How to handle contractor problem...

[Mr Bill]

John, did you see the sheet metal running against the ceiling down the hallway? I might have seen it done this way, but there was usually a chase or fur-down covering it, this man will never sell his home with this like this.

[JWB]

Hold up before calling Mike Holmes, Holmes on Homes......How does the house feel? I hope the installers at least left you some of those tile to use to fix the floor. The fact that the installers had a hard time getting the duct work and registers where the sales team said that they will go doesn't alarm me. It is a disappointment/compromise that has to be made daily in this business.

I would be curious how many cubic feet per minute you were promised/needed in each room and how many are being delivered. I am assuming that when you get in the attic space you will find that there is little to no room in that ceiling to run duct.

I for one hope the house is more comfortable and your power bills are reasonable.

[jpsmith1cm]

davemyers and crmont,

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[JWB]

You mean thats not how you would do it at your house?

that exposed duct is ugly as . I at first just focused on the registers.

[catmanacman]

I would call him to come pick up the check and discuss the issues with him and hold some money back until you are satisfied do not just mail in the check

[John Markl]

John, did you see the sheet metal running against the ceiling down the hallway? I might have seen it done this way, but there was usually a chase or fur-down covering it, this man will never sell his home with this like this.

I did see it in the closet, but not the hallway. Not condoning it, but I've seen worse. 2nd story houses that aren't true 2-story houses can be tough to retrofit.

[stephy]

Around here those are 4x14 floor grills....as mentioned, maybe it's regional thing.

Make a list and call the company, try to go up the ladder as far as you can, hopefully above a salesman.

Many of the bigger, faster growing companies have no idea what kind of work their people are performing. They may even appreciate your critique.

Good luck..

[kdean1]

Why are BROWN floor registers mounted on the wall instead of WHITE wall registers?

[Stamas]

They sure look like floor registers to me. And the throw on them wouldn't seem to work well from what I can see.
Wonder what was in the attic that lead them to this?
Unreal. How was the job scope defined in the contract?

[beshvac]

I hope that the pro's responding to this thread have actually had experience retrofitting AC to a 1950's 1 1/2 story house. there are design features from 60+ years ago that can be a pain.

1. The tile in the bath looks original....very difficult to cut and not shake loose tiles....last job I did with those "tiles" also had a suspended 4" concrete slab underneath the bathroom. 1/2 day with a hammer drill to get the duct in besides the "craftsman" that put that tile in 60 years ago is dead

2. I had to run exposed duct like that on an older house because the ceiling in the top floor wasn't really a ceiling.....just had furring strips attached to plaster.

3. I have had to place the registers in the exact same places as shown and make sure they had enough throw to get to the outside wall. because there was a beam preventing getting any farther to the outside wall. Personally, I would have used different grilles (commercial type) but floor registers have longer throws than ceiling registers.

4. Anytime I retrofit duct to an old house that has these design features-the homeowner knows EXACTLY where the duct HAS to go and who is going to be responsible to cover or repair the plaster. (especially plaster that cracks and falls off when you carefully try to cut it.)

So for the OP: call them back out to go over your concerns and let them take care of your issues and if what they say doesn't make sense post it here with pics.

[John Markl]

Why are BROWN floor registers mounted on the wall instead of WHITE wall registers?

Given the colors of the walls, brown might have been a better choice than white anyway.....

[Stamas]

I hope that the pro's responding to this thread have actually had experience retrofitting AC to a 1950's 1 1/2 story house. there are design features from 60+ years ago that can be a pain.

1. The tile in the bath looks original....very difficult to cut and not shake loose tiles....last job I did with those "tiles" also had a suspended 4" concrete slab underneath the bathroom. 1/2 day with a hammer drill to get the duct in besides the "craftsman" that put that tile in 60 years ago is dead

2. I had to run exposed duct like that on an older house because the ceiling in the top floor wasn't really a ceiling.....just had furring strips attached to plaster.

3. I have had to place the registers in the exact same places as shown and make sure they had enough throw to get to the outside wall. because there was a beam preventing getting any farther to the outside wall. Personally, I would have used different grilles (commercial type) but floor registers have longer throws than ceiling registers.

4. Anytime I retrofit duct to an old house that has these design features-the homeowner knows EXACTLY where the duct HAS to go and who is going to be responsible to cover or repair the plaster. (especially plaster that cracks and falls off when you carefully try to cut it.)

So for the OP: call them back out to go over your concerns and let them take care of your issues and if what they say doesn't make sense post it here with pics.

Yes, they are difficult. That's why careful explanation of the challenges and laying out the scope of the work and what can be expected should have been done if it wasn't.
Otherwise you leave yourself wide open.
The OP can maybe give some input to this.

[classical]

The tile should have been discussed before the job was done, in my contracts on homes where I install new ducts it is understood in writing damage that occurs is the homeowners responsibility.

