Air Duct System for the whole house (Chantilly: rental, mortgage)

[vecon20]

Hello,

My house (in Chantilly, VA) doesn't have basement nor crawl space. It's on concrete foundation and the air duct system runs under the ground. My house has main level and 1 upper level.
I want to run/build the new air duct system (either run on attic, or anywhere else but under the ground) and get rid of the existing one completely (if needed). I am looking for a contractor or company to do this. Any suggestion? My house built in '77

[johnsonkk]

It might be easier to explain why you want this done and find alternate options vs. The solution to reroute ducts throughout a house.

It would be unbelievablly difficult to retrofit duct work throughout a whole house. Just upgrading a gas pipe is a challenge but ripping out walls, rewiring plumbing, to make room would be a challenge.

It would be easier to put a separate system for each room than redoing a central air/heating system.

Why do you need all new ductwork for an entire house?

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

It might be easier to explain why you want this done and find alternate options vs. The solution to reroute ducts throughout a house.

It would be unbelievablly difficult to retrofit duct work throughout a whole house. Just upgrading a gas pipe is a challenge but ripping out walls, rewiring plumbing, to make room would be a challenge.

It would be easier to put a separate system for each room than redoing a central air/heating system.

Why do you need all new ductwork for an entire house?

I'll let the OP answer that but there can be environmental issues such as radon, mold, water etc..with underslab ductwork. My old house was half underslab ductwork. Just imagine having that ductwork exposed to that environment for in my case 40 + years. I did not have adequate attic space to move mine. If I did I would have moved it. Lucky I was able to sell it without any flags.
And really if you have good attic space it is doable. Difficult, maybe. Unbelievably difficult, probably not.

[vecon20]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

It might be easier to explain why you want this done and find alternate options vs. The solution to reroute ducts throughout a house.

It would be unbelievablly difficult to retrofit duct work throughout a whole house. Just upgrading a gas pipe is a challenge but ripping out walls, rewiring plumbing, to make room would be a challenge.

It would be easier to put a separate system for each room than redoing a central air/heating system.

Why do you need all new ductwork for an entire house?

one of the air ducts on the main floor was leaked and the water got in when the last snow storm happened. The heating system guy said that is normal and expected for the air duct system runs underground and get rotten over the years. He said, just buy a new house rather than running new ductwork for the entire house. I would rather spend 50K to run the new ductwork than buying new house that requires me to pay mortgage interest all over again and of course to get a comparable house, i would have to pay higher monthly mortgage payment than what I am paying now for the current house

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by vecon20

one of the air ducts on the main floor was leaked and the water got in when the last snow storm happened. The heating system guy said that is normal and expected for the air duct system runs underground and get rotten over the years. He said, just buy a new house rather than running new ductwork for the entire house. I would rather spend 50K to run the new ductwork than buying new house that requires me to pay mortgage interest all over again and of course to get a comparable house, i would have to pay higher monthly mortgage payment than what I am paying now for the current house

We used Neighborhood Specialists in Sterling 703 628 5205. They are good honest folks. Ask for the owner Steffon.
Aside from that I would get 4 to 5 quotes for this particular project. Try as best you can to get apples to apples on the scope of work. Compare quotes/prices and ask a lot of questions. Be sure to have a good solid contract with reasonable payment terms (not to much upfront money). And last but not least a start date and end date for the work.
I dont know the configuration of you house but consider a 2 zone (smaller units) heat pump,s set up, one up and one down as a possible alternative to 1 (large unit). Just something to think about. That could work better on a retrofit like yours.
I think 50K is on the high side unless you have a huge house. My guess would be in the 30Ks top end.
Good Luck

[vecon20]

Originally Posted by lovnova

We used Neighborhood Specialists in Sterling 703 628 5205. They are good honest folks. Ask for the owner Steffon.
Aside from that I would get 4 to 5 quotes for this particular project. Try as best you can to get apples to apples on the scope of work. Compare quotes/prices and ask a lot of questions. Be sure to have a good solid contract with reasonable payment terms (not to much upfront money). And last but not least a start date and end date for the work.
I dont know the configuration of you house but consider a 2 zone (smaller units) heat pump,s set up, one up and one down as a possible alternative to 1 (large unit). Just something to think about. That could work better on a retrofit like yours.
I think 50K is on the high side unless you have a huge house. My guess would be in the 30Ks top end.
Good Luck

Thanks so much, Lovnova. I've contacted Neighborhood Specialists.
I've put down top 50K but don't expect to spend that much because if I have to spend $50k, it still better than owing another 100K to buy new house. As my current house in the neighborhood and the area that I like. I also have done a lot of remodeling the house the way I like, i don't want to lose it. Looking for house now is a headache (don't like moving either)

[car54]

There are mini-duct systems that are minimally invasive to retrofit.

Here's a This Old House video about it: (the system works with heat as well as A/C)

Retrofit Air Conditioning Using Mini-Ducts | Video | This Old House



Are you sure water is getting into your below the slab ducts? A couple of my rental properties have ducts below the slab and they are not the sheet metal ducts that most folks are familiar with....they wouldn't last any time. My 60's house uses large, thick concrete pipes that look like sewer pipes. They should last practically forever. Can water get into them? I suppose anything is possible but I haven't heard of it happening and there are hundreds of these house in the 'hood.

[vecon20]

Car54,

I had the 2 air duct companies came over and they thought about the same. The water is still in one of the ducts (same one that I initially found)

Don't know it is because when we remodeled the kitchen and they have to dig into the floor to add another duct which (I assume) must connect to the existing one. This is my guess that cause the water leeks, where they attached the new duct to the existing one. With the new duct, i cannot look down to see if it has water in or not because it's on the bottom of the cabinet, not right on the floor as the rest of the ducts.

Does anyone else have another suggestion for the air duct company? I want to get at least 3 quotes

[TN Lily]

Would the Mitsubishi duct-less systems be an option?

Energy Efficient Ductless Mini-Split Products | Mitsubishi Electric

I have no idea of cost of these systems. I knew someone who used it in a portion of their home and he was very happy with it.