Your screened catio was meant to give the cats supervised time outside, yet the same mesh that lets in the breeze also lets Austin sun cook the air with no insulation to slow it down. Cats cannot regulate heat as well as people think, so they end up panting on the floor of a structure that feels like an oven by late morning. A ductless mini split for that one enclosed outdoor or garage-adjacent space is how you leave the catio open during the day without guessing.
$400 materials deposit books your day. The balance is due when the work is finished and you're happy with it. Anything outside a standard install is quoted before work begins, never discovered after.
Screened catios heat up fast in direct sun because there is nothing but mesh and a thin frame between the cats and the sky. You built it so they could watch birds and feel air on their fur, not so you would have to close it by late morning and keep everyone indoors. The small dedicated footprint is the part that needs cooling, not the rest of the house.
You want to leave the catio open during the day so the cats can come and go on their own while you are at work or running errands. Running the whole house system with a door cracked just dumps cooled air into a sun-loaded box and still leaves the catio hotter than the living room. A mini split mounted for that garage-adjacent or enclosed outdoor room treats only the space the cats actually use.
Cooling the catio as its own small room is more straightforward than trying to drag house air through an open door. Jester Climate puts in ductless mini split systems at a flat $2,400 for materials and labor. The crew is licensed, and any sizing conversation stays a rule of thumb until someone actually stands in the space.
That is the main reason people with a sun-baked catio call. The unit treats the small dedicated space so you are not relying on whole-house air leaking through a door. You still provide water and a shaded perch, and the cats can use the structure on their schedule instead of yours.
We describe sizing as a rule of thumb based on the enclosed footprint, how much direct sun it takes, and whether it sits against a garage. Nothing is promised as a specific capacity in advance. An on-site visit is what confirms the actual conditions before anything is ordered.
Standard installation is $2,400 flat for materials and labor together. One day every week is Joker Day, priced lower than the standard rate, and that day moves, so the exact price lives on the homepage rather than here. A $400 materials deposit holds the day you book, and the remaining balance is due when the work is finished.
No. A small dedicated space is easier to cool efficiently than the whole house, especially when the catio sits in sun and has no insulation. Opening a house door just equalizes the two spaces in the wrong direction. The mini split stays on the catio side of that problem.
The crew is licensed. You can keep the cats in another room or the main house while lines are run and the indoor unit is mounted on the catio or garage-adjacent wall. The remaining balance is due when the work is finished, and the space is theirs again.
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