Venting for air-conditioners placed under raised deck with enclosedsides.
 

I own a rental townhouse in a complex where the builder did not put in
A/C units. The location for the A/C units, for those that wanted them,
is under a wooden deck that has about 5 feet of height underneath. The
underside of the deck is enclosed on three sides with siding, and on the
fourth side is the building.

The problem is that as people have added A/C units, they've cut openings
of various sizes and shapes in the siding, and covered the openings with
wire mesh. It looks terrible, and these homeowners will be paying for
the replacement of the siding.

The question is how to replace the siding and how to include venting
that is not unsightly. A long time ago we were having problems with
moisture under the decks, and installed 24" high x18" wide aluminum
vents in the siding, and painted them to match, and it looked fine, but
these vents don't let in enough air, or let out enough exhaust, for an
air conditioner, so whoever installed the air-conditioner removed them.

I was thinking of some large louvered vents made out of aluminum, like
24" high x 48: wide that we can paint to match, but I can't find
anything like that. I can do three 24" x 18" side by side, on each side
of the deck, but that is a lot more work.

I know that I can order custom extruded aluminum louvers in any
dimensions, but I'd like to stick with standard products.

Venting for air-conditioners placed under raised deck with enclosed sides.
 

On Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:07:16 -0800, SMS
wrote:

I own a rental townhouse in a complex where the builder did not put in
A/C units. The location for the A/C units, for those that wanted them,
is under a wooden deck that has about 5 feet of height underneath. The
underside of the deck is enclosed on three sides with siding, and on the
fourth side is the building.

The problem is that as people have added A/C units, they've cut openings
of various sizes and shapes in the siding, and covered the openings with
wire mesh. It looks terrible, and these homeowners will be paying for
the replacement of the siding.

The question is how to replace the siding and how to include venting
that is not unsightly. A long time ago we were having problems with
moisture under the decks, and installed 24" high x18" wide aluminum
vents in the siding, and painted them to match, and it looked fine, but
these vents don't let in enough air, or let out enough exhaust, for an
air conditioner, so whoever installed the air-conditioner removed them.

I was thinking of some large louvered vents made out of aluminum, like
24" high x 48: wide that we can paint to match, but I can't find
anything like that. I can do three 24" x 18" side by side, on each side
of the deck, but that is a lot more work.

I know that I can order custom extruded aluminum louvers in any
dimensions, but I'd like to stick with standard products.


Just remove the siding. Venting will never be good enough to allow ac
units to be enclosed.

Venting for air-conditioners placed under raised deck with enclosed sides.
 

"SMS" wrote in message
..

I was thinking of some large louvered vents made out of aluminum, like 24"
high x 48: wide that we can paint to match, but I can't find anything like
that. I can do three 24" x 18" side by side, on each side of the deck, but
that is a lot more work.

I know that I can order custom extruded aluminum louvers in any
dimensions, but I'd like to stick with standard products.


www.mcmaster.com page 634 Up to 60 x 60

Venting for air-conditioners placed under raised deck with enclosed sides.
 

SMS wrote:
I own a rental townhouse in a complex where the builder did not put in
A/C units. The location for the A/C units, for those that wanted them,
is under a wooden deck that has about 5 feet of height underneath. The
underside of the deck is enclosed on three sides with siding, and on
the fourth side is the building.

The problem is that as people have added A/C units, they've cut
openings of various sizes and shapes in the siding, and covered the
openings with wire mesh. It looks terrible, and these homeowners will
be paying for the replacement of the siding.

The question is how to replace the siding and how to include venting
that is not unsightly. A long time ago we were having problems with
moisture under the decks, and installed 24" high x18" wide aluminum
vents in the siding, and painted them to match, and it looked fine,
but these vents don't let in enough air, or let out enough exhaust,
for an air conditioner, so whoever installed the air-conditioner
removed them.
I was thinking of some large louvered vents made out of aluminum, like
24" high x 48: wide that we can paint to match, but I can't find
anything like that. I can do three 24" x 18" side by side, on each
side of the deck, but that is a lot more work.

I know that I can order custom extruded aluminum louvers in any
dimensions, but I'd like to stick with standard products.

How about louvered siding? That is, the whole wall one giant louver? Made of
wood.

Venting for air-conditioners placed under raised deck with enclosed sides.
 

"SMS" wrote

I own a rental townhouse in a complex where the builder did not put in A/C
units. The location for the A/C units, for those that wanted them, is under
a wooden deck that has about 5 feet of height underneath. The underside of
the deck is enclosed on three sides with siding, and on the fourth side is
the building.

How many units and how much time do you mind spending?

The problem is that as people have added A/C units, they've cut openings
of various sizes and shapes in the siding, and covered the openings with
wire mesh. It looks terrible, and these homeowners will be paying for the
replacement of the siding.

The question is how to replace the siding and how to include venting that
is not unsightly. A long time ago we were having problems with

What I would do is prebuild (can be bought premade) several screens with the
dark colored fine mesh material you use for window screens. I would
actually make wood frames which you can pre-paint (using something fairly
sturdy like 1x2 wood) then take the siding down and add L joint screw in
brackets to the studs. Use a staple gun to add the polymer dark mesh at the
backside (wont show, will be on the inside). Add siding and have it cut so
you can just remove the screen panels to fix as needed and put them back up.
(could use butterfly holders too but that would require you make a backing
to hold it against).

To keep pets from damaging them, get fancy and use a trellis like wood
overlay on the outer part with thin (usually 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick stuff).
This would go on the front side and be painted to look like the siding and
wood frame, or in contrast to the siding. (My house is almond-sand with
dark brown trims, dark brown garage door and front door, and a dark brown
sunroom). You can get that pre-made too but it's pretty simple to do
yourself.

More expensive would be regular window screens where the screem material is
laid in with thin rubber tubing in a tunnel to hold it in place. Thats
faster to assemble at the start of the job if you have alot to do, but will
take longer to rescreen when the time comes and will not keep a dog etc from
going through it.