Getting rid of the in-wall AC Unit

[heathgt350]

Hi everyone,

In the front wall of my house (facing the road) I have one of those little box AC units that sits in the wall and pumps directly into my lounge.

As I now have ducted cooling in the whole house I'd like to get rid of the wall unit.

This would involve pulling the unit out of the wall, bricking up the hole. And also patching up the hole in the lounge room.

I have a stack of spare bricks that must have been left over when the house was built, so matching them is no problem. Although I am a little worried about how much the new mortar will stick out like a sore thumb!

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of work?

Were you happy with the result? How much did it cost to get done, and can anyone recommend someone in Melbourne (around Cranbourne) who can do it?

Thanks,

Heath.

[GeoffW1]

Hi everyone,

In the front wall of my house (facing the road) I have one of those little box AC units that sits in the wall and pumps directly into my lounge.

As I now have ducted cooling in the whole house I'd like to get rid of the wall unit.

This would involve pulling the unit out of the wall, bricking up the hole. And also patching up the hole in the lounge room.

I have a stack of spare bricks that must have been left over when the house was built, so matching them is no problem. Although I am a little worried about how much the new mortar will stick out like a sore thumb!

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of work?

Were you happy with the result? How much did it cost to get done, and can anyone recommend someone in Melbourne (around Cranbourne) who can do it?

Thanks,

Heath.

Hi,

Yes, I have done this with 3 such units. Two were in brick veneer walls, and the other in a double brick wall. It all came out quite well. They all ran from power outlets which I did not need to disturb. I remember the following:

- all but the very smallest of these in-wall units are quite heavy, so make sure you do not attempt to pull one out alone, injury may result

- nearly all of them are installed in the wall in a rectangular metal shell which is first fixed in the wall opening separately. Then the A/C unit is slid into that and secured with a few screws around the edge. Removal is the reverse.

- once the A/C unit and its shell mount are out, you can then patch the opening.

- In a double brick wall it is just a matter of bricking up with matching bricks and rendering if necessary. The new mortar will not stand out much if the bricks are laid straight and level, and old mortar colour is carefully matched. I did a lot of experimenting with small amounts mixed up with various proportions of oxide colour, and allowed to dry for a week.

- to patch a Gyprock wall, you will usually have to secure a new bit of timber in the opening. Triplegrips or similar, screwed on, are best for this I found, as there is usually no room to swing a hammer.

- I first cut away any ragged bits around the edges of the opening and bevelled them with a sharp blade. Using cornice cement (fast curing) I stuck plasterboard backing blocks in a few places to the rear side of the Gyprock, allowing them to protrude a bit into the opening past the edge. Then I cut a new piece to fit, and stuck it in the opening so that it was all level or a bit below the surrounding surface. A few plasterboard screws into the timber too. Then the joint lines were patched. There is a lot here on how to do that too.

Cheers

[murray44]

Obviously patching the Gyprock inside will much easier than patching the bricks outside.

Just another thought, you may be able to put some feature metalwork/sculpture/lattice over the outside patch if matching is too difficult.

I have no idea of the style of house (or your tastes) but at least something to consider.

[rrobor]

Been there, done that. If you are doing it yourself try my trick. Find old mortar, If you can get under the house theres a supply around the walls. Pound that to dust. Then using standard mortar brick the wall up. While still wet shove tour powdered mortar into the wet mortar and presto you have a perfect match.

[heathgt350]

Thanks for the great replies guys!

I've never actually done brickwork before so I might leave that part to the professionals! I'm sure I can do the inside part though.

I'm thinking of growing some conical conifers along the front of my house, so perhaps I can try to position one of them in the area where the unit was to hide any imperfections.

[ScroozAdmin]

Grinding out and repointing around the area of a patch to the nearest hard visual edge is normally the way to go for camouflaging alterations, a pro brickie will be able to blend that without too much fuss.