Blog of Chris

The HVAC system in my house was never awesome.  I used the cheapest units (Goodman) I could find, and the cheapest (crappiest) installer to design and install the ductwork.

There is only one return on the first floor, which is not a problem because of the open floorplan.  However, this return was built-in to the joist space and the wall space…  This is a common practice in HVAC system design, and effectively uses a vacant space in the wall or floor as a channel for moving air.

Again, under most circumstances this would not be a problem, but in my house, which is over 100 years old, the joist and wall space they built the duct into has a not so solid brick wall on one side, which has been a constant source of dust since the system was installed in 2005.

Since that time, my HVAC filters get dirty within 7 days of their installation, and massive amounts of dust are recirculated around the house, as evidenced by the layers that accumulate near each HVAC register around the house.

This is compounded by the nearly 500 square feet of exposed brick wall in my house, most of which is not properly sealed, and has dust constantly falling off of it and settling on everything.  Add the fuzzballs that fall off of my dog and accumulate in every nook and cranny, and my HVAC system is constantly blowing around 100 year old brick dust and pet hair.   I feel ok now, but I am sure I will have some sort of delayed respiratory condition.

Tonight I finally got around to modifying the return ducts in my house, blocking off the in-wall return from the first floor with a custom cut piece of sheet metal and a whole lot of foil tape.  I then disconnected the return from my bedroom, allowing it to pull air directly from the basement (in lieu of the first floor, which again is not an issue due to the open foorplan and open stairwell.    There were huge chunks of brick debris inside the return duct that had fallen off the wall, so I am pretty sure that it was the source of the majority of the dust.  Time will tell, and I will check the filter in a few days to see if it will stay clean a bit longer now.

That’s one check on my ridiculously long, expensive and time-consuming punch list here at the casa.  Other major projects include:

• Insulation of the exterior wall around the crawlspace, weatherproofing and sealing.  The lack of insulation here is responsible for my constant frozen pipes in the winter time, an extremely cold kitchen floor that’s offensive to bare feet, and massive amounts of heat loss that leads to higher energy bills.
• Repairs and staining of the rooftop deck.  The weather has taken its toll… Railings have warped, boards have come loose, etc.
• Painting the spiral stairs to the roof deck.  The only thing more annoying than building spiral stairs is painting them.
• Addition of HVAC duct and registers in basement and crawlspace.
• Re-tile the main bathroom – I used an experimental product… tile that installs like laminate.  It failed, miserably, and I missed the boat on the class action lawsuit.
• Relocate washer/dryer to 2nd floor.  Having it in the basement just sucks.
• Build a master bathroom.  If I could do it all again, I would have had 5 more feet of bedroom, a decent sized master bath, and no balcony (or roof deck).

These will all take money and time, 2 things I haven’t had (not at the same time, anyway)  since I started Charm City Networks.

-C