Serving Cavalero · Fobes Hill · Bunk Foss · Machias · Sonterra · Glenwood · Hartford
Your AC is on.
Thermostat is set to 70.
Downstairs feels fine.
Then you walk halfway up the stairs, and you feel it immediately.
Upstairs is hotter. Bedrooms don't cool. Air feels different.
This is one of the most common things we see in Lake Stevens, especially in older homes around Old Town near North Lakeshore Drive and Hartford, where many houses were originally built in the 1920s and 1930s.
And most of the time, the AC unit isn't the problem.
If your upstairs is 5–10 degrees hotter, don't guess, start here.
Before you spend thousands on a new AC unit, try these 5 local "Old Town" fixes that most sales techs won't tell you about:
Here is how you actually fix those specific red-flag issues without just calling a salesperson:
In most 1920s–1930s homes in Old Town, the thermostat is downstairs. Once the living room hits 70°F, the AC shuts off, while your upstairs bedrooms are still at 78°F.
The DIY FixBuy a Smart Thermostat with Remote Sensors (like Ecobee or Nest). Put the main unit downstairs and a sensor in the hottest upstairs bedroom. Tell the system to "average" the temperatures or prioritize the upstairs sensor during sleep hours. This forces the AC to stay on until the upstairs is comfortable.
Because you're forcing the AC to stay on until the upstairs is cool, your downstairs will likely plummet to 62°F (the "Ice Box Effect"). Since 1920s ductwork can't "aim" the air, it goes everywhere. This isn't an efficiency fix, it's a comfort fix, so expect your bill to rise as the unit runs longer to fight that 150°F attic heat.
To make this work without freezing out the ground floor:
Older homes were built for heating, not cooling. They usually have vents that push air in, but not enough vents to pull hot air out of bedrooms. If you close a bedroom door, you create a "pressure box" where cold air can't get in because the hot air has nowhere to go.
The DIY FixThe "Door Gap" test. If your upstairs bedroom feels significantly hotter with the door closed, you have a return air issue. Keep the doors open, or install "Transfer Grilles" (vents in the wall or door) to let the hot air escape to the hallway where the main return vent usually is.
Many Lake Stevens HVAC systems actually have manual levers on the ductwork near the furnace (usually in the crawlspace or garage).
Look for small metal handles on the large round pipes. In summer, partially close the dampers leading to the downstairs vents and fully open the ones going upstairs. This physically forces more cold air to the second floor.
Note: Never close a damper 100% or you might freeze your AC coils.
Mark your "Winter" and "Summer" settings on the pipes with a Sharpie so you don't forget where they go when the Lake Stevens snow starts falling.
In those Old Town cottages, the attic insulation is often original (wood shavings or thin fiberglass) or nonexistent. The roof gets to 150°F, and that heat radiates through your ceiling like a giant heating pad.
The Local SolutionBefore spending $10k on a new AC, spend $1,500 on blown-in cellulose insulation in the attic. Aim for "R-49" or "R-60" depth. In Lake Stevens, Snohomish PUD often offers rebates that can cover a chunk of this.
Since we live near the water, our "hot" days are often muggy. If your AC fan speed is set too high, the air moves across the cooling coils too fast to drop its moisture.
The Professional FixAsk an HVAC tech to lower the fan blower speed for the cooling cycle. Slower air stays on the cold coils longer, removing more "lake humidity" and making 72°F feel like 68°F.
Which of these fits your house best? For example, do you still have original lath-and-plaster walls, or has the house been remodeled with drywall?
Heat rises. That part doesn't change.
But in Lake Stevens homes, especially older ones, it gets worse.
Your roof absorbs direct sun all day. The attic heats up and acts like a radiator. That heat pushes down into the second floor while warm air from the rest of the house naturally rises and collects upstairs.
So before your AC even starts doing its job, your upstairs is already hotter.
Now the system has to fight against that.
Your system is doing exactly what it's told to do.
The problem is what it's being told.
Most homes here run a single thermostat, usually downstairs.
The downstairs cools quickly. The thermostat hits the set temperature. The system shuts off.
Meanwhile, upstairs never actually reaches that temperature.
So you end up with a system that works… just not for the part of the house you actually need cooled.
Even when the system is running, the air doesn't always make it upstairs properly.
In older Lake Stevens homes, especially in Old Town and Hartford, ductwork was never designed for balanced cooling.
In some cases, air is lost inside wall cavities before it even reaches the second floor.
Long duct runs reduce pressure. By the time that air gets upstairs, there's not enough of it left to do the job.
Upstairs heat doesn't just need to be cooled.
It needs to be removed.
A lot of these houses have one return vent upstairs, usually in a hallway.
That means:
So even when cool air is coming in, the heat isn't leaving.
Clear answer before any work. No pressure.
Call (425) 728-7427Some energy providers offer home energy audits.
To get a free energy audit in Lake Stevens, Washington, contact your local utility providers, specifically Snohomish County PUD (electricity) and Puget Sound Energy (natural gas). They offer free home energy assessments, efficiency tips, and sometimes free energy-saving kits to help reduce costs.
Snohomish County PUD (electricity)
Visit snopud.com and search for "energy audit" or "home assessment" to find current offerings.
Puget Sound Energy (natural gas)
Visit pse.com/homeassessment. PSE offers a free assessment where they analyze your energy use, provide recommendations, and can install energy-saving products at no cost.
They'll:
And they'll give you a detailed report.
That can be useful.
But it takes time to schedule. And it doesn't fix anything immediately.
If your upstairs is already uncomfortable, that's not the fastest path to a solution.
A direct HVAC diagnosis will give you answers faster, and show you exactly what needs to be done.
Most HVAC companies will charge somewhere between $0 and $100 to come out and evaluate the system.
And that's the key step.
Because this could be:
You don't know until it's actually checked.
This isn't unusual here.
We don't just check the AC unit and leave.
We look at:
Measured at every vent, not estimated.
Where the air is going and where it's getting lost.
Whether hot air can actually leave your upstairs.
What the system is actually doing versus what it should be doing.
Because that's where the issue actually is.
You get a clear answer before anything is done. No guessing. No upsell.
Clear diagnosis before any work. No pressure.
Good Guys Heating, Air & Electrical · 8431 30th St SE, Lake Stevens, WA 98258
Serving Cavalero · Fobes Hill · Bunk Foss · Machias · Sonterra · Glenwood · Hartford