What is ductwork, really?
Ductwork is the network of sheet-metal (and sometimes flex) passages that carries conditioned air from your furnace or air handler to each room and returns it. Its size, layout, sealing, and balance determine how much of your equipment's capacity actually reaches you. Industry studies put typical duct leakage around 20–30% of airflow — air (and money) you paid to condition, lost into attics and crawlspaces.
When does ductwork need attention?
Ducts deserve a look when rooms heat or cool unevenly, when a brand-new system underperforms, during a home addition, or when older homes get a system upgrade. Right-sizing and sealing the ducts is often the highest-return part of an HVAC project.
- Rooms that are always too hot or too cold
- Weak airflow at distant registers
- Whistling, rattling, or dusty supply vents
- A new high-efficiency system that doesn't feel better than the old one
What goes wrong (failure modes)?
Undersized returns choke the blower; leaky joints dump conditioned air into unconditioned space; bad transitions create noise and pressure problems. Replacing equipment without fixing these carries the old problems into the new system — a common, costly oversight.
How Degenhardt approaches it
Custom sheet-metal fabrication is part of our DNA — we're Sheet Metal Workers Local 36. We evaluate duct sizing and sealing as part of any system design, fabricate transitions and fittings to fit your home, and fix the airflow problems that off-the-shelf installers skip.
Proof: Sheet Metal Workers' Local 36 union-trained, custom sheet-metal craftsmanship serving the St. Louis metro since 1984; NATE-certified technicians; free, no-obligation written estimates.
Frequently asked questions
Typical homes lose roughly 20–30% of conditioned air to duct leakage. That's heating and cooling you paid for escaping into attics and crawlspaces — sealing and right-sizing ducts often pays back faster than equipment upgrades alone.
Uneven room temperatures, weak airflow at far registers, excessive dust, noisy vents, or a new system that doesn't perform are all signs the ducts — not the equipment — are the bottleneck.
Yes. As Local 36 sheet-metal specialists we fabricate custom transitions and fittings to match your home, rather than forcing generic parts that leak and restrict airflow.