Ducted Air Conditioning Inner West

Local knowledge

Where ducting fits under Inner West roofs

The best ducted candidates here are the Federation houses of Haberfield and Summer Hill. Their steep hipped roofs in slate or terracotta give more height than almost anywhere else in the region, so a standard fan coil sits above the central hallway with short runs out to each room. The Federation villas around Stanmore and the big houses on Johnston St in Annandale are similar. Victorian terraces in Balmain, Newtown and Annandale are the hard end of the scale: party walls both sides, low framing and a small manhole for access. There we fit a slim-line chassis if the measure allows, and recommend a multi-head split if it does not.

Almost every older house in the region has grown a rear extension, and that shapes the design more than the bedroom count. The original roof has the height; the skillion or flat roof over the new open-plan living area usually has none. So the ducts run through the old part of the house and the extension is fed from a bulkhead or from the front. Zones follow how these homes are lived in: front bedrooms on one, rear living on another, and upstairs on its own in a two-storey terrace. In Stanmore and Petersham, pressed-metal ceilings and plaster roses mean we choose each outlet position room by room.

Across the heritage conservation areas the outdoor unit goes at the rear or down the side, never on the facade. Haberfield was laid out without rear lanes, so the side setback is the usual spot, on the boundary furthest from a neighbour's bedroom. Sizing is driven by closed windows as much as heat. Under the airport approach in Marrickville, Sydenham and Tempe, and beside Parramatta Rd or the WestConnex portals, houses stay shut all afternoon, so the ducted system carries the whole load. Humid nights held in brick and slate also mean we size bedroom zones to pull moisture out, not just drop the temperature.