Heating and Cooling in Livonia, MI

Livonia heating and cooling, from Rosedale Gardens to the northwest corner

Census Bureau estimates put a little over a third of Livonia's homes in the 1940s and 1950s and about the same share in the 1960s and 1970s. Roughly one in five is newer, and the city's master plan says the newer homes cluster toward the northwest corner. Only about one in twenty-five was built before 1940, and more than eight in ten are detached houses. For Metro Detroit as a whole those two figures are about one in eight and about seven in ten.

Maverick Heating and Cooling is family-owned. There are four of us, and the business is 7 years old. We arrive at the time we gave you. You are told what is wrong, what it would take to fix and what that costs before any work starts. Whatever the job, it is 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Our service area is every city within 50 miles of Dearborn Heights. That takes in Redford on Livonia's east side, Westland on its south side and the other towns on our service area page.

Central air in Livonia houses, decade by decade

Old Rosedale Gardens, one of Livonia's first neighborhoods, is a National Register historic district of 570 houses, most built from 1925 to 1948 and faced in red brick. Its registration form says six 1937 houses on Cranston Street were reportedly model homes built to promote central air conditioning, an experiment reportedly dropped because of the cost.

Central air stayed rare in new houses for years after that. A Livonia home from the 1940s or 1950s was typically built without it, so central air was usually added later, onto ducts sized for heating. In a 1960s or 1970s house the first furnace is usually long gone, while the ducts are often original. Newer houses more likely had central air from the start, so there the question is how old the equipment is now.

The May 2011 flooding and the city's advice

After heavy rain in May 2011, CBS Detroit reported about one thousand flooded basements in Livonia. It also reported a Linden Street basement where two to three feet of water ruined the furnace. The city's sewer backup guidance says basement water arrives either as storm water seeping in or as sewage backing up through the floor drain.

The city tells owners to turn off the gas to the furnace and water heater and to have affected appliances inspected before using them again. Do the first only if you can reach the valves without standing in water. Industry guidance goes further: gas valves and controls that have been under water get replaced, and often so does the whole furnace or water heater.