Having gone through a very cold winter and a hot last few weeks, central air conditioning is finally being installed! (Thanks to Tim and the team at Total Comfort.) This is the second historic home that they have worked on with me and have been great each time. Although the system won’t be routed across all floors, it will cover all of the bedrooms on the second floor and will be set up for a second zone once the attic is built out. This means that overnight guests will be closer to possible!
Although people survived here for almost 300 years without air conditioning, the ability to remove most of the humidity from the air will be a big plus toward preserving the house’s wood framework. Most of the rot that we found seems to be from condensation around plumbing and the drastic temperature fluctuations across many years.
Our first step was to remove all of the deteriorating fiberglass insulation from the attic, installed in 1940s. After several days of removal in terrible heat, it was ready for the installers. We would be done with the installation by now, but realized how incredibly huge the air compressor was when it was sat next to the house. So, we’ve opted to have the unit installed on the west side of the smokehouse instead, avoiding any obstruction to the main house. Hopefully the trenching and line drops will be complete next week, just in time for late July heat waves! SO CLOSE!
This all looks very familiar!
Yes! You have definitely lived through this – gives me hope that it’s possible!