Economical & efficient heating system for mod ranch with crawl space in Maine

[annesmusic]

New to this board, but could use some advice here...

We just bought our first home 2 weeks ago and know nothing about heating systems. The house is a 1987 modular ranch (not mobile), about

1,300 sq ft. on a slab with about 3 - 4 ft crawl space over that and 9 floor vents. There is an extremely musty smell coming from the floor vents. My husband tried to open the vents and clean under them into the ducts a bit--he found some remnants of insulation inside the vents while he was at it--but that didn't help the smell at all.

So we went into the crawl space and found that there aren't actually any ducts running under the house--it appears to be just insulation that is taped together to form ducts. The insulation under the floor joists also needs to be replaced.

We have very little money and small children, so our options here are limited. As I see it, here are our options:

1. Remove all of the insulations and "ducts" ourselves and install real ductwork and new insulation ourselves. Not sure how big of a job this is or if we are even allowed to do that kind of thing--permits, building code, etc.

1. Hire an energy contractor to remove all that stuff and install new ducts.

2. Remove all that stuff ourselves and either hire someone or on our own install tubing for liquid radiant floor heating since we'll have the joists exposed underneath anyways. We have a propane burner for our hot water heather and an oil furnace for the FHA heat. Would we need another water tank for radiant heat? Any idea on cost?

1. Hire a plumber to install baseboard heating--but would we need a boiler?

2. Some kind of solar heating system?

We don't really want to do wall heaters because of two toddlers in the house--I would be concerned about keeping them away so they don't get hurt or burnt--plus they're an eyesore.

Either way, we need to remove what is under the house or seal off the vents to keep the smell out of the house.

Any advice from you experienced home-owners, do-it-yourself-ers and contractors would be GREATLY appreciated!

[v]

Yup! But ya gotta start learning somewhere. Too bad it was AFTER you had made the purchase.

Huh? Wow! Ya sure? It's not insulation around flex ducts is it?

Why do you think that? What is wrong with it?

If you have very litle money, why are you listing options that require new baseboards, or new tubing, that would both need a new boiler? Since you already have a hot air furnace, why not use that and only fix what needs to be fixed, which you say is the ducts, but have them checked out.

It may not be like you are saying.

Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

[Oscar_Lives]

You need a proper evaluation of your system and recommendation/estimate for what it will take to fix it.

You don't need a salesman. You need a qualified technician.

You've already gotten f***ed hard buying the house. My guess is that the f****ng isn't over yet.

Sorry/Good luck.