Ductwork Replacement in South Lyon, Michigan

Some ductwork in South Lyon is past sealing. The trunk in a 1880s–1940s depot-town houses and 1990s–2010s subdivision colonials house near Brookwood Farms has rusted through from decades of basement damp, the returns are panned joist bays that cannot be made tight from below, or the whole system was sized for a furnace half the size of what is in the basement now. Temprasure replaces ductwork across Oakland County with a designed system, not a copy of what was there: a Manual J load for every room, a Manual D duct design, sheet-metal trunks sealed with mastic, returns on every floor and a filter cabinet that does not choke the blower. South Lyon is about 30 minutes from our shop, and the estimate is free.

South Lyon houses and what that means for duct replacement

South Lyon's housing covers the full range from Victorian to brand new. The downtown blocks off Lafayette and the streets behind the depot are 1880s to 1920s frame two-stories and bungalows on Michigan basements, with retrofitted ductwork and a furnace in whatever corner of the basement had headroom. The 1950s and 60s ranches along Pontiac Trail and Nine Mile are on block basements or crawlspaces with single-return systems. Colonial Acres is 1970s and 80s ranch-style condos and small houses with compact furnaces and water heaters in closets, serving an older population that needs reliable heat. The big block of housing is the 1995 to 2015 subdivisions, such as Trotters Pointe, Hidden Creek and Eagle Heights, colonials on poured basements with 80 percent furnaces and R-410A condensers from the first years of that refrigerant, now coming up on replacement. The newest township builds have two systems and zoning. Water heaters in the subdivisions are 50-gallon or power-vented gas units, and 200-amp service is standard there, unlike the downtown blocks.

Adding central air to the older South Lyon housing near the Huron Valley Trail is a duct project first. The 1880s–1940s depot-town houses and 1990s–2010s subdivision colonials two-stories and bungalows were built for a furnace, sometimes a gravity furnace whose octopus ducts are still in the basement, and heating needs a fraction of the airflow that cooling does. Hanging a coil and a condenser on those ducts gives you a system that freezes every July. On a South Lyon house like that, we design a new trunk and branch system to carry the cooling airflow, add returns upstairs where the heat collects, and often route the second-floor supply through closets or a chase rather than through an unconditioned attic. The air conditioner then goes in on a system that can use it.

South Lyon has about 12,000 in the city, with Lyon Township adding another 20,000 residents and a housing stock, mostly 1880s–1940s depot-town houses and 1990s–2010s subdivision colonials, that has been through more HVAC changes than its ductwork has. When a 1990s furnace was replaced with a high-efficiency unit, or central air was added to a house near Lake Angela that never had it, the ducts usually stayed the same. We repair and replace ductwork throughout South Lyon, from the older blocks around Brookwood Farms to the newer streets near the Pontiac Trail corridor, sealing with mastic rather than tape and sizing replacements to the equipment that is actually installed.

Local details we plan around in South Lyon

• The 1990s subdivisions were built with flex-duct branches that have sagged in the basement joists, which is the first thing we check for weak airflow upstairs.
• City water is municipal and moderately hard, and township homes on wells see enough hardness to affect water heater life.
• Some Lyon Township addresses north and east of the city are on Consumers Energy gas rather than DTE, which matters for rebate paperwork and service accounts.
• South Lyon sits on rolling ground at the edge of the lake country, with the Huron River's tributaries and Lake Angela adding humidity to the low spots and the open farmland toward Salem Township letting winter wind through. The city is far enough north and west to see a bit more snow than Ypsilanti, and clear-night lows run colder than the Wayne County suburbs. The old downtown has heavy tree cover; the subdivisions mostly do not, and west-facing second floors there run hot in July.