As far as the ductwork it is impossible for us to say if it could have been done in another manner. It is very likely space constraints necessitated the duct location. My concern is the style of grills used upstairs, they should be sidewall not two way grills. The grills should have vertical grills that face out straight not of to the sides.
Sidewall grills will throw the air farther across the room maybe not all the way but much farther than the current grills.

[isuredo]

design constraints!, in south eastern washington we do about 400 new homes a year and alot of them, no, all of them are never designed for duct. we constantly are having to change and run where we can and usually the builder just soffits it in, which can be done to your exposed duct. the bedroom interior may likely have been the only place it could be run without duct crossing the room. the tile in bathroom is definately the contractors responsibilty to repair.

[Mr Bill]

As far as the ductwork it is impossible for us to say if it could have been done in another manner. It is very likely space constraints necessitated the duct location.

I have asked the OP for attic pics a couple times and have not got them yet, go figure!
Anyone that condones this duct work like in the hallway, regardless of how it had to be run, would "you" allow this in your home?

At the very least "IF" this duct had to be ran this way in the hallway, someone should have had a carpenter involved, to come back and pretty things up with a chase or fur-down. I do not know what was discussed, but I do know there is no way on earth after I walked from the job, the duct would look like that in the hallway, the job reflects on me also.

[bmathews]

Being the contractor. I would not fix the tile or hide the duct. That being said. Before I would have ever began the job. This would have been made clear. I am an hvac contractor, not a carpenter or tile guy. I would provide you with names and numbers of people I know that do this sort of thing and you could deal with them yourself. On a cut-in job like this. A lot of things can get messed up. We would pay for any damage caused by our negligence or carelessness, but no incidental damage occurring during the installation process.

[John Markl]

I have asked the OP for attic pics a couple times and have not got them yet, go figure!
Anyone that condones this duct work like in the hallway, regardless of how it had to be run, would "you" allow this in your home?

At the very least "IF" this duct had to be ran this way in the hallway, someone should have had a carpenter involved, to come back and pretty things up with a chase or fur-down. I do not know what was discussed, but I do know there is no way on earth after I walked from the job, the duct would look like that in the hallway, the job reflects on me also.

I can easily agree. It all depends on what was discussed and agreed to. We did a house a couple of years ago, where the guy wanted all new duct....attached to the hallway ceiling.....with the understanding that he would install the new dropped ceiling when we were done.

1 1/2 story retrofits are a nightmare....sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do....but there needs to be a definitive understanding before work commences.

[Gib's Son]

I hope that the pro's responding to this thread have actually had experience retrofitting AC to a 1950's 1 1/2 story house. there are design features from 60+ years ago that can be a pain.

1. The tile in the bath looks original....very difficult to cut and not shake loose tiles....last job I did with those "tiles" also had a suspended 4" concrete slab underneath the bathroom. 1/2 day with a hammer drill to get the duct in besides the "craftsman" that put that tile in 60 years ago is dead

2. I had to run exposed duct like that on an older house because the ceiling in the top floor wasn't really a ceiling.....just had furring strips attached to plaster.

3. I have had to place the registers in the exact same places as shown and make sure they had enough throw to get to the outside wall. because there was a beam preventing getting any farther to the outside wall. Personally, I would have used different grilles (commercial type) but floor registers have longer throws than ceiling registers.

4. Anytime I retrofit duct to an old house that has these design features-the homeowner knows EXACTLY where the duct HAS to go and who is going to be responsible to cover or repair the plaster. (especially plaster that cracks and falls off when you carefully try to cut it.)

So for the OP: call them back out to go over your concerns and let them take care of your issues and if what they say doesn't make sense post it here with pics.

I largely agree with this post.

In my house I have exposed duct that runs horizontally across the room because there was no other way to get through 2x floor truss above. Had I done it I probably would have put in soffit, but maybe not just because of low floor to ceiling height. It's painted to match ceiling and really does not look that bad.

That duct could have been hidden in a soffit, and still could be. What I don't like is the sidewall outlets. I would have done one and not use contractor grade grilles, but commercial grade double deflection grilles which perform way better. That way you could most likely get the throw required to wash the opposite wall and get proper air mixing.

Oh, no way would I have left the tile like that.

[classical]

I have asked the OP for attic pics a couple times and have not got them yet, go figure!
Anyone that condones this duct work like in the hallway, regardless of how it had to be run, would "you" allow this in your home?

At the very least "IF" this duct had to be ran this way in the hallway, someone should have had a carpenter involved, to come back and pretty things up with a chase or fur-down. I do not know what was discussed, but I do know there is no way on earth after I walked from the job, the duct would look like that in the hallway, the job reflects on me also.

I did not see the duct in e hall just the grills. At the very least this contractor should have known the constraints on running the duct. Then it should have been agreed up front that would perform the clean up like the tile and building a fur down round the ducts.

I might end up running the duct work in this manner but the customer would have known and agreed to provide their own contractor to repair the floor and cover the ductwork.

[Mr Bill]

I might end up running the duct work in this manner but the customer would have known and agreed to provide their own contractor to repair the floor and cover the ductwork.

Exactly!