Air Duct Replacement

amylucha

Hi Everyone,

I had someone come over to clean out my air ducts. He took one look inside my attic and told me that my ducts are deteriorated. They've been destroyed by rats (which I didn't even know I had!)

He took a couple of pictures and told me that I should have all seven of my ducts replaced. He quoted a price of $250 per duct and will throw in cleaning my dryer vent... total price $1,750.

I bought my place four years ago. I just took a look at my original home inspection report and it said that there was no damage to the air ducts.

Could my ducts have deteriorated so badly in four years? Here are the pictures he took.

I'm just wondering if I'm getting ripped off or if I really do need to have them replaced.

Thanks for any help you can give!

~ Amy

REP

Look,contractors use flex duct because they don't have to mesaure and exactrly cut metal.I've only seen a very few flex duct jobs that were ok in my opinion.
First if you are working from a manual "J" or a manual"D" that tells you how many cfm's of conditioned air each room needs to satisfy your comfort requirements,you have to realize that flex duct sizes have to be bigger than hard metal duct to give you the same cfm's.
Flex duct needs to be as stright as an arrow,pulled tight so there is no sags and any bends should be of hard metal elbows.
So if its sized right,installed right it might give you a decent life but because it is subjected to pressure,heat,and cold it will not last as long as metal duct.
Yes I lost jobs because I refused to use flex duct and it took me a little longer but my jobs not only worked but they are still working as good as the day I installed them.
So if he is going to use hard metal duct,his price is way low but if hew is going to replace flex with flex then you're going to get a poorer job with possibly a half life.

Rewound98

It's impossible to know if that estimate is accurate.

Get two more estimates and then proceed with the one that seems reasonable.