Ductwork & airflow
Most of your AC system lives where you never look. When a room won't cool, a vent sweats or the system runs all afternoon, the cause is often up in the attic, and that's where we fix it.
From one crushed run to a full attic of new ductwork, measured before and after.
New supply and return runs when the old ones are torn, crushed, sweating or coming apart in more places than one.
Crushed or kinked flex, runs pulled off their collars, sagging runs and leaking connections, fixed run by run.
Rooms that won't cool, weak registers and too little return air, measured and fixed by resizing or rerouting ducts.
Rusted, sweating or leaking supply and return plenums at the air handler, repaired or rebuilt to fit.
Sweating or rusted boots, stains around ceiling vents, whistling registers and return grilles too small for the system.
Leaking joints, collars and boots found by inspection and measurement, then sealed, so cooled air reaches the rooms instead of the attic.
For ductwork that is actually dirty, such as after construction, debris or a leaking return pulling in attic dust, with the cause fixed so the dirt doesn't come straight back.
The same system, five conditions. Pick one to see what happens to the airflow, what you'd notice, and how hard the blower ends up working.
Supply air reaches every room through sealed, supported runs, and enough air returns to the air handler to keep the blower in its comfortable range.
How airflow gets measuredBlower effort
Normal
What you notice
A run pinched under attic storage or bent sharply at a takeoff delivers a fraction of its air. The rest of the house is fine, and one room never catches up.
When one room won't coolBlower effort
Normal
What you notice
Cooled air pours into the attic instead of the room. The room stays warm, the attic gets cold and damp, and the system runs longer to make up for it.
Duct repairBlower effort
Lower than it should be
What you notice
The blower can only push out what it can pull back in. A small return grille or a restricted return duct starves the whole system, so it gets louder, weaker and less efficient everywhere.
Airflow and duct designBlower effort
Working too hard
What you notice
The plenum feeds every run. When its seams leak, or it sweats in a humid closet or attic, the whole house loses air and the metal starts to rust.
Plenum repair and replacementBlower effort
Normal
What you notice
A typical South Florida layout, with the air handler in a closet or garage and the ducts running through a hot attic.
in. w.c.
How hard the blower is working against the duct system. High readings point to restrictive ducts, filters or returns.
°F at each register
Shows which runs are under-delivering compared to the rest of the house.
grille and duct size
Too little return area starves the system no matter how good the supply side is.
Where ducts, boots or the plenum are sweating, and whether the cause is missing insulation, an air leak or air that's running too cold.
These are standard airflow measurements, described in general terms. Readings are compared with the equipment's own specifications.
Get a rough number for your ductwork
Answer a few questions about the house and what you're noticing, and see a rough range in a couple of minutes. It's not a quote. The real number comes after someone has been in the attic.
The on-site duct evaluation is free.
Duct problems rarely announce themselves as duct problems. These are the comfort complaints that usually lead to a look in the attic.
| What you notice | What it often turns out to be | How it gets fixed |
|---|---|---|
| One room warmer than the rest | A crushed, kinked or disconnected run to that room, or a run too long or too small for it | Repair the run, or resize and reroute it |
| Weak airflow at every register | Too little return, a restrictive filter setup or an undersized trunk. Sometimes it's the blower or a dirty coil, not the ducts | Measure static pressure first, then fix whatever is restricting the system |
| Vents sweating or dripping | Humid attic air reaching a cold boot through a gap at the ceiling, a boot that lost its insulation, or supply air running very cold because airflow is low | Seal and insulate the boot, replace it if it has rusted, and check the airflow behind it |
| Stains on the ceiling near a vent or under a run | Condensation on an uninsulated boot, duct or plenum, or a run that came loose and is cooling the attic | Find where the water forms, then insulate, repair or replace that section |
| Whistling return or stuffy closed rooms | A return grille or duct too small for the system, or no path for air to get out of a closed bedroom | Enlarge or add a return, or add a transfer grille or jumper duct |
| Longer run times and higher bills every summer | Leaking or disconnected ducts losing cooled air in the attic, or insulation that has broken down | Inspect the attic runs, then repair or replace depending on how widespread the damage is |
A starting point, not a diagnosis. Some of these share symptoms with equipment or drain problems, which is why the measuring comes first.
A Broward attic in summer runs far hotter than the rooms below it, and the air up there is humid most of the year. The ductwork sits in that every day, and over time it shows:
Sizing is the other half. Plenty of homes here have ductwork that was undersized from the start, or a return that can't keep up with a newer, larger system. That shows up as far rooms that never get enough air and a system that's louder than it should be.
None of it happens overnight. It shows up as a room that used to be comfortable and now isn't, a vent that drips, a ceiling stain or a system that runs longer every summer.
Yes. Leaky or disconnected ducts dump cooled air into the attic, and restrictive ducts make the blower work harder and the system run longer. The equipment can be fine while the house still costs more to cool.
Yes. The on-site duct evaluation is free. We inspect the duct layout, access and airflow, then tell you whether a repair or a replacement makes sense, with real prices.
If your AC itself is broken and needs a diagnosis, that's a repair visit: Free service call with repair.
Flex duct is a flexible, insulated tube used for the branch runs from the trunk to each room. It works well when it's routed with gentle bends, supported along its length and sealed at both ends. In a hot attic it fails when it's crushed, sags into kinks, or slips off its fittings.
Tell us which rooms and when it happens. That narrows the search before anyone climbs into the attic.
The on-site duct evaluation is free.
Florida license CAC1821225
