AC repair in the Houston Heights

The Heights is full of beautiful old houses that were built decades before anyone in Houston had air conditioning. Cooling them well is a genuinely different job than working on a modern build, and a lot of the problems we get called out for trace back to a retrofit that was done quickly instead of correctly.

Houses never designed for central air

A classic Heights bungalow was built for cross-ventilation: tall ceilings, big windows, deep porches, and a floor plan meant to move air on its own. When central AC was added later, the ductwork had to go somewhere, and "somewhere" is usually a cramped attic or the crawlspace underneath.

That creates a specific set of recurring problems:

• Tight attics. Steep roof pitches and low clearance mean ducts get crushed, kinked, or run in ways that strangle airflow. A duct that's pinched behind a rafter will never deliver its rated air, no matter how good the equipment is.
• Pier-and-beam crawlspaces. Ductwork run under the house sags over the years, joints separate, and insulation gets soaked or torn open by animals. You end up air conditioning the dirt under your floor.
• Tall ceilings. Ten and eleven foot ceilings mean far more air volume to cool than the square footage suggests. Systems sized off floor area alone come out undersized. Our size calculator accounts for ceiling height for exactly this reason.
• Original windows and thin wall insulation. Single-pane windows and shiplap walls with little or no insulation push the cooling load way up.

When ductwork isn't the answer: mini-splits

Sometimes there's simply nowhere good to run a duct: a converted attic bedroom, a garage apartment, a back addition, or a room that's always been ten degrees off from the rest of the house. A ductless mini-split solves that without tearing the house apart. It's a small indoor head connected to an outdoor unit by a line set through a three-inch hole in the wall, and it lets you condition that one space independently.

For a lot of Heights homes, a mini-split on the problem room is dramatically cheaper and less invasive than re-ducting the whole house.

Historic district considerations

Parts of the Heights fall inside City of Houston historic districts, where exterior changes visible from the street can require review before the work happens. That can affect where a condenser or a mini-split line set gets placed. It's usually easy to work around, since putting equipment in a side or back yard normally avoids the issue entirely, but it's worth checking your address with the city before planning an install rather than after.

What we handle in the Heights

• AC and heating repair on all makes and models
• System replacement and right-sizing for older homes
• Ductless mini-split installation for additions and problem rooms
• Ductwork inspection and repair in attics and crawlspaces
• Maintenance and tune-ups
• HVAC electrical: disconnects, breakers, and control wiring

Wondering whether to fix what you've got or replace it? We wrote up how we think about that decision.