The middle owner home in ZIP 20137 dates from 1979. About one in six was built before 1960, just over half before 1980, about one in three from 1980 to 1999, and the smallest group, about one in seven, since 2000. A house from the first two groups is on its second or third furnace and AC, and one from 1980 to 1999 is at the age when both halves start giving out together.
Which pair depends on the fuel. Close to three owners in ten burn propane, and there a propane furnace with an air conditioner is the usual match. Just over half heat with electricity, which points to a heat pump system, $8,499 to $21,650; the Census lumps heat pumps in with all electric heat, so it can’t count them. It finds no owner home on utility gas.
About one owner home in seven heats with oil, and we don’t work on oil burners. A house on oil needs a change of fuel instead: a propane furnace with a tank from a supplier, or a heat pump system. Both are ours to price, and that choice is where the quote swings, so tell the estimator what you heat with now.
At Warrenton 3 SE, heating degree days run better than four to one over cooling ones, and Fauquier County sizes heating to a 17 degree design night. Ducts from a later central-air retrofit in an older house were often sized for heat alone, and they cap what a new pair can deliver. Have the ducts looked at before anyone sizes the pair.