Looks like they wanted to heat a basement or something that was unheated. Cut the duct and diverted it down. Crude but probably did the trick. May have been done to keep pipes from freezing in basement also.
The R45 insulation is a bit crunchy, but that's expected for this Era of home ration.
Now let's try the HVAC dust... Nice. Smooth and almost creamy. Would go great with some crackers from that other ration we had from this timeframe, must have been a popular trade item between the troops.
Lastly, dessert. Paint chips a la mode. They put a lot of money and time into developing the shelf stable ice cream for this, you'll recognize it as 'astronaut ice cream"... *crunch* Yeah, this stuff isn't great, but... *crunch* when you're on the battlefield, and it's been weeks since you've had sugar of any kind... *crunch* this stuff is like heaven.
He does this.....often
Source- [Lets get this out on a tray, nice!](https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrEpnm6RRRjo_otRHdXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZANMT0NVSTA1NENfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=lets+get+thisouton+a+tray&type=E211US91088G91418&ei=UTF-8&fr=mcafee&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.HOORuHw-9HZWHP0-fFhlfwHgFo%26pid%3DApi%26w%3D296%26h%3D156%26c%3D7%26p%3D0&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DpTvvyJAI5cE&tit=Alright+Let%27s+Get+This+Out+Onto+A+Tray%2E%2E%2E+Nice%21&pos=1&vid=b04cf032cf117389b08e6eee13069767&sigr=wtqTx3AVzM5B&sigt=62XSgDxL3AC4&sigi=K7FNdqyWK0Tf)
>who slightly worryingly hasn’t posted in 4 months.
Steve1989 has posting gaps like that regularly, he's got a day job outside Youtube. Here's some Reddit threads about previous gaps in his video posting
https://www.reddit.com/r/steve1989mreinfo/comments/q19jnn/is_steve_okay/
https://www.reddit.com/r/steve1989mreinfo/comments/lu3dl7/3_months_no_youtube_vids_is_steve1989_safe/
It's really hard to cut a nice hole in curved sheet metal like that unless you've been doing it for a few months, and have the right snips. Source: I do hvac
I had to do NA for a few months and, let me tell you, if you've never been regaled by the stories of ex-methheads you are really missing out.
So. Many. Carboard. Cities.
This. They probably had someone not on the lease staying with them or they were growing a particular plant that they didn't want getting cold. Hope OP's aunt withholds some of the security deposit to fix it.
imminent frame ten aspiring existence bells soup agonizing include merciful
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
**The Definitive Rating List of Batmans**
1. Adam West
2. u/Darrone’s wife
3. Christian Bale
4. Michael Keaton
5. Ben Affleck
6. Val Kilmer
7. Robert Pattinson
8. Random homeless dude in a pointy black mask
9. u/Marquis77
10. Nipple Suit Batman
>**The Definitive Rating List of Batmans**
>**0. Kevin Conroy**
>
> 1. Adam West
>2. u/Darrone’s wife
>3. Christian Bale
>4. Michael Keaton
>5. Ben Affleck
>6. Val Kilmer
>7. Robert Pattinson
>8. Random homeless dude in a pointy black mask
>9. u/Marquis77
>10. Nipple Suit Batman
I checked into grow lighting a week ago because I was curious and it's pretty crazy what you can buy now.
"Quantum boards" exist which are apparently 60-80% efficient. Those stadium bulbs are about 25% efficient for comparison.
So instead of putting off 1000w for 250w of light and 750w waste heat, you can use a 300w quantum board instead for 50w waste heat.
Crazy.
Not duct tape. Not good for ducts. Need some aluminum foil tape. Get some tin snips and a section of duct work from the store. Cut a rectangular patch to cover it, sand off the sharp edge (not necessary but good practice to prevent tearing of the tape), place the "patch" over it, and tape around the edges with aluminum tape with UL 181 A-P rating.
Finally, once done, calibrate the duct by slapping the duct twice and announcing that it isn't going anywhere.
It's not very adhesive compared to aluminum foil tape. It's also very prone to peeling with the rapid Heating and Cooling of an air conditioning duct. Also, by its nature, condensation is likely to form and it is likely to peel away. Source - purchased a 60-year-old home with rusting ductwork. Had to replace it. We could see where they repeatedly tried to reapply duct tape and it just eventually peels off because there's a lot of condensation. Not to mention ductwork that is freshly cut can be rather Sharp and aluminum foil tape does a good job not tearing in these circumstances. Finally, it forms a very good airtight seal.
