Ask an assistant to help you remove a wall-mounted air conditioner on the second floor. Smaller homes and certain rooms within larger homes often have a wall-mounted air-conditioning unit that fits into the wall. The controls are on the inside of the building and the exhaust vent is on the outside. If the unit is not delivering the desired temperature of air as it should, the unit should be removed and tested at an air-conditioning service center. In most cases, removing a wall-mounted air-conditioning unit takes a relatively short time. Unplug the power cord from the unit at the electrical outlet inside the room. If the unit is hard-wired, switch off the breaker for that electrical circuit at the breaker panel for the house. If the breakers are not labeled or the particular breaker is not known, enlist an electrician to identify the breaker and switch it off. Cut the bead of caulking where the wood trim meets the face of the inside wall, using a utility knife. Remove any trim or casing from around the outer edges of the unit by prying the pieces loose with a wood chisel.

If necessary, use a light hammer to drive the tip of the chisel beneath the trim. Skip this step if wood trim or casing is not installed.. Look for small screws that secure the cover of the unit to the main body, and remove these with the appropriate screwdriver, then pull off the cover by hand. Where screws are not used, gently pry the cover loose with a screwdriver, and pull it off of the unit. Go the outside wall of the house where the unit is installed. If necessary, place a stepladder for access to the outside portion of the unit. Remove the screws from the bottom, top and sides of the chassis, or outside cover. Push on the vents at the rear of the unit by hand to unseat it from the chassis. Go back inside the room. Grip the sides of the unit and pull it toward you to remove it from the chassis in the wall. If the unit will be replaced, loosen and remove any screws that secure the chassis to the framing in the wall, and pull out the chassis. If you have a wall-installed air conditioner that serves only as an eyesore anymore, you can yank it out and seal the hole yourself.

Just make sure to get appropriate siding or other material to patch the exterior of the house when you’re done. If you can’t find an exact match, you can have paint computer-matched to your existing color. Here’s how to remove an air-conditioning unit and patch the hole: ½-inch sheetrock quick-dry joint compound drywall tape replacement shingles to match 2-by-4-inch boards batt insulation 1 sheet of plywood 220-grit sandpaper miter box or circular saw cordless drill drywall saw utility knife mud knife taping knife wonder bar 1. Remove trim around the unit on the inside and cut away caulk on the outside. 2. Remove the front of the unit. 3. Remove the motor and fins from the inside. 4. Remove the metal shell, using a wonder bar to pry away from the opening. 5. Frame the opening with 2-by-4’s. Measure and cut a piece of drywall to the opening dimensions. 6. Screw the drywall into the 2-by-4 frame. Apply a thin layer of joint compound in the gaps.

7. Press tape into the joint compound and cover with another layer of compound. Cover screw heads with compound to fill depressions. Spread a second layer of mud to joints, feathering out to minimize seams. Let dry and then sand mudded area smooth. 8. Insulate the opening with fiberglass insulation with an R-factor of at least 13. old car ac unitsThe paper side goes toward the interior of the home. central ac unit for saleNote: Don’t compress the insulation as you install it. how to fix a central ac unitThe insulation value actually comes from the air space between the fiberglass strands, not the actual fiberglass. 9. Measure and cut a piece of plywood to the opening dimensions. Screw into the 2-by-4 frame. 10. Nail in siding/shingles to match the existing exterior.

11. Caulk around the edges of the siding/shingles to seal the seams. 12. Paint inside and outside as desired. 12,540 posts, read 13,794,041 times Originally Posted by bradykp You can get fairly expensive if you go with ductless or mini-split air conditioners, but if you just get a drop-in replacement (what I would call a "real window unit") 10,000 BTU or so is going to run you about $350. If you have some carpentry skills it generally isn't that hard to resize your opening, but it's a chore. You can probably find something modern and efficient that will blow freezing cold air and fit easily into the existing opening with minimal alteration. You're definitely going to get spendy if you want to retrofit an old house with central A/C. You could blow through $10,000 pretty easily depending on the house. 16,276 posts, read 44,896,608 times Originally Posted by Coldjensens yes - a window unit fit into the wall. so, this is something you think i can just pull out of the wall and put a new one in?

i don't feel as though this is something i can do myself....i'm not saying i'm not handy, i just thought that since the unit must vent to the outside, there would be some sort of sealing involved? 3,414 posts, read 13,590,899 times If you want some free advice on how to hack-up your house you could try to post a picture and I'm sure you will receive lots of it. Originally Posted by jimboburnsywill take some pics tonight. see how well i can get an exterior shot also. 3,303 posts, read 6,161,122 times I am in the middle of buying a house that has central air, except in the rec room which was an addon in 1991. Instead they have a wall unit (looks the same as window unit, but hole in the wall). The unit looks old but functions. I have noticed in wall units cost significantly more than windows units. I have no idea why, they look the same to me. At any rate I have decided that when the unit dies out I am going to fill the hole, possibly with a window and install a mini-split/heatpump system in the room.