crawl space you could put a forced hot air heater in house itself and then run the ducts under the floor. if it has no crawl space you could run the ducts up into the attic and then have the heat blow down from the ceiling you mentioned radiant heat it is good but there one problem that happens with it a lot and that is the the pipes break and since they are under the floor not very easy to fix. and also you have to consider if you get a winter power outage and it is out for several days and it is very cold the radiant heat pipes will freeze and burst as they have water in them
I think radiant floor heating would work well in a place like that, but it would mean having to redo pretty much every floor in the house. It is, however, quite efficient. I think the cost return would be good as well and add value to the place should you decide to resell later.
My neighbor’s house is a 2-story house with small crawl space & no basement. They installed a natural gas furnace. They created a ‘room’ for the furnace by taking up a portion of two rooms. Check with your city’s building codes for your options first. I would keep the wood burner as back up.
My mom has electric baseboard. It did not heat the rooms as well as she had hoped. She is in the country and also has propane furnace (before that was oil furnace) and the wood burner. No matter what heat she wants to use, her place is chilly when the electric goes out – - need electric for the blowers.