This month, I am helping my mother move into her brand new condo.
It’s a single story Villa style home with one bedroom, one bathroom, and a screened in lanai in the back that overlooks a golf course. Since she will be living with herself for the time being, this small and cozy home has everything she needs. The kitchen and living room are connected so she can watch TV while she cooks. While she has the freedom of a small home, she has all of her outdoor maintenance covered by the condo association fee. It includes things like mowing, weeding, edging, trimming, sidewalk care, and roof care. As much as she loves this new place, she is worried that she won’t have a place for relatives to stay if they want to visit. Because there is no guest bedroom, the best she could offer was the couch in the already cramped living room. That’s when we both had the idea to convert the lanai into a guest bedroom. All she needed to do was replace the plastic windows with real glass windows and add insulation and drywall in a few areas before finishing it off with a new paint job. But, we were immediately presented with an important issue. We still didn’t know how we were going to heat or cool this new room. We consulted with a local HVAC specialist to go over some of our options. The first thought came to mind was putting in a portable air conditioner for the summer season and a space heater for the winter season. Instead, the HVAC specialist said we should install a ductless mini split which handles both heating and cooling. They’re extremely efficient and are built to last. The danger from an overheating space heater is completely done away with as well. We pulled the trigger and are awaiting installation next week.