In the late ‘90s, we worked with NY State to have heat installed in the family homestead where my parents lived. There was a grant to help elderly low-income residents.
It’s a two-story farmhouse, about 2500 sq. ft., built in 1830. The whole place had been heated by one oil stove in the living room for decades — as long as I can remember.
Before NY would commit funds, an inspection was required. The inspector said it was built better thant many of the new houses they inspect.
One of the best-built houses I ever lived in was built in Northern Virginia by a company out of New York called National Birchwood. It was tight and not drafty at all. And it was built in 1983.