dewme said: The most common scenario I personally encounter is that my office is on the lowest level, a finished walkout basement, while my wife’s office and workspace is on the second level, two floors up. For her to be comfortable in the summer with AC or heating in the winter I need to wear a hoodie. My neighbor has a similar scenario but only 2 floors with both people working from home. They invested in splitting their HVAC system into 2 independent zones , which cost several thousand dollars, while I invested in more hoodies.
Just throw a window unit in your wife's office. You won't have to wear a hoodie and you'll save a significant chunk on your power bill too (and lower your carbon footprint if that matters). Modern, compact U shaped window units are well under $1000 and are far more efficient and stylish than traditional window units. Or if you want something more discreet there are DIY single zone mini split systems that aren't much more, but still under $1k. If you are the least bit handy they are a pretty easy install - definitely a lazy Saturday afternoon affair.
I had a three story townhouse and the ducts were balanced for winter - designed to dump most of the air on the lower two levels. My lowest level would be colder than my fridge and I'd still be sweltering on the top floor. Threw a cheap window unit on and it paid for itself in the first month in power savings alone (!) If I had stayed in that house long haul I would have put a multi-zone minisplit in for the upstairs rooms in a heartbeat. Well worth it! Hell I just moved into a new single story ranch and I'm getting ready to put a multi-zone minisplit in my bedroom, office and garage as they all are along the same outside wall of my house and these DIY minisplit systems are literally plug and play. I still may contract a friend to help me get it started up - mainly because one run will be right next to the outdoor unit and I don't want a ton of extra line set looped around, so I'll have him shorten and re-braze the fittings mainly because I just don't feel like dealing with that part of it
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I had a three story townhouse and the ducts were balanced for winter - designed to dump most of the air on the lower two levels. My lowest level would be colder than my fridge and I'd still be sweltering on the top floor. Threw a cheap window unit on and it paid for itself in the first month in power savings alone (!) If I had stayed in that house long haul I would have put a multi-zone minisplit in for the upstairs rooms in a heartbeat. Well worth it! Hell I just moved into a new single story ranch and I'm getting ready to put a multi-zone minisplit in my bedroom, office and garage as they all are along the same outside wall of my house and these DIY minisplit systems are literally plug and play. I still may contract a friend to help me get it started up - mainly because one run will be right next to the outdoor unit and I don't want a ton of extra line set looped around, so I'll have him shorten and re-braze the fittings mainly because I just don't feel like dealing with that part of it