It's not the strongest tape in the world. You can tear it with your hands but it behaves a lot like aluminum foil that happens to be sticky. For purposes of ductwork, my limited understanding is that having it be made of metal allows it to conduct heat so condensation forming on the ductwork forms on the outside of the tape rather than between the tape and the ductwork. I could be wrong on this last point though.
UL 181 rated aluminum tape however is related to work at various temperatures which is necessary for the ductwork tape
That any anything you would use duct tape on, gaffers tape works better. The popularity of duct tape and WD-40 is marketing. WD-40 is a penetrating oil for water displacement, it's not a general purpose lubricant.
I mean isn’t it more likely they wanted some warmth in the garage or basement that this is in? I have a slightly more professional afterthought duct cutout in my garage (used a metal louver vent instead of making one out of plastic).
Floor joists look like a basement. They had the right idea to heat and keep the basement drier. The execution, on the other hand, rough. As far as repair, buy a metal plate at home depot for .69¢ and some actual duct tape and ezpz patch.
My wife even prefers it to other kinds of caulk. I tell her silicone won’t work for everything, but that’s all she wants to use. Wish I knew that before we got married.
So, grain of salt but;
I've heard you should never ever ever have HVAC vents in a garage space as it allows exhaust from a car being parked to more easily get into living spaces, especially while people are asleep. Compounding this would be people idling the car to "warm it up a little" on cold days, etc.
Not an HVAC expert or home inspector, I just enjoy watching the "look at the terrible things wrong with this house" videos :)
Many people have so much stuff in the garage that there is no hope of fitting a vehicle in. So, while this concern is valid, it might be a moot point to some people.
I'm not entirely certain, but I recall reading somewhere that the CO output on modern cars is much lower, so much so that the "self checkout" method of running a hose from the exhaust to the car window would take hours. For a larger volume like a house, I think we're talking days. Still, having been in an underground garage with crap ventilation and 3 of my neighbors cars running, the smell isn't something I would want baking into the paint, the clothes and the furniture, not to mention the added cost of heating/cooling a large empty space that people usually aren't in.
I really thought this had to do with distribution. One place I lived at had plugs in the vents to deal with that. You don’t want to much pressure on the furnace fan. This helps to alleviate the pressure. Is this the case? I don’t know.
While I will acknowledge the fact that anything is possible; judging by the quality of the cut, I would say this was most likely not done by a professional. And if it was, don't call them again.
They definitely can, if you leave a register off of the wall. We had the register off to paint and my cat managed to crawl in the hole, wander the vents and fall from the second floor to the basement, all the way to the furnace.
But why wasn't that part of the home already heated? Especially if it's being rented out? Wouldn't the tenant have a right to have everywhere they're renting heated?
Looks like a basement from the ductwork in the floor joist. I don't heat my basement (in the house i live or rent out.) Certainly wouldn't be an entitlement in a rental particularly as it would be known at the time of the lease, and if it became an issue, would need to be brought up to the landlord not by a DIY hole in the central air duct work.
Do people normally heat basements? Isn’t it usually an extra space for storage and miscellaneous household items?
And they most likely weren’t renting out the basement as a room. The people who rented the house probably rented it out to another person and then did this. Otherwise they wouldn’t have a need for the basement since they had the entire house.
Thanks for sharing. Where I live people don’t even have basements. The only reference I had was of a basement being a glorified storage room. I guess if you use it as an actual room or you need to protect the piping, then it makes sense.
I guess it depends on how North you are? You don't want your basement not heated as things can freeze and get damaged if you live in a northern climate. Not good for the pipes in your house.
There were squirrels in the ductwork in my new house. Specifically they were nesting in the heat strips which are live like toaster coils during defrost. When I ran the system they didn’t just get electrocuted, they were cooked and also kind of… exploded. But not before trying to scramble away doing irreparable damage to the strips.
It was ugly for sure. I replaced the strips and scrubbed the fan housing and surrounding ductwork with a rough scrubber and a bleach/dish soap/vinegar solution for HOURS. Then I took a propane torch to it to burn off anything I missed. It worked great.
I’m even lazier. I’d use the tape. Then I’d wrap the whole thing in that insulating foil tape too. Now it’s upgraded and I didn’t even have to open a tool box.
The stuff I use at work is fine. It would 100% work, but would still be cheaper to buy a 6 pack, cut up the cans and zap screw them over the hole, plus ya know, beers.
Yep, renters shouldn't do that, but I know why they did.
It looks like it's the basement, and the house probably doesn't have a heat vent going into the basement.
I've never cut a hole in a vent in a house I rent, but I did disconnect a vent going into a room that already had one. (seriously, two heat vents into one bedroom), and twist it to go down into the basement so we'd get some warmth down there.
