Ductless Mini-Splits in Marblehead

Lots of Marblehead houses were built around hot water radiators or steam and have never had a duct run through them. Retrofitting ductwork into an old colonial means opening ceilings and giving up closets. Ductless mini-splits sidestep that. A compact condenser outside links through a small hole in the wall to one or more indoor heads, and every head warms and cools its patch of the house under its own control. That makes them the natural fix for problem rooms. The finished attic that roasts in August and turns icy in February. The back sunroom the boiler barely reaches. An addition perched over a crawlspace. The far bedroom at the end of the upstairs hall. A head sized for that room pulls it in line with the rest. Ductless can carry the whole house too. With heads in the main living spaces and the bedrooms, a set of mini-splits can see a home through winter, often letting the old boiler retire or stand by as backup. Head style matters as much as capacity. High-wall units are the usual pick, yet a floor console tucks under a window where a radiator once stood, and a ceiling cassette disappears into a flat ceiling. We choose what suits each room and plan the copper to follow corners and trim, covered and finished to blend in. Condensers go on stands that keep them above the drifts. When it all runs, each zone is tested in heating and cooling, and we walk you through the controls one room at a time.