Also buy a do-it-yourself flush kit and flush it every 6 months with vinegar to prevent build-ups.

We didn’t and our got corroded/gunned up from our well water and had to be replaced after 5 or 6 years.

Found out the builder modified the placement of the furnace during building of our house, moving it from a central location to the perimeter of basement. But as a result, the registers upstairs, and one of the rooms especially, are so far away (in terms of length of ducts) that there is zero air flow. It’s like the Colorado River—by the time it gets to that room, there’s no flow left.

We got a quote for a second zone at one point and it was more than we could really afford at the time. We ended up just buying a space heater and a portable in room AC unit for the bedroom that was really bad. Even replacing the AC unit twice over 10 years it was 10% or less of the cost of a dual zone upgrade.

And I’ve looked into those ductless systems as well, but they’re also a decent chunk of change to get and install. And now that the kids are done or almost done with HS, there’s no reason to spend the money for a permanent solution.