help with air conditioning in hot flat

pigeonpie

Not sure if this belongs here or in the techie forum?

My flat is a top flat, right under the roof with high ceilings (conversion) and small windows. We nearly passed out last summer and spent a fortune with a portable aircon unit. Now that we own the flat we would like to put in a fixed aircon in the bedroom and possibly the lounge which has a mezzanine where it can get up to 40 degs.
No idea where to start, other than that I don't want to waste money but must be able to cool at least the bedroom (essential medicines nearly went off last yr, nowhere else to put them either) and can't make any big holes in the outside wall as is leasehold and in a conservation area.

thanks for any advice on type of product and installer. I don't fancy DIY as am utterly useless at it.

hazeyj

Hiya

I had aircon installed in my LH flat last year and there a few things you have to do.

You will have to get written permission from your freeholder/landlord. They will want to know things like, will the units be visible from the street, will you take full responsability for any problems arising from the air con installation that affect the building, they will want method statements etc.

Also, new building regs consent came into force last April about air con and you now need to get their consent.

You will need to contact the council first to see what the regs are, find an air con company, get a qoute, appraoch the freeholder and get an agreement legally drawn up wherby they consent to your works, apply for building regs consent and bobs your uncle.

If you dont do all of the you will come a cropper when you sell your place as the buyers sols will want to see that the lease hasnt been broken and all relevant consent was obtained.

I have copies of all my paperwork if you wanted to take a look. It took me around 6 months to get everything sorted but I took a decision to do the works and then worry about consent as I was so desperate. Our flat is made up of floor to ceiling windows and its like a greenhouse.

Good luck!

pigeonpie

We have an absentee freeholder who refuses to reply to any consents unless there's at least £1000 of fees in it for him. Basically we will run any roof light planning permission jobs by him, but with aircon will get authorisation from buildings regs lot (Council are horrendous around here so filled with dread) and just notify him, get a reputable co to install etc.
How much mess does it make of the outside wall?

I can see it's going to be tough to get it done by the summer; should have done it right off when we bought in Feb.
We have small windows and as you climb the 45 stairs to the top flat you can feel the heat just trapped - however my new neighbours have windows like yours on the ground floor so maybe they'll be interested in a joint appl to Mr RipOff the Freeholder.
When buying the flat, we had to buy with a stat declaration from the vendor on verbal consents cos the freeholder hadn't replied by end Jan to consents sent to him at the beginning of October. He's rude too and we hope to get rid of him by a s.o.f but he underpaid for the freehold just 2 years ago , so no doubt not everyone will be willling to fork out....eg the freehold of the slightly bigger building next door was valued at 55K - he paid 20k for this one from the crooks :-(

portable aircons again then?!!!!

thanks for your help. sorry to rant.

pigeonpie

Hi again, Hazeyj, rang council who went DUH? Permission for air con? so softly, softly, don't wake up monkey :-)
We will get quotes and see if it's affordable, then notify freeholder (who will ignore us) and get it done if we can afford it.
please pm me if you are in the London area and can recommend anyone....must comply with buildings regs and give full warranty etc.
oooh dream of a cool breeze!! (aka a big hole in my wallet!)

hazeyj

Hiya

I am in Manchester sorry.

I would just get it done and then worry about the freeholder's permission. I would send him a written request by signed for and then you always have proof that you tried to contact him when you come to sell. I can give you the name and number of who I spoke to at manchester council if you like? I will have a look around to see if I can find the paperwork for the regs.

With regard to the units, if you have somewhere you can house the units outside and a wall, window etc that allows the pipework to connect to the units though can you should be okay. We had a new window with a hole precut in it to accommodate our pipework as we had no walls at all just windows.

Its money well spent but worth it and also worth getting a few qoutes. My first qoute was for £5k and the second one I got was 3.5k (not including the price of a new window) but that was because of the amount of work involved in installation.

pigeonpie

can probably double that in rip off land..ie London :-(
I'll see how I get on with the quotes, thanks.
Does it work a ton better than the portable kind and make less noise? Our portable's like a jumbo jet taking off!

bukup

There is a product called solar reflective paint which basically does what it says on the tin ! This is used for flat roofs though-and is silver in colour.Maybe there are other products more suitable...hope this helps

epz_2

no idea about planning but surely in a top floor flat, assuming you have roof access you could stick the air con unit up their with ducts down to the required rooms, that would reduce noise and since heat rises the ducts could be high up meaning little room space is used.

hazeyj

pigeonpie wrote: »

can probably double that in rip off land..ie London :-(
I'll see how I get on with the quotes, thanks.
Does it work a ton better than the portable kind and make less noise? Our portable's like a jumbo jet taking off!

Ours is v quiet. nut the units are outside so I donr hear them but our neighbours are fine with their noise. Its just a gentle hum