Do you need a game changer to get your upstairs living spaces more comfortable?
Is your house 30, 40, 50 years old or more, with the original air ducts?
Are you wondering if the benefits of spray foam duct insulation is worth the money you’ll spend on your air ducts?
Take a look at this article, and my research.
I will discuss TWO BIG BENEFITS you receive from our air duct spray foam service.
1. First and foremost, your air ducts will be properly inspected. In many homes, it’s doubtful that the air ducts have ever been evaluated for …
a. Efficient airflow
b. Air leakage
This one single act of love for your air ducts, will reward you with improved air flow through your air duct system. And get ready to breathe easy, due to IMPROVED INDOOR AIR QUALITY!
If you’ve read much about residential air ducts, you’ve seen that the U.S. EPA website shows that the air duct system in the average American home is LEAKING 20 to 30% airflow! (Energystar.gov)
The average home HVAC system is 3 ton, so the potential loss is up to ⅓ of the system’s potential!
To add insult to injury, you’re paying the utility for all of that lost airflow.
What We’re Breathing
And, what’s really tough to swallow, is the nasty stuff being sucked into the leaky ducts and pumped into your living space.
Worse still, is when you complain to your HVAC company that you want improved indoor air quality, and they sell you on installing a $60 UV light for $400 inside a leaky duct system, instead of tackling the hard work of repairing & sealing your air ducts.
Why is Bird Family Insulation Different?
Before we spray your ducts with foam insulation, we make the following improvements to your air ducts:
1. Reattach any disconnected ducts.
2. Reattach any disconnected duct insulation.
3. Splice any section of crushed flex duct with new air duct. You WIN with Improved Airflow from your Vents!
4. Remove (cut away) excess duct length. You WIN with Improved Airflow from your Vents!
5. Support sagging ducts. You WIN with Improved Airflow from your Vents!
6.Remove kinks, sharp bends and twists in the air ducts. (Very common). You WIN with Improved Airflow from your Vents!
7. Remove excessive coiled or looped ducts. You WIN with Improved Airflow from your Vents!
Generally, there is no extra cost for the above attention to your air ducts. As long as it is minor, (two or three issues) we include the service at no extra cost.
This is the Time for Air Duct Upgrades!
Do you have a room or zone in your home that is colder or warmer than the other areas of the house? Your air ducts may need to be modified. These modifications generally cost $495 each.
We almost always find that installing an additional Return-Air Vent will benefit your comfort, and improve your HVAC performance.
You may need a (additional) Supply vent and direct duct installed.
You may need to enlarge the supply duct to a specific vent, for increased airflow.
Do you suspect that your Air Ducts aren’t producing the airflow they should? Consider asking for our Flowhood test ($395). Click here for more info!
2. When we spray your air ducts with foam insulation, you benefit from colder AC airflow in summer, and warmer (heated) airflow in winter.
Imagine getting instantly colder AC, or warmer HEATED airflow from your vents!
I know we all have our opinions regarding the U.S. Federal Government. However, the Department of Energy has lots and lots of testing results and reports that are extremely helpful for us homeowners.
They state that (in a vented attic in Atlanta’s climate zone) spraying the air ducts with a minimum of 1.5” of closed cell spray foam insulation helps to qualify that home as a Zero Energy Home. https://basc.pnnl.gov/resource-guides/encapsulated-ducts#edit-group-scope
In fact, when the air handler is located inside the conditioned space of the house, and the ducts are located in a vented attic space, spraying the ducts with foam insulation has the same effect as moving the ducts to conditioned space! Pasted from the web page…
“This technique fulfills the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home program requirement that ducts be installed in conditioned space.”
If my ducts are already insulated, why do they need more?
It’s simply COMMON Sense to understand that we need our air ducts to be insulated. And we expect that they are insulated. After all, the R Value is stamped right on the outside of the duct wrapper.
But can you believe the stated R Value of your duct insulation?
This research says that air duct insulation actually performs at LESS THAN the rated R-Value! https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2006/data/papers/SS06_Panel1_Paper18.pdf
Those researchers found that duct insulation in a 6” flex duct rated at R-8 is actually R-6.75.
In other words, the duct insulation is performing at 84% it’s rated protection, if my math is right. That research article is waaay beyond my scope of understanding.
But I get the basic point: My ducts are not protected like I think they are! And I’m betting yours aren’t either; and that’s a big part of the reason you’re uncomfortable in your home!
Bob’s Air Duct Trivia
- If you’re wondering about the performance of your air ducts, you’re probably wondering about the cost of our air duct seal & insulation foam service, etc.
The Flowhood Test is $395. When we spray your duct system, we discount your invoice $200 as a rebate for your Flowhood Test.
- A typical 3-ton air duct system, located in a vented attic, will cost between $2500 and $3000 to seal & insulate with spray foam insulation. Is the cost worth it? Well, nationally the average cost to simply seal your ducts with a mastic paint (no improvements in design, not adding insulation) is between $1500 and $2500 per duct system. So, we know our air duct service is a HUGE VALUE when compared to everyone else in the market, because we’re improving airflow and adding insulation!
- When we modify air ducts, the cost per duct/vent is $495. This includes adding ducts and vents, changing duct diameters, redesigning two or three ducts for improved comfort in a zone or room.
We generally get these projects completed in one day. The testing is performed prior to the actual improvements, when we write the scope of work, and get our materials list.
If you need your entire duct system replaced/redesigned, we work with a 2nd HVAC company who helps us with these larger tasks.
Spraying Your Ducts with Foam is like having an INSTANT SHADE TREE!
Combine spraying your air ducts with our R-50 cellulose attic bump-up for an instant, dramatic improvement in comfort. Our Instant Shade Tree bundle (Click here) compares to a full-blown spray foam attic encapsulation, without the risks of annoying foam odors, and without having to leave your home for 24 hours before re-entry! And, you don’t have to wait 25 years for that shade tree! An average cost for the Instant Shade Tree Bundled-service is $5700.
Thanks for reading! You can reach Bob at
404-538-9168 or Bob@Birdinsulation.com
“Totally exceeded our expectations !! Our home has some unique needs due to its age and the fact that it has been added on to a couple of times. Bird Family Insulation advised us not on product approach but consultative approach of the best way to handle different parts of the home to achieve the best outcome. They can handle anything, but most importantly they are utmost professional and do what they say and great communicators in the process as well They will be the only people to touch our home when it comes to insulation!!”
– Steve E., Atlanta
