Air Duct Replacement in Los Gatos, CA

When replacement beats another round of duct repair

How do you know the ducts are past patching? Look at what the system is built from. Postwar Los Gatos ranch homes often still run original galvanized trunk-and-branch under the floor. That metal can outlive the house. The failures are at the joints, the boots, and the wrap. Mid-century fiberglass ductboard is different. Once the liner starts shedding fiber, there is nothing to clean. That gets replaced, not restored.

Flex is the other story. Anything built or remodeled since the 1980s has R-6 or R-8 flex in the attic. Sagging runs and hard kinks drive static pressure up. The blower works harder and the far bedrooms go quiet. Replacement means pulling the slack, supporting the runs properly, and shortening the path where the framing allows.

Rodents decide a lot of these jobs. Wooded and hillside parcels see nesting in both attic and crawlspace duct. Chewed inner liner and urine-soaked insulation produce an odor cleaning will not touch. Disconnected boots at register takeoffs are another tell. Conditioned air dumps straight into a crawlspace.

Replacement scope is driven by access more than by linear feet. Tight crawl clearance, blown-in attic insulation depth, and whether the return and filter rack need resizing all change the day's work.