Central AC on Roof
We want to put our central a/c compressors on the roof of our landmarked brownstone. any idea what kinda costs i’m looking at? how much of a pain in the neck is landmarks with this?
We want to put our central a/c compressors on the roof of our landmarked brownstone. any idea what kinda costs i’m looking at? how much of a pain in the neck is landmarks with this?
I’m in a landmark district. Across the backyard, renovators are situating a monster a/c unit on the back edge of their roof and it’s totally visible from my 2nd floor apartment.
Is that legal? It totally obliterates the skyline.
The steel meets NYC fire department rules. Also there are bushings to absorb the vibration. I have a question? Do they run the steel the entire width of the building or just on an angle so that it does not rest on the party wall? Do you have to get permission from your neighbor if it has to rest on the party wall?
samandjoeshow: neither actually, it’s just parts of my name, which for no real reason I don’t spell out.
I agree with cmu that the interior steel frame seems like serious overkill and that two steel beams resting on the party brick walls is more than sufficient. The dynamic load of someone walking on the roof is far greater than the static load of a 300 lb compressor. The only reason I can think that anyone would do this would be to dampen any vibration from the compressor, but still seems like overkill.
BTW is cmu stand for concrete masonry unit or carnegie mellon university?
it’s usually just some iron beams, so that the unit is not directly on the roof. it’s better for your roof’s heath, and makes it easier with any future repairs for the roof or the A/C. the beams just go horizontal across the building, and sit on the brick walls on either side.
2incq, I’d be interested to know why your house needed all this, the interior steel frame seems to be far out of the norm-is this commercial? Residential a/cs weigh in less than 300 lbs, so if I have one fat friend with me on the roof I’m above this load. And if the steel bears on the walls, which normally can easily support it w/o reinforcement, there’s no load on the roof.
Cost depends on the units, number of zones, and lots of other stuff. But if the equipment’s going on the roof it should be craned anyway, and the steel is only a few hundred bucks. Say $2K for the materials, labor and crane rental.
when I had it installed, there wasn’t any noticable difference in price quoted between putting it on the roof vs. the yard. I paid 18k for a 3-zone split system. One thing that kept the price low was that the walls were open when the work was getting done. I am very happy I choose the roof because I never hear it all. Also, it’s not visible from the street. contractor was Palone Bros.
an architect in brooklyn –
can you or anyone give us a ballpark on the cost for Central air that goes on a roof?