INTRODUCTION: Here we are, at post #5 in my Tucson Home Renovation series! And let me tell you, the renovation of This Middle-Aged House has been full of surprises. This post tells the story of one of them.
After my electrical and HVAC upgrades were finished, it was time for a ventilation duct cleaning.
So, I called my favorite contractor referral service, Don Ledbetter’s We Gotta Guy, and requested a ductwork cleaner. Don sent me Hugh Goglin, owner of Countywide Services.
Didn’t take me long to realize that this retired firefighter is one meticulous guy. Before Hugh began the cleaning, he ran his camera through my ducts and found …
… bad news.
The return side of my ductwork, which takes air out of the house, was rusted. To the point where most of it was missing.
So, Hugh called his go-to guy for all things HVAC, Jon Feldman. Jon came right over and confirmed Hugh’s diagnosis.
With Hugh’s work on hold, the focus shifted to Jon. Who returned on a Sunday morning to replace my return ductwork. This job included cutting a new hole in my living room wall, installing a flexible ductwork line, and filling the old return vent openings with an expandable spray foam called Great Stuff.
Back to Hugh Goglin and that duct cleaning. If you’re familiar with that old TV series, “The Odd Couple,” Hugh is like the super-neat Felix Unger. Matter of fact, he could give Felix a run for his money.
But the meticulous Hugh wasn’t done yet. He also had to close the old return vent openings, which took a bit of doing. Here’s what that job included:
- Removing the rusted ductwork that was on the other side of my living room and bike room walls
- Covering the vent openings with drywall
- Taping and texturing the drywall
- Replacing the baseboard below those old vent openings