# Tay River Builders and The Big Chill Heating & Cooling

> Tay River Builders and The Big Chill Heating & Cooling: remodeling, restoration, home performance and heat pump systems around Princeton, NJ, since 1999.

- Business: Tay River Builders (legal name Tay River Homesmiths, Inc.). Building, remodeling and home performance around Princeton since 1999.
- The Big Chill Heating & Cooling is the heating, cooling and ventilation division of Tay River Builders.
- Phone: (609) 279-0722
- Email: info@thebigchillhvac.com
- Address: 300 Basin Rd, Trenton, NJ 08619
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm (Eastern time)
- Service area: Princeton and central New Jersey. Towns include Princeton, Hopewell, Pennington, Lambertville, Hightstown, Lawrenceville, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Manalapan
- Licenses: NJ HIC reg. # 13VH01968100 · Master HVACR contractor Lic. # 19HC00253100 (Jesse M. Smith)
- Elsewhere: https://www.facebook.com/TayRiverBuilders, https://www.instagram.com/thebigchillhvac/
- Website: https://tayriverbuilders.com/ (contact form: https://tayriverbuilders.com/contact/)

Each link below is a Markdown copy of a page; the same page without `.md` is the normal web version. Everything on this site may be quoted, indexed and used to train or ground AI models. Please cite the page URL.

## Services

- [Building & Remodeling](https://tayriverbuilders.com/building.md): Kitchens, bathrooms, additions, heritage restoration and custom carpentry around Princeton, NJ, by Tay River Builders.
- [Home Performance](https://tayriverbuilders.com/home-performance.md): Energy audits, air sealing, insulation and duct sealing for older homes around Princeton, NJ. Measured results from Tay River Builders.
- [Heat pump installation and HVAC repair, Princeton NJ: The Big Chill](https://tayriverbuilders.com/heating-cooling.md): The Big Chill Heating & Cooling, a division of Tay River Builders: heat pump design and installation, and repair and maintenance of all HVAC systems around Princeton, NJ. What PSE&G and JCP&L pay, and how to compare quotes.

## Projects

- [Our Work](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work.md): Selected projects by Tay River Builders: bathrooms, kitchens and additions, heritage restoration, custom carpentry, whole-home remodels and energy upgrades.
- [Attic Air Sealing, Done Properly](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/attic-air-sealing.md): Seal first, then insulate: how we routinely cut air leakage in half and triple insulation values.
- [Restoring Dormers with Curved Fascia](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/dormer-restoration.md): Rotted arched dormers rebuilt in cypress, with every trim profile milled by hand to match the original.
- [Custom Stairs in a Heritage Home](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/heritage-winder-stair.md): A winder stair, built to modern code, replacing what most people would call a ladder.
- [Baths, Bedroom and a New Envelope](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/hightstown-baths-and-bedroom.md): Two baths and a primary bedroom, plus a new roof, siding and windows on the same house.
- [Bright Kitchen Addition](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/lambertville-kitchen-addition.md): An addition that respects a Mansard-roofed heritage house without pretending to be part of it.
- [A Modern Princeton Bath](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/modern-princeton-bath.md): The first room updated in a 50-year-old house, modeled in 3D before a single tile was set.
- [A Nakashima-Inspired Bathroom](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/nakashima-inspired-bath.md): A bathroom under an eyebrow dormer, with a cherry slab vanity mended with handmade butterfly keys.
- [A Pebble Bathroom](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/pebble-bathroom.md): A primary bath designed to feel like a riverbed, with stone basins carved from solid rock.
- [Three Tile Baths, One House](https://tayriverbuilders.com/work/three-tile-baths.md): A formal powder room, an accessible guest shower and a playful kids’ bath under one roof.

## Field notes by Jesse Smith

- [Field Notes](https://tayriverbuilders.com/notes.md): Essays on building science, air sealing and HVAC airflow by Jesse Smith of Tay River Builders.
- [You can’t suck your way out of a distribution problem](https://tayriverbuilders.com/notes/big-central-returns.md): Why hot upstairs rooms usually need more supply air, not “hot air returns,” and how to test it before you spend a dime.
- [Blower-door-guided air sealing isn’t real](https://tayriverbuilders.com/notes/blower-door-guided-air-sealing.md): We love blower doors. We just don’t think they should be steering the crew in the attic.
- [Everything is sort of bad, but at least one thing is awful](https://tayriverbuilders.com/notes/everything-is-sort-of-bad.md): Two mental models for improving an existing house, and why you sometimes have to listen to the people who live in it.
- [People who don’t pay your utility bills, #1](https://tayriverbuilders.com/notes/hot-air-rises.md): The neighbor who owns a truck says to open an upstairs window, because hot air rises.

## Company

- [About](https://tayriverbuilders.com/about.md): Tay River Builders was founded in 1999 by brothers Jesse and Abel Smith: a craftsman and a building scientist. Our story, principles and process.
- [Contact](https://tayriverbuilders.com/contact.md): Get in touch with Tay River Builders and The Big Chill Heating & Cooling about remodeling, home performance or heat pumps around Princeton, NJ.

## Optional

- [Privacy](https://tayriverbuilders.com/privacy.md): What the Tay River Builders website collects, and what it doesn't.
- [Site map](https://tayriverbuilders.com/sitemap.md): Every page on the Tay River Builders and The Big Chill website, in one list.

## Everything in one file

- [llms-full.txt](https://tayriverbuilders.com/llms-full.txt): every page above, in full, as Markdown