In this part of town, the equipment is the easy part
We work on heating, cooling and ventilation around Redwood Shores and the mid-Peninsula. Most of the homes here are attached, most of them are inside an association, and most of the difficulty in a job is not mechanical — it is establishing what you are allowed to put where, and who owns it.
Getting an outdoor unit approved
Five things you might want to do crossed with four kinds of property. What an association actually decides, what we can put on paper for them, and the case where you may not own the equipment at all.
Two approvals, and they do not talk to each other
One is the city, which cares whether the work is permitted and tested. The other is your association, which cares where the unit sits, how it looks, how loud it is, whether anything crosses a common wall or roof, and which hours a crew may work.
Neither is aware of the other, and the association is usually the slower of the two. Ordering equipment before that answer arrives is the most common way a job stalls here.
What a committee can actually act on
A conversation is not a submission. What gets approved is paper: dimensions, exact placement with a measurement from the property line, the manufacturer’s published sound rating, what is visible from where, and how it is fixed. We produce that sheet as a matter of course, because a committee cannot approve an intention.
Six things
When it stops
Checked in order of cost, with the reading that proves the answer shown to you rather than described.
Once a year
Charge verified by superheat and subcooling, coil and drain cleaned, combustion tested on gas heat, figures recorded.
The paperwork
Dimensions, placement, sound ratings and fixings, on a sheet an association committee can actually vote on.
Where ducts cannot go
Attached homes frequently have nowhere to run duct. Mini-splits, sized properly and placed where the line set is not a problem for anybody.
Between neighbours
Placement, mounts and screening, decided with the party wall in mind. Most complaints here are about sound rather than performance.
Office parks
Split systems and rooftop units on the Shores office parks. Planned maintenance twice a year with readings against each machine.
Houses, townhouses and condominiums
Mostly built from the early eighties onwards, mostly attached, mostly with a narrow side yard and a neighbour’s bedroom window on the other side of it. That constrains where equipment goes far more than any technical consideration does.
Premises
Office parks, suites and light industrial around the Shores and along the corridor. A written record per unit, planned maintenance twice a year, and a straight answer about what the landlord is actually responsible for.
Six things this website does not print
| What your rules say | We have not read your CC&Rs and we are not going to interpret them for you. Associations differ street by street here. What we will do is give you the documents a committee needs to make a decision. |
| Prices | In attached housing the job is defined by access and placement, and both differ house by house. A figure here would be a guess. |
| A response time | We do not publish one. We will tell you where you are in the queue when you ring. |
| Decibel claims | We will quote the manufacturer’s published sound rating and say where it came from. We will not tell you how loud it will be at your neighbour’s window, because that depends on the building. |
| Reviews and ratings | There are none on this site. When there are real ones they will be somewhere you can check them. |
Asked most often
Do I need association approval to replace my existing unit?
Sometimes, and it is worth one email to find out rather than assuming. Many associations treat a straight replacement in the same position as maintenance. Two things can turn it into an alteration: modern equipment is often physically larger, particularly in height, which changes what is visible over a fence, and it may need a different pad or different clearances, which moves it. A short written notice with old and new dimensions side by side costs nothing and settles it.
Will you tell me what my CC&Rs allow?
No, and we would be careful of any contractor who does. Every association here is different and the documents mean what they say rather than what a contractor guesses. What we produce is the technical sheet your board needs — dimensions, placement measured from a fixed point, the manufacturer’s published sound rating with the source named, fixings and penetrations. What that means under your rules is a question for the board or the managing agent.
My neighbour says the unit is too loud. What can be done?
Usually quite a lot, and it is worth separating two different complaints. Airborne noise is about placement relative to windows and whether anything is screening or reflecting it. Vibration transmitted into a shared wall is a different problem and the one people find hardest to live with — that is about mounts and how the unit is fixed. Both are cheaper to address than a dispute, and both are easier before installation than after.
Can you give me a decibel figure for my neighbour’s window?
No. We will quote the manufacturer’s published sound rating and tell you where it came from. What it actually sounds like at a particular window depends on the building, the surfaces around it, the distance and the time of day. Anybody giving you a confident number for that has not measured it either, and a committee is entitled to hear the honest version.
The top floor of our townhouse is always warm. Do we need a bigger system?
Almost certainly not. Three-storey attached homes lose the top floor for reasons that are usually measurable: duct sizing, a return path that cannot get air back down, or a damper somebody set years ago. Static pressure and delivered airflow at the registers that matter will say which. Buying capacity before measuring is how people end up with a bigger machine and the same complaint.
Which areas do you cover?
Redwood Shores, Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, Foster City, San Mateo, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
Redwood Shores Parkway
220 Redwood Shores Pkwy, Redwood City, CA 94065. We cover Redwood Shores, Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, Foster City, San Mateo, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 4.30pm. (925) 441-3346