Even though people managed to live in this house for over 100 years without air conditioning, we are clearly not made of the same stuff. With its brick exterior, large windows, and a whole house fan, we thought it might be enough to keep the home cool in the summer. In fact, when we first moved in June, with moderate temperatures the house felt cold. I had to wear a sweatshirt when on the first floor just to stay warm. But then the heat and humidity wave began.
In the afternoon, the house temperature was in the nineties even with the whole house fan running full time. We were still living among boxes and they were becoming soggy; everything in the house felt damp. We were concerned about the damage being done to our furniture and art. Sleeping was uncomfortable and, some nights, impossible. We just moved from Colorado where there is no humidity to speak of and the nights are always cool. This weather was a shock to our systems! It was time to shop for AC.
Putting air conditioning into a 100-year old house is a bit different than a new home. The house wasn’t built to have vents and plumbing in the walls. (In fact, there isn’t anything in the walls, including insulation!) That meant that we would need to bring air up from the basement through the floor or down from the attic through the ceiling. Cooling the second floor was our top priority, so we would be putting ductwork in the attic. However, we had an added complication. We intend to finish the attic in the future and did not want to ruin the beautiful flooring. Look how “cool” this space is!
We turned to Indoor Air Technologies to get it done. Sam Muro was the perfect guy to plan our system to cool the upstairs rooms efficiently while keeping the integrity of the attic. He kept the ductwork within the edges of the attic floor where it will eventually be hidden behind the walls. His team was professional, polite and nice to have around.
Indoor Air Tech kindly lent us two window units so that we could survive the remainder of the summer until they could complete the job. We got our working AC at the end of August when the worst of the summer heat was over. But there have been some very warm days in September (90 degrees yesterday) and we are thrilled to have the comforts of AC!
Our Cranbury House 