You Can Still Install An Air Conditioning System In Your Vintage Home
The answer's yes, it is easy to install air-con in a turn of the century home
. If you live just about anywhere besides the arctic, it isn't only possible but undeniably obligatory in the summertime. There are however some precise challenges concerned in this endeavour that really must be borne under consideration.
The main problem is that in the past, we're talking the turn of the 20th century and prior, houses simply weren't designed with air conditioning in mind because air conditioning as we know it today didn't exist. Houses were cooled by ventilation or at most primitive fans. In contrast to this, modern houses are built by the building contractor with central air conditioning as part of the construction process. When the house is only at the framing stage ducts are placed in the walls and air conditioning units are discreetly placed in basements or interior and exterior walls. When the walls are covered up with drywall on the inside and whatever sheathing material is used on the outside, you hardly know it's there.
Installing central air conditioning in an old house is a different matter. To go back and retrofit an air conditioning system in a house that wasn't designed for this purpose means that you will have to open up the walls or do other extensive remodeling, such as building new walls in front of the old ones, in order to place the AC units ducts where they can't be seen. Neither of these are very attractive options. They mean damaging walls that are already time worn and in general marring the appearance of an historic structure. Even if you are able to place supply and return ducts in unobtrusive places such as basements, attics, and bathrooms, you will still have to put air registers in these locations and alter them in some way.
On top of this, there might be radiator heating systems concerned in old homes, further reducing the space available for AC units and channel work, or alternatively interfering with their installation. In old homes designed before even heating systems were common the situation can be much worse. Internal wall space can be hit or miss as the houses were not even designed for constant spatial flow within the walls for anything apart from easy plumbing.
The proven fact that crumbling plaster and lath strips need to be torn off to even obtain access to whatever interior space is available indicates you will be in for a definite construction project instead of a straightforward installation process. And these homes, regularly dating from the mid eighteenth to mid 19th centuries, are far more deserving of preservation, so transforming isn't really an ideal solution.
Fortunately there are indeed other options. Retro fit systems specifically designed for placement in old houses are readily available and can be installed by a qualified heating contractor. Though these systems themselves often cost more, the reduced construction costs and insulation time often makes up for it. One such option is what is known as a high velocity system. This consists of thin insulated tubing that can be snaked through an old house to deliver cool air. The reduced size means that it fits easily into many walls, and the need for large scale remodeling is minimal.
A little more cost effective option, called a mini split system, only needs placement of little cooling units and blowers on a room by room basis. These units are connected by thin power and coolant lines to a bigger outside unit that is composed of a compressor and fan. In every case, the scale of the AC work being installed is far less, meaning only minor aggressive remodeling need be done to get a space for them. These systems are very good solution to putting central aircon in an old house, nevertheless it is crucial to discover a qualified heating contractor to install them. Ensure that the contractor you use has precise experience with the kind of system you are considering, is approved and certificated, and matches the dimensions of the system to the size and heating / cooling wants of the old house. He may be able to show you Manual J and Manual D calculations concerning your home size from a cooling and heating viewpoint, not simply guess these numbers.
The only other common option to all this is to put free standing window air conditioners in the house. And we all know how noisy, bulky, and unattractive those can be, especially looking from the exterior of the house. If you want to preserve the beauty and integrity of an historic house, considering doing things right and getting a properly sized and installed retrofit air conditioning system put in. Your comfort is important, and the structural and aesthetic integrity of your old house is important as well.
by: Jackie Henshawl
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