But then…I have a giant hole below and above the plywood? Where all the bugs can come flying in! Unless you managed to fit one exactly around the AC. Plus, it would be two sides: to the right of the AC, and aboce it.
I must not be picturing this right, or you aren’t. If you have a regular double-hung window - the kind that the bottom sash moves up to open it (or the top, but most people use the bottom one) - then you put the AC in. You pull the bottom sash down as far as it can go, so that it’s braced against the AC. There will be a lip on the top of the AC to hold the window. You then either pull the side panels out to fill up the horizontal space on each side of the AC; or, if the window is even wider than that, you fill up the extra space with plywood cutouts or Styrofoam insulation or cardboard and you tape it all snug.
How do you end up with a hole above and below the plywood? There is no “below” because the AC is sitting on the bottom windowsill. There shouldn’t be an “above” because the sash should be touching the AC. There should possibly only be spaces on the sides. Perhaps you have horizontal windows like my mom does; they slide from side to side. So there is a space “above” her AC that needs to be filled in, but no space beside it: the window sash slides all the way over to touch the AC and the other side of the AC is against the vertical trim.
Do you have casement windows, by chance, that crank out?
I’ve heard of them too. It definately wasn’t a swamp cooler. The unit I read about cost about $400 and looked like it would do the job of a typical $79 window unit.
I’m this close to buying my own AC unit. Luckily, I do have a window I can put it in…but just one. There is one window in my apartment that can accept it, but thankfully it is in the rom I need iti n (my living room), but not in the best spot. The window is right behind the couch. I could rearrange my living room, but it’s a perfect set up right now, and I like it this way.
(As to why I can’t sue it in another window: there are 4 windows large enough to hold one, but the other three (kitchen, bedroom, and the other living room window that would be perfect for it) limit the bottom sash to only go up so far, and it’s not far enough for an AC.