A Greenbelt community from the late 1960s
Blackburn Hamlet sits in Ottawa's east end with NCC Greenbelt land around it and Innes Road running through it. It was part of the City of Gloucester until Ottawa amalgamated in 2001. Most houses here are now well over fifty years old, and their heating systems have been changed more than once along the way.
Chimneys and new furnaces
Homes this age were built with furnaces and water heaters venting up a chimney. Almost every gas furnace made for Canadian homes since the end of 2009 is a high-efficiency model that vents out the side wall through plastic pipe instead. When the furnace comes off the chimney, a gas water heater left on it alone may not draft properly in a flue sized for two appliances. A chimney liner or a new vent for the water heater fixes it, and the technician will tell you before the job starts. More on replacing a furnace.
Ducts sized for heat, not cooling
Central air was far less common when these houses were built, and ducts were often sized for a furnace alone. Air conditioning needs more airflow, so upstairs rooms can struggle to cool even with a new system. Sometimes a duct change solves it. Sometimes a ductless heat pump for the top floor is simpler, and it heats too.
Old thermostat wiring
The thin thermostat cable in an older house often has no spare wire to power a smart thermostat. It's a common, fixable problem. See smart thermostats.