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Duct issue

984 views 6 replies 2 participants last post by  plummer 
#1 ·
Hi. I have 30 year old home in which I have just pulled the carpet and am going to add hardwood. I noticed my one vent was not pushing much air, so I inspected. I was able to put a camera down and can see that the duct pipe has come apart from the elbow (see attached phot). Not good. Now that is zoomed in.....and is thus about 6 feet away from the vent.
I understand how to fix this.....however its getting to it is the issue. Below in the basement it is drywalled and stippled, and above is the 3/4 tongue n groove flooring. What's the best way to get at this? Rip apart the flooring?
Peoples thoughts are what I am after here. Thanks!
 

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#2 ·
I would open the drywall before I would cut into the T&G flooring. Stippling is a pain but can be duplicated with joint compound. Another thought.....they use that 4" round flex duct to retrofit AC into older homes with lath/plaster walls. You could try fishing that inside of the existing duct and re-connecting wherever the duct becomes accessible. two issues with that right off the bat are that damper you can see in the picture and whether the duct becomes accessible before it enters the trunk or has some other obstruction (like another damper) that you can't see.
 
#4 ·
Correct it's not a big deal to cut the floor open, just draw it out and cut with a circular saw. The issue is that the saw blade takes a kerf anywhere from 1/16 to 1/8 wide that becomes a gap when the flooring square is replaced in the hole. You could fill that and stain it but not sure how you would make it invisible....unless it's under a piece of furniture or a throw rug anyway. I would ask for a description of how the flooring guy plans to make the repair disappear before I let him cut a hole in my wood floor.....but that's just me.
 
#5 ·
sorry maybe I was not quite clear in my original post. My hardwood is not installed yet. I just pulled the carpet out......and am down to the plywood. So in the end the new hardwood will get laid overtop and you would never know the issue existed. :)
 
#6 ·
plummer said:
Now that is zoomed in.....and is thus about 6 feet away from the vent.
I understand how to fix this.....however its getting to it is the issue. Below in the basement it is drywalled and stippled, and above is the 3/4 tongue n groove flooring.
OK that wasn't clear....you said you were installing hardwood in this room, but since the issue was 6' away it sounded like it was in another room that already had hardwood installed.

In that case absolutely cut up the subfloor, much easier than dealing with the stippling below. Use a stud finder (or nail pattern) to locate the joists, cut so the seams are on a joist, set the circular saw blade depth to the thickness of the subfloor and you'll be good to go.

While you're in there, you may want to get rid of that damper in the duct since you won't be able to operate it anyway...and if it accidentally closes on its own there will be no way to get it open again.
 
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