moving flex duct

RodneySt

Hi all - I searched your forum and didn't find a similar question/answer so I'm posting. My apologies if this is a duplicate, just point me in the right direction.

I live in an old (1920) city duplex with very shallow closets. We're considering builidng out the guest room closet as a DIY project this spring. This would require moving an AC duct on the ceiling (so it doesn't end up in the new, larger closet).

The ducts are flexible hoses that come out as a small (≈3" diameter) circular hole in the ceiling. The room in question is on the 2nd floor, so hoses are in the attic right above, although I think attic access is pretty shallow in that area. Ceiling is plaster. I know nothing about HVAC, is this a reasonable undertaking?

Hopefully it's as simple as stretching the hose a couple feet further in the attic (do they stretch?) and drilling a new hole in the ceiling. I'm leery about splicing/adding joints to the hose due to a complete lack of experience and fear of knocking out AC service to this room (or the whole house).

I would really appreciate anyone who weighs in about what the HVAC portion of this project would entail. Thanks in advance.

TarheelTerp

Drilling the hole through plaster and lathe is far more difficult to do well than adding some extra piece of "hose" to the line. When you get a piece of "hose" to match what you have in your hands you'll see.

Go up to the attic and take a few pictures.
Look for the duct to all be insulated, well supported and without any kinks.
If not... fix that.

joecaption

Moving a duct is not going to effect anything to do with the rest of the system. To get through plaster your going to need a carbide hole saw, once it hits the lath you should switch to a reguler bi metal one.
A Bimetal one would be trashed by the the time it got thorugh to the wood.