Philadelphia Weekly

REAL ESTATE

3 steps to furnace duct repairs

What to look for when assessing system performance

By Inman News Feed

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 24, 2012

If ducts need to be re-supported, use duct support strapping that's made for this purpose. Attach the strapping to a joist, girder or other solid support, using nails or screws. Don't use wire or string, as it doesn't provide adequate support and can also pinch and kink the ducts. Make sure all of the ducts are up off the ground.

Insulate the ducts

Remember that you're pushing heated air through ducts that live in a very cold environment under your house or up in your attic. That heated air is constantly trying to move out of those ducts and into the unheated air that surrounds it, and when in goes, it happily takes your hard-earned dollars with it.

The best way to prevent that from happening is to insulate the ductwork. All of your ducts, both hard ducts and flex ducts, should be insulated to at least R-8, and I prefer R-11 if you can get it. If you live in a warm climate and you're not worried about losing heated air, remember that the reverse is true as well, and you're also wasting money whenever you lose air-conditioned air.

Remodeling and repair questions? Email Paul at paulbianchina@inman.com. All product reviews are based on the author's actual testing of free review samples provided by the manufacturers.