The 2021 survey of the Upperville Historic District describes houses built mostly of brick and wood frame, with stone and log among them, and walls like those leave no easy path for a duct. A mini split needs only a refrigerant line set, a drain and a cable between the indoor head and the outdoor unit, and they pass through a hole about three inches across.
The Craftsman houses are a natural fit too. The survey counts eight in the district, among them story-and-a-half bungalows with gabled dormers, and the upstairs rooms in houses of that shape sit right under the roof. Those half-story rooms usually run hottest in July and coldest in January, and a head of their own evens them out without touching the system downstairs.
Then there are the buildings that started out as something else. A schoolhouse, a church and an 1850s boys’ academy in the village have all become homes, by the same survey, and many lots keep their old kitchens, meat houses, barns and stables. When one of those turns into a studio, an office or a guest room, a ductless system heats and cools it without running ducts across the yard.
Outside, the unit needs a safe spot. On June 22, 2022, gusts near 70 knots brought down hundreds of trees, branches and wires between Middleburg and Upperville. Keep the outdoor unit out from under heavy limbs, up on a stand or a wall bracket above the snow, and on the side of the house that keeps the line run to the room short.