Ductless mini splits in The Plains.

Close to half the buildings the state’s historic register counts in town went up between 1900 and 1930, and most lots were built out by the mid-1960s. Six near-twin frame cottages on Pickett Street date from the early 1940s and four brick-veneered ones on Mosby Street from about 1956, all one story, built before central air was usual. When ductwork came to houses like that, it went wherever it fit. A head or two on one outdoor unit heats and cools those rooms without opening a ceiling.

The bigger houses in town are taller. The Foursquares the register lists on Cottage Lane, Lee Street and Fauquier Avenue are two and a half stories, and the I houses it found in more than ten places are two full stories around a center hall. The top floor of either is the one a system downstairs struggles to reach, and a single head there settles it.

The outside walls matter too. Many houses in town are stuccoed, and some carry vinyl or aluminum over the original wood siding, so the hole for the refrigerant line goes through two layers and gets sealed at both. Every property in town sits in the Historic District, where the Architectural Review Board reviews improvements, so we plan the line set and outdoor unit for the side or back of the house and check with the Town before anything goes on the wall.

Anywhere in 20198, a mini split’s outdoor unit should sit up off the ground. NOAA’s normal for the station just north of The Plains is about 20 inches of snow a year, and the January 2016 blizzard left an estimated 24 to 36 inches across northern Fauquier. A wall bracket or a stand keeps the coil clear and lets the defrost water drain instead of freezing into a block underneath.