had to google ptcs Performance Tested Comfort Systems PTCS Certification is an important qualification for contractors working on HVAC systems such as furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, and ventilation ducts. PTCS certified contractors are trained � and held accountable through third-party inspections � to evaluate your entire house as a system when installing a new HVAC system. In many cases, you may be able to replace your existing furnace, air conditioner or heat pump with a smaller (and cheaper) unit if the installation is accompanied by air sealing, insulation, duct sealing and other efficiency measures. The program is limited to the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. If you live in one of those four states, you should look for the PTCS Certification when evaluating a contractor to do any HVAC work for your house. ___________________________________________________________ ok enough of that pic by pic comments: Pic 1 hard pipe supply plenum (silver) with black flex suppy duct see the failure of the duct tape? the duct tape should be removed. black jacket and insulation folded back and take off mastic sealed to hard pipe plenum. not only the take off but also the inner liner of duct to take off. let dry. insulation and jacket pulled to plenum in full contact and mastic sealed. I would use paint on mastic for the seal to the plenum and mastic tape to secure jacket to ductwrap of plenum. pic 2 & 3 see above pic 4 your vapor barrier should extend up on the walls of the crawlspace and be sealed to walls pic 4 this is where the hard duct plenum reduces to smaller size..the joints here leak also. but opening the duct wrap and mastic sealing these areas would be a LOT of work. you may want to seal major leaks first and see if performance improves before tackling the sealing of hard pipe. It is curious that the pipes seem to be insulated with batt insulation rather than pipe insulation see pink insulation wrap on pipe going thru block wall. this may be to condensing unit? so do you think you may take this job on or sub it out? if you sub it out make sure that you have duct leakage numbers before and test to get reduction numbers afte sealing. also take a look at the job in progress to make sure that mastic or mastic tapes are used. best of luck.

I apply the mastic to the exterior, use Hardcast Irongrip brand. You can apply it with a paint brush, but I rarely do this..gloves- hands in tub of mastic so I can apply a heavy coat & feel it seal all seams. But then I also seal corners of supply plenum, return plenum, junction of plenums to heatingsystem/coil/air handler..depends on install. I also seal corners of supply boxes, & take off collars @ plenum. Then I seal the supply boxes to the attic floor. My work achieves the 5% duct leakage requirement for Energy Star. It has taken a lot of testing to find out just where these leakage areas are...well a lot of work to get the hvac co to do this...I usually either do it myself or oversee work being done. Worth the extra effort (imho)...and I never use ductboard anywhere except to seal return air chase..but that is just me! When I do use ductboard in the chase/return I use a mastic tape...again Hardcast Mastic tape. Best of luck to you!

It is hard to say without seeing what and where things are. In an unfinished basement where all of the connections to seal are easily accessible it goes fairly quickly. I had all of the brush on mastic part done within what would be an 8 hour day on mine. I also had to rework the majority of the return system and seal it which was not accessible and a big headache. I spent around 40 hours total in reworking the return side and sealing it and sealing the supply. Insulating is at least one other day. I have just started the insulating segment and even in a heated basement it makes a big difference. I have no clue on the labor charges but you are looking at two days which is legit. One day to seal if using the brush on and the next day to make sure everything dried and sealed up nicely and insulate. I would say the price seems high but I am thinking about an easy access job also. Just make sure you are only paying for work that is being done. I think I had 4 gallons of mastic and a dozen 99 cent chip brushes invested and a box of screws at around $125.00.

I think in this case the room was an addition 50 years ago with no HVAC. Then 4 years ago the house was renovated and they decided the simplest solution would be to run this vent across the roof (it looks like there is no other solution internally, based on how these rooms connect. No way to get from the original attic into that room with the flat roof.) Despite being insulated from the inside, the duct does in fact blow hot air for the first few seconds and then clears out to colder air, which is obviously not efficient. So I guess the big question is, whether that duct is even built for outdoors. and can ever be waterproofed.