Working Class Man Survives Air Conditioning Disaster, Loses A Small Fortune

You truly don't know who you are until your back is against the wall facing insurmountable odds.

As OutKick readers know, I have been through the ringer going back to March. What seemed like a regular night on March 19, 2025 started a chain of events that would have broken most men.

It should have been soul-crushing.

Not for this working class man. I was with a group of people I can't identify due to national security reasons when I received a phone call nobody wants to receive:

The Hookstead Compound had flooded, and the fight to save it was on.

The damage was beyond devastating, and as I've written before, we were able to rebuild and return home by the end of May. 

*RELATED: Working Class Man Suffers Air Conditioning Disaster In Heat Wave, Results Are Brutal*

A look at some temps I had to deal with. (Credit: Weather.com)

The great air conditioning war is over.

Little did I know the problems were far from over. As soon as we returned home, I discovered that my air conditioning no longer worked.

When I say no longer worked, I don't mean we were getting a little AC but not a full blast. I mean we were getting nothing. It was cooked.

Multiple HVAC teams came to assess the situation, and determined that the copper refrigerant line had a hole in it somewhere that occurred during the rebuild. Now, I have to keep details a little shrouded in secrecy here for reasons I really don't want to get into, but those are the baseline facts.

There was a mad scramble to get it fixed as multiple heat waves were smashing the region I live in. Even with a few mobile AC units and lots of fans, temps inside the compound were soaring above 90+ degrees.

Ultimately, I made the decision to move Dusty the dog - who is 13 - and my fiancée to an AirBnb in a different location of the city.

I chose to stay back and guard the fort because my studio is here. I abandoned it once. I wasn't abandoning it again.

We all have to make sacrifices.

I was desperately attempting to figure out who was going to fix it by dropping in new lines, and that's when I got hit with an estimate of nearly $38,000. That's more money than most working class people take home in a year.

A look at one estimate to fix my air conditioning. (Credit: David Hookstead)

Fortunately, I was able to get in contact with a crack HVAC squad that worked with the company that rebuilt the Hookstead Compound. They were able to do it for a much better price (I got a total of four estimates that were all over the place).

A pair of elite HVAC operators entered the residence at approximately 8:00 a.m. on July 11th and immediately went to work cutting drywall and dropping in the lines.

It turns out it's a much more complex process than I imagined. Watching these men work and fix a complex issue was nothing short of impressive.

Having said that, the amount of stuff that had to be cut open in order to drop all the copper lines in was nothing short of wild. I had no idea what HVAC people really did for a living. They now have my immense respect.

My AC is working again. (Credit: David Hookstead)

The days of cooking in 90+ *INDOOR* heat are over. The crack commando squad of HVAC operators returned to the residence at roughly 8:00 a.m. on July 12th to close things up, and it was off to the races from there.

All in, this AC disaster cost me about $12,000 for the fixes, fans, AirBnb and other expenses along the way. Fortunately, I don't really ever spend money and was able to dip into my blue-collar working class roots accounts and get the job done.

It was a hellish six weeks. It was an experience I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I thought the war was over after the Hookstead Compound was rebuilt.

Little did I know the battle was just getting started. Little did I know the damage from the flood and rebuild was far more extensive and *EXPENSIVE* than anyone knew.

Most men would have thrown in the towel and quit, but most men aren't like me. I was raised in the harsh Wisconsin winters where you grow up quick or life eats you alive.

It might not be obvious to the naked eye, but I'm sweating bullets in the photo below. Also, shoutout to the awesome background featuring "Red Dawn," "Band of Brothers, Wisconsin football, the Lions and a .50 caliber round that can be used to open cold drinks. 

I refused to quit during my great AC disaster. (Credit: David Hookstead)

It's currently 70 degrees in the Hookstead Compound, and it feels incredible. I hope to never sit through a humid and hot summer again for months without AC. It's an experience that would radicalize even the most normal man. Now, I truly hope this war is over and we can put it behind us…..with $12,000 less sitting in my bank account. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.