Home of the $100 OFF AC REPAIR SUMMER SPECIAL | 0% Interest for 24 Months
Home of the $79 SPRING TUNEUP | 0% Interest for 24 Months
Home of the $79 SPRING TUNEUP | 0% Interest for 24 Months
Home of the $100 OFF AC REPAIR SUMMER SPECIAL | 0% Interest for 24 Months
Home of the $79 SPRING TUNEUP | 0% Interest for 24 Months
Home of the $79 SPRING TUNEUP | 0% Interest for 24 Months
A downtown single house cannot be cooled the way a suburban ranch is. There is no duct chase to work with, the structure is irreplaceable heart pine, and the Board of Architectural Review has a say in what shows from the street. We retrofit peninsula homes the right way, without gutting the house that makes them worth owning.
Call (843) 708-8735The classic Charleston single house is one room wide, turned gable-end to the street with its full-length piazzas running down the long side, and it is framed in heart-pine post-and-beam with plaster walls. Beautiful, and a genuine problem for central air: there is no chase to run ductwork up through the floors, and no one with any sense is cutting into heart pine or tearing out original plaster to make room for it.
So forcing conventional ducts into a single house is the wrong instinct. The right retrofit keeps the structure intact and puts the conditioning where it needs to go without the demolition.
Wall, ceiling, or low-profile units tied to a compact outdoor condenser, no ductwork required. They zone the house room by room, run quietly, and dehumidify well, which is exactly what a piazza-shaded single house with tall ceilings needs. Ideal when you want to condition the rooms you live in without touching the structure.
Flexible two-inch tubing threads through existing wall and ceiling cavities and feeds small, round outlets you barely notice. You get the even, whole-home feel of central air and keep the historic interior, with none of the soffits, chases, and plaster demolition a conventional duct retrofit would demand.
A single house is held up by heart-pine post-and-beam framing that is well over a century old and effectively irreplaceable, wrapped in lath-and-plaster walls and ceilings. Cutting duct runs through that structure is not just expensive, it permanently damages what gives the home its value and, downtown, its protected status.
Ductless and high-velocity systems were made for exactly this. They route through small existing cavities and discreet penetrations, so the heart pine stays load-bearing, the plaster stays intact, and the piazza keeps doing the shading work it was designed for. The comfort is modern; the house is untouched.
In Charleston's Old and Historic District, the Board of Architectural Review must approve an exterior condenser that is visible from the public right-of-way. An outdoor unit or a mini-split compressor placed where it can be seen from the street is a reviewable exterior change, and putting one in without sign-off can get you ordered to move or screen it after the fact.
We plan for that from the start. Equipment goes in rear yards, tucked behind the piazza, or screened out of the protected sightlines, and when a placement needs BAR approval we site and document it to clear review. You get the cooling without a fight over the front elevation.
We service historic homes across the Charleston peninsula. 29401 covers the lower peninsula and the historic core, from South of Broad through the French Quarter, Harleston Village, and Ansonborough. 29403 covers the upper peninsula, including Cannonborough-Elliotborough, Wagener Terrace, and Hampton Park Terrace. Single houses, Charleston doubles, and freedman's cottages alike.
The pages that pair with a peninsula historic-home retrofit.
Coastal Carolina Comfort retrofits Charleston single houses and downtown historic homes with ductless and high-velocity systems, placed to satisfy the Board of Architectural Review and to leave the heart pine and plaster alone. Same-day service across the peninsula.
Call (843) 708-8735