Gotcha640
Well-known member
Hello Forum
Title got autocorrected, meant to be "reinsulate."
I need new insulation in my attic, and the insulation on the hard ducts is in terrible shape. I'm on the south side of Houston, it's hot and wet most of the time. There are a couple duct joints that have cracked part way open.
The inspector I used for pre-purchase used to do ac repair, and told me not to let anyone trade the hard ducts for flex. He strongly recommended reinsulating, and suggested I could just wrap new over the old. I generally trust the guy, but it sounds a little lazy.
I had a local ac repair guy come look at the whole system, and he said if I want to do a rewrap, to wait for winter, when I'm blowing hot air through, and the lines and insulation will be nice and dry. This is not ideal, as I'd be cooling the attic for half the summer. He had no preference between hard and soft.
I had ARS come out just to do a few quotes, and their sales guy said the flex is so much better insulated, and so much easier to install, he wouldn't hesitate to put flex up. We spent an hour talking about shop tools, bmws, lawn mowers, I told him I'm doing whatever I can do my self (just shopping for compressor install) so I really doubt he was trying to pitch anything.
So, choices that I know of:
Rewrap now (risking mold?)
Rewrap later (wasting ac for 4 months)
Replace with flex now
Bonus: If the hard is really some great and valuable stuff, and the moisture is a concern, is it worth the time and effort to swap in a temp flex line and pull the hard down to the garage to rewrap, one line at a time? It's a 1 story house, so not a killer, but I do have other things to do with my time.
I'll have questions regarding blown in insulation, but that will be another thread.
Title got autocorrected, meant to be "reinsulate."
I need new insulation in my attic, and the insulation on the hard ducts is in terrible shape. I'm on the south side of Houston, it's hot and wet most of the time. There are a couple duct joints that have cracked part way open.
The inspector I used for pre-purchase used to do ac repair, and told me not to let anyone trade the hard ducts for flex. He strongly recommended reinsulating, and suggested I could just wrap new over the old. I generally trust the guy, but it sounds a little lazy.
I had a local ac repair guy come look at the whole system, and he said if I want to do a rewrap, to wait for winter, when I'm blowing hot air through, and the lines and insulation will be nice and dry. This is not ideal, as I'd be cooling the attic for half the summer. He had no preference between hard and soft.
I had ARS come out just to do a few quotes, and their sales guy said the flex is so much better insulated, and so much easier to install, he wouldn't hesitate to put flex up. We spent an hour talking about shop tools, bmws, lawn mowers, I told him I'm doing whatever I can do my self (just shopping for compressor install) so I really doubt he was trying to pitch anything.
So, choices that I know of:
Rewrap now (risking mold?)
Rewrap later (wasting ac for 4 months)
Replace with flex now
Bonus: If the hard is really some great and valuable stuff, and the moisture is a concern, is it worth the time and effort to swap in a temp flex line and pull the hard down to the garage to rewrap, one line at a time? It's a 1 story house, so not a killer, but I do have other things to do with my time.
I'll have questions regarding blown in insulation, but that will be another thread.
Last edited:
