If an ordinary residential unit won't work for you, then you should consider something such as a Santa Fe, Ultra Aire, or another unit made by Therma-Stor. These are the kind that can be ducted, have air filters, etc. You probably will need to purchase and install through a professional HVAC company.
In addition to the other advice already provided, know that a Solar Assessment will be necessary. The system has a method of showing what shadowning of the panels happens during ALL times of the year, during ALL hours of daylight. That is how your Solar company will be able to tell you how much they will produce, the payback ROI, etc. They will probably be able to tell you visually which location to consider, and then do the assessment for what ever location is most favorable on your property. They should also be able to tell you that if you cut down certain trees, how it will improve your solar capabilities. Hope that helps!
This unique array below had to also take into account how the multiple rooflines shadowed the panels at certain times of day and certain times of year.
The least expensive option is going to be to create white noise.
Otherwise, you'll need some type of sound insulation and dense pack cellulose might be able to be retrofitted into the wall cavity. But determining your level of performance expectation is the hard part. How perfect do you expect it to be? Is this a common wall to another unit, or all enclosed within yours? It makes a difference.
If they were in the drawing, but not in the written contract, it really doesn't matter -- what's in writing trumps the drawings. If other homes by the same builder in the same neighborhood have gutters and yours does not, you may possibly have some argument to get the builder to do it, regardless of the contract language. Good luck!
Remember also that the window will need to be tempered glass, if you try to DIY this project. While you should consult with a local remodeler (find a chapter of NARI near you, or a Builders Association, a local NAHB affiliate... or better yet, find a pro here on GuildQuality with great ratings!) if you are simply looking for a range of prices to help you decide feasiblity, I can tell you this much: I can't imagine any circumstances that would allow this to be done right for less than $2000, and it could possibly be as much as $5000 (and hopefully not more) if it was an extremely difficult situation or an unusual window. I hope that helps. Good luck!
I'm from Wisconsin and we have a program called Focus on Energy which implements the ENERGY STAR program for improving energy efficiency of older homes. I'm not sure what you have in your region, but I specifically recommend starting with an expert company that can do a blower door test on your home and use an infrared camera to detect where you have air leakage and heat loss.
The number one cause of heat loss is air leakage. So insulation alone will not solve that problem. Leaky ring joists in the basement where the walls, floor, and foundation meet are one culprit... there is generally lots of inward air leakage here. And in the attic, there are a bunch of sources of air leakage, where warm air wants to rise and escape up and out. (So by the way, ice dams on the roof are not solved by adding more attic ventilation; rather they are solved by first doing air sealing, and second verifying or improving insulation.)
If you intend to DIY this, you can still hire a consultant to do the pre-testing and post-testing, and you might even be eligible for some financial incentives. If you hire a professional company to do it, the cost can be reduced by those incentives.
If you won't hire a pro, then here's a few rules of thumb:
1) Remove fiberglass insulation from ring joists, and either use spray foam or rigid foam to insuate the ring joist, use spray foam to seal the rigid foam in place, minimum 2" thick and you can always fit the fiberglass insulation back in place again when complete.
2) Spray foam over top of wall plates in the attic.
3) Put a gasked on your attic hatch. If you have an attic ladder, buy a specific air sealing enclosure to prevent air leakage through it.
4) Find out if your recessed can lights are IC (Insulation Contact) rated or not. They will be labeled if they are. Build a sealed box around them allowing air space for heat build-up, and consider converting to LED lights so that there is less heat generated. If not IC rated, use cault to seal them to the drywall or plaster, and to close up the holes in the lights themselves.
That's a primer on things... there is more to be done, but these can help!
Sid, a local electrician should be able to do the work and thanks to their licensing and continuing education, they will certainly know the answer! Good luck.
This is a strange situation. I wonder what type of roofing material was used? It would be very unusual for an asphalt shingle to be too heavy for a roof. So was the roof framing undersized in the first place? Were there existing deficiences which were not corrected, that should have been corrected prior to re-roofing? Indeed, you may need a lawyer to sort this out. Good luck.
In our market (Wisconsin) we normally call the electrician for that work. The problem is that few trades are fully integrated. Often times the vent size will change and the electrician will not normally do that. You will probalby have to have a HVAC contractor change the vent size. And then you might need to have a drywaller patch drywall as well.
If you want one stop shopping, you can have a professional Remodeler coordinate the whole thing and a skilled carpenter will change the vent size and patch the drywall after completion.
Make sure the room is well sealed. I don't know how old your house is, but there is a surprising amount of noise that can leak in around poor quality windows. If you need to replace the windows, find out about ones that are good for sound reduction, such as sometimes are retrofitted near airports. You could also add a storm window that specializes in sound reduction, again often used near airports.
Here's a company that I know of. I've not installed this product, but I use some of their other products: http://www.monray.com/focus.htm#sound
Otherwise, if you install new siding on the house, you can evaluate whether you can add dense-packed cellulose in the wall cavities, or a thick layer of foam insulation under the siding. Brick masonry with a proper air space of about 1" could also help to absorb the sound and not pass it on through the wall.
Hope this helps.
