We just bought a new AC unit for our living room last summer to replace the 1971 FORD unit that came with the house. We also have a unit in our bedroom. But I'm seriously considering putting CAC in our little ranch because DD's room is currently 81 degrees. To be fair, we did just turn the AC on when we got home right before her bedtime at 7. We would only need 6 rooms and 2 bathrooms hooked up. It can't cost THAT much....right?!
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I would never buy a house without it.
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I don't think many houses down here are without it. There's no way we could, we have the AC running 90% of the year.
I'd def get a few quotes. My mom recently did her house back in NY and she said it was less than she thought (I don't know a figure though, sorry!).
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@Smurfette: haha, houses are expensive on Long Island. Sometimes I cry watching House Hunters when I see what we could afford elsewhere.
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We are putting a mini split heat pump in this summer so that it will do AC in the summer and significantly cut down on our heating costs in the winter. I think they are around $3000
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What type of heating do you have? It's a lot cheaper to add air con to forced air systems than to add ducts to a rad system or electric baseboard system.
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@swedishfish: it really depends on pricing! Depends on your house and how much work will be needed to retrofit. Know anyone contractors?
We're lucky bc our home has a boiler system for heat but central air for cool. Best of both worlds!
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Our house came with it. In Texas I doubt a house would sell without it.
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@Leialou: I was watching House Hunters and a couple was looking at homes that did NOT have central air!!! In California!
I feel like that's gotta be part of the building code in states that are hot 75% of the time!
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Houses come standard with it in them here! Like @Smurfette: I would never buy a house that didn't have ac.
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@Charm54: We're thinking about/planning to put in a couple of mini splits too, and were quoted $3500 each. We would need 3 to completely A/C our house (2 stories + basement that wouldn't be heated or cooled and 2600 square feet), we won't be doing that though.
We briefly entertained adding central air but it would be at least 10k and we wouldn't use it enough to cover the cost.
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Central air is an absolute must have for me. Installing a window unit or whatever every year, taking it down at the end of the season, having one or two rooms get way more air than the rest? No thank you! My parents got central air installed when I was in about 4th grade, and I've had it ever since. DH's home he owned when we started dating didn't have it when he bought it, but he had it installed right when he moved in. Now we wouldn't even consider purchasing a home without it. We live in Michigan so there's plenty of cold months, but it was up to high 80s today, and I'm not dealing with that! LOL.
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@oliviaoblivia: we have natural gas with baseboards. But we are in a ranch so we wouldn't need the ductwork that my parents' colonial needed.
@locavore_mama: yes, my father who just tried to talk me out of it.
we are having Sears stop by just to get an idea of pricing in the area.
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We could not survive without it here.
But growing up, we had a swamp cooler, it was miserable in other rooms and when we had high humidity, so basically I wouldn't do without central air ever again.
It certainly could help increase the value of your house. The central air units around here average around 3k, not counting duct work and installation.
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We looked at a house back in 2008 that was so awesome but didn't have central air. It was a major deal breaker for us because we were told it would cost $10,000 to have it installed.
I've always wondered what the actual cost would have been! We really did like that house.
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I wish. We don't have ducts, so it is a big expense. The quotes I got last year were around 12k. If this were our forever house, I would bite the bullet but it just doesn't make sense. We got a giant unit for the first floor and have small window units in the bedrooms. We are in the northeast so it's only bad for probably less than a month.
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@Sparkler: that's why I'm wavering as well...I don't plan on this being our forever home.
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@swedishfish: maybe he knows some hvac contractors that can get you material at cost and cheaper labor? That would definitely up your resale value big time!
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i looked at a house without it, and the owners had gotten a few quotes to have central a/c put in, so people looking would have an idea. it was going to be between 8K-10K for a 1400 sq foot house.
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@swedishfish: We are in a similar position, we have baseboard/radiant heat and no ductwork for AC. For the ductless system we were quoted $13K. We have a 2 story (plus a basement) cape cod.
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Central air was a must when we were looking for a house! I've never lived in a house w/o one!
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I would have put it in immediately if the house didn't have it. It was a requirement of mine that the house have forced air heat rather than rad heat, so that C/A could be installed cheaper.
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@swedishfish: Yeah, I even went and looked at the comps and in our area there really is no difference in resale. It is such a sellers market that people can't really care about it if they want a house! Spending $500 on a few window units vs 12K on central (not to mention losing a ton of closet space for the ducts) just didn't make sense. We love our radiators too as our house stays so warm. In our old condo we had forced air heat and it was always SO dusty and drove my husbands allergies insane. I will absolutely put it in our forever house when we move in though! Good luck on your decision!
I feel like that's gotta be part of the building code in states that are hot 75% of the time!
we are having Sears stop by just to get an idea of pricing in the area.
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