HVAC Considerations for Your Home Addition

Investing in an addition allows you to create a better, more spacious home while meeting the changing needs of your growing family. Like most renovations, it requires careful thought and planning. Apart from learning about the potential timeline and budget to get it done, you’ll have to consider the type of HVAC setup that will best fit your home addition. This decision, after all, will have an impact on your home’s overall heating and cooling needs.

HVAC repair contractor Schmitt Heating & Air Conditioning discusses the important considerations for choosing the best HVAC setup for your home addition.

The Purpose of Your Home Addition

When deciding on the type of heating and cooling system for your home addition, you have to first determine the purpose your new space will serve. Will it be an extra bedroom, dining area, or living room? This will also influence how often you plan on using it. Ideally, you’ll want a long-term HVAC solution if the space is going to be used frequently. Otherwise, a system that you can turn on and off without affecting your home’s overall comfort and energy consumption would be more efficient.

Local Building Codes

Depending on the type of addition you have at home, the need to install an HVAC system must first meet local laws and regulations. For example, if you have a garage as your home addition, the law could prohibit you from running extra ducts into said space. To be sure, consult your local building authority.

HVAC Options for Your Home Addition

A heating and AC repair expert can help you choose the best HVAC option for your home addition. Expect them to suggest one of the following choices:

• Heating and Cooling Extension. It is possible to heat or cool your home addition using the HVAC system you currently have. However, the professional technician must first analyze the unit’s size and calculate the heating and cooling loads to check whether it can provide comfort to the new space. If it has enough power to do so without undergoing unnecessary stress, an extra set of ducts will be connected from the existing ductwork to the home addition.

• Ductless HVAC Installation. If your home addition is only a single room, a ductless mini-split HVAC system would be a more sensible choice. This way, you won’t have to worry about paying extra for a separate heating and cooling system that’s connected to an extra set of ducts.

• HVAC Replacement. A heating and cooling system that’s already showing signs of deterioration can no longer provide enough comfort for your home, let alone your addition. Also, its size may have been determined to be insufficient for your newly expanded home. In this regard, the only solution would be to invest in a replacement.

Get in Touch With Us!

At Schmitt Heating and Air Conditioning, we are proud to offer quality residential HVAC services. Whether you want to upgrade your unit or install new ducts to accommodate your home addition, you can count on our cooling and heating repair and installation team to determine the best system for your needs. Call us today at (415) 522-0966, or fill out our contact form to schedule a consultation. We serve homeowners in San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area.