I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home. This
person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms upstairs is not
working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper against the grill - it
was not being sucked up against the grill). Is there any way I can get
this fixed without having someone tear down the walls? Do I have any other
options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------




##-----------------------------------------------##
Delivered via http://www.thestuccocompany.com/
Building Construction and Maintenance Forum
Web and RSS access to your favorite newsgroup -
alt.home.repair - 345685 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##

On Mar 20, 7:24*am,
(rncam) wrote:
I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home. This
person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms upstairs is not
working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper against the grill - it
was not being sucked up against the grill). *Is there any way I can get
this fixed without having someone tear down the walls? Do I have any other
options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------

##-----------------------------------------------##
Delivered via *http://www.thestuccocompany.com/
Building Construction and Maintenance Forum
Web and RSS access to your favorite newsgroup -
alt.home.repair - 345685 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##

First thing to do is check out your main return. I had a similar
problem and it turned out that the main return trunk in the basement
had major gaps.

Returns are typically created using the stud cavity on inside walls
and they cutout the bottom plate to allow air to flow from the
upstairs cavity to the downstairs. Then the bottom plate is cutout of
the first floor to get to the basement. Once you have a clear shot to
the basement they close off the bottom of the floor joists then mount
the main return duct directly to the floor joists making holes in the
top where needed. Typically none of these "air ducts" are sealed they
just rely on the framing, drywall and flooring to seal them up
*enough*. I have never heard of any testing required for return ducts
to insure that they flow enough so you get what you get.

My problem was in the basement. The holes cut in the top of the main
return duct were too big and some holes went beyond the closed off
joists. I fixed it by patching in metal, (one was 4" too big) and
filling gaps with caulk or expanding foam. I also caulked around the
bottom of the metal plates nailed to the floor joists in the
basement. This increased my flow dramatically from the upstairs. I
knew I had improved it because when the fan is running I no longer
feel a pull on the basement door.

Another thing to look at is where your filter goes. My furnace calls
for a 1" filter but the opening is 2" wide, I haven't done anything
with this because the improvements made above helped enough. It is
probably a good idea to ciculate some basement air anyway.

YMMV. Good luck.

In article ,
(rncam) wrote:

I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home. This
person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms upstairs is not
working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper against the grill - it
was not being sucked up against the grill). Is there any way I can get
this fixed without having someone tear down the walls? Do I have any other
options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------



Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What did he say?

On Mar 20, 9:50*am, Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,

(rncam) wrote:
I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home. This
person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms upstairs is not
working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper against the grill - it
was not being sucked up against the grill). *Is there any way I can get
this fixed without having someone tear down the walls? Do I have any other
options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------

Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What did he say?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It's not exactly rocket science
and you think upon noticing it wasn't working, he'd scope it out a bit
and give you advice on what to do next.

I'd start by seeing what you can see and get to just by removing
grills, using a small mirror, etc. Basicly, they usually run pretty
much vertically, so look in the basement or lowest level directly
underneath.

Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
(rncam) wrote:

I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home.
This person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms
upstairs is not working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper
against the grill - it was not being sucked up against the grill).
Is there any way I can get this fixed without having someone tear
down the walls? Do I have any other options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------



Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What did he say?

Re-read the post: He was an HVAC expert!

You can tell he was an expert by the sophisticated tools he used.

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
(rncam) wrote:

I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home.
This person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms
upstairs is not working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper
against the grill - it was not being sucked up against the grill).
Is there any way I can get this fixed without having someone tear
down the walls? Do I have any other options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------



Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What did he say?

Re-read the post: He was an HVAC expert!

You can tell he was an expert by the sophisticated tools he used.

My bad. Maybe it was a used piece of toilet paper, and it was too heavy
to be sucked into the grill.

rncam had written this in response to
http://www.thestuccocompany.com/main...ng-364844-.htm
:
The HVAC guy said that they may have to tear down the wall to fix it...
and I thought there surely must be better solutions than that.

I am not a handy person. Any suggestions on who to look for and where - so
I can get this resolved. The problem I am having is that the rooms that
the air return is not working tend to get very cold in the winter and very
hot in the summer - more than any other part of the house.

Thanks

-------------------------------------
wrote:

On Mar 20, 9:50=A0am, Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,

(rncam) wrote:
I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my
home. This
person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms
upstairs is n=
ot
working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper against
the grill - =
it
was not being sucked up against the grill). =A0Is there any
way I can g=
et
this fixed without having someone tear down the walls? Do I
have any ot=
her
options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------

Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What did he say?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It's not exactly rocket science
and you think upon noticing it wasn't working, he'd scope it out a bit
and give you advice on what to do next.

I'd start by seeing what you can see and get to just by removing
grills, using a small mirror, etc. Basicly, they usually run pretty
much vertically, so look in the basement or lowest level directly
underneath.





##-----------------------------------------------##
Delivered via http://www.thestuccocompany.com/
Building Construction and Maintenance Forum
Web and RSS access to your favorite newsgroup -
alt.home.repair - 345729 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##

In article ,
(rncam) wrote:


The HVAC guy said that they may have to tear down the wall to fix it...
and I thought there surely must be better solutions than that.

I am not a handy person. Any suggestions on who to look for and where - so
I can get this resolved. The problem I am having is that the rooms that
the air return is not working tend to get very cold in the winter and very
hot in the summer - more than any other part of the house.

Thanks


"Any suggestions on who to look for ..."

I'd suggest another HVAC guy.

rncam wrote:
I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home.
This person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms
upstairs is not working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper
against the grill - it was not being sucked up against the grill).
Is there any way I can get this fixed without having someone tear
down the walls? Do I have any other options? Thank you!


Yeah, you could forget about it!

You didn't say whether lack of air return in these two rooms was a problem,
or even noticeable.

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
In article ,
(rncam) wrote:


The HVAC guy said that they may have to tear down the wall to fix it...
and I thought there surely must be better solutions than that.

I am not a handy person. Any suggestions on who to look for and where -
so
I can get this resolved. The problem I am having is that the rooms that
the air return is not working tend to get very cold in the winter and
very
hot in the summer - more than any other part of the house.

Thanks


"Any suggestions on who to look for ..."

I'd suggest another HVAC guy.

No doubt.

Imagine that scenario.........................

The guy rips the wall wide open without so much as removing the grille and
looking down the cavity with a mirror.

The drywall comes down, exposing a wide open cavity.

OK, no problems here. WHERE DO WE GO NEXT???!!!! I'd be strangling
him before he could get out the door.

"HeyBub" wrote in message
m...
Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
(rncam) wrote:

I had a HVAC guy come in and help balance the heating for my home.
This person found out that the air return in a couple of rooms
upstairs is not working (when he put a small piece of toilet paper
against the grill - it was not being sucked up against the grill).
Is there any way I can get this fixed without having someone tear
down the walls? Do I have any other options? Thank you!

-------------------------------------



Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What did he say?

Re-read the post: He was an HVAC expert!

You can tell he was an expert by the sophisticated tools he used.


Did he get the toilet paper from the bathroom, or was he carrying it in his
tool box???

From the building out back, with the crescent moon cut into
the door.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Lefty" wrote in message
et...

Huh? You had the expert right there in your home. What
did he say?

Re-read the post: He was an HVAC expert!

You can tell he was an expert by the sophisticated tools
he used.


Did he get the toilet paper from the bathroom, or was he
carrying it in his
tool box???