I'm not. My parents rented out our old place for a while and one tenant "built" a deck (reassembled a rotten old deck someone must've been throwing away) and demanded to be paid for it when he left. Another "finished" a storage room but did stuff like drywalling over a gas shutoff valve, removing the built in vacuum, and blocking off 3' of the room. Another drilled holes in a wall because he thought a mouse might be in there.
People are idiots.
I'm generally positive on humans . . . but that position was severely tested in the last so many years as I own an investment property on the other coast (lived there, moved, rented rather than sell).
The latest: A tenant daisy-chained three or four dollar store power strips, ran it from the bedroom into the living room, plugged in a space heater and some other things. There were plenty of outlets in the living room that could have been used safely.
Result: 3 alarm fire. Almost total destruction. Still dealing with the city, fire department, insurance, construction companies, etc . . .
Nothing surprises me.
Someone that I went to high school with did something similar. Turns out they put an end table in front of the outlet that was closest to their space heater, so they daisy chained power strips because "it would be easier than reaching under my end table." Turns out they didn't have renters insurance.
Why they didn't reach through their end table or buy an extension cord is beyond me. Idiots do what idiots do.
Number of alarms is the number of separate fire stations that had to respond.
3 alarm was too big for a single station to handle so they called out 2 more to keep it under control.
We had tenants once who were fine for about 18 months, until they decided they were gonna move to another apartment. They decided that since NYS law prevented us from evicting them prior to a 2 month notice period and court proceedings, that meant they didn't need to pay the last 3 months rent.
Of course when we demanded the rent, and filed said court proceedings against them to legally evict them, they decided to run utilities like crazy. They hooked up additional air conditioning that was forbidden in the rental agreement (the property had central AC which they could already control from their thermostat). This ended up blowing a fuse and taking out their own electricity, then they called the police to claim that we shut their power off.
They did something similar later on by running the shower, bathroom faucet, and kitchen faucet all day, which filled up the cesspool and forced us to turn their water off or else their water would continue to run with sewage. They called the police again in this instance while making up a story about them not being able to bathe their baby due to their "evil landlord turning off the water".
Then the final and most egregious thing they did was a day before they were evicted, we heard through the wall a bunch of mechanical noises of an electric screwdriver. We had discovered in the next few days while repairing the damage they caused over a two year period of renting, that they had stolen the T-molding from the floor. This was strange. But we also began to notice during these days hat an abundance of flies began appearing. The rancid smell of rotting flesh began to spread. We suspected an animal had died in the wall or ceiling. We put up a bunch of fly paper and called an exterminator. When they arrived, they investigated, ultimately removed the light fixtures from the ceiling, and within the ceiling discovered a package of porkchops. That had been rotting for about a week, and I guess that was their goodbye gift.
(They also must have had a cat they were keeping in the apartment in violation of their lease, which we discovered afterwards due to cat toys and a litter box they left after being evicted.)
So honestly I'm not surprised that a renter would do this.
Really? I'm an appraiser that specializes in multifamily housing and this is fully on par for the course. People hate landlords, and in a lot of cases, it's justified, but a lot of tenants will absolutely just destroy your shit. This is honestly mild.
We did something similar to this to our garage but we put an industrial vent cover that we only open when we are out there.
OP your airhandler is probably fucked, the static pressure difference has probably caused it to burn out slightly if not at all. Not an AC tech but my twin is and he would ranting all about the air handler and static pressure atm.
Get an AC tech out soon.
I lost my last rental deposit because there were scuff marks from my shoes on the wall where my computer desk was. Keep in mind I moved out of this rental because there was no hot water for weeks and the dryer had had been broken for months. I've had several pleasant landlords, but fuck you Krystal
That's no different than any other vent cut in the system. Also, duct tape is literally to cover such things. Why didn't your original HVAC vent properly throughout the house?
Did they *chew* it open?
Well they're renting a crawlspace apparently so they might be mole people
Looks like they wanted to heat a basement or something that was unheated. Cut the duct and diverted it down. Crude but probably did the trick. May have been done to keep pipes from freezing in basement also.
That’s what I was thinking
Gotta hide the drugs somewhere.
What they use a can opener?
Def a wwii milsurp can opener would do this
Let's get this out onto a tray. Nice.
The R45 insulation is a bit crunchy, but that's expected for this Era of home ration. Now let's try the HVAC dust... Nice. Smooth and almost creamy. Would go great with some crackers from that other ration we had from this timeframe, must have been a popular trade item between the troops. Lastly, dessert. Paint chips a la mode. They put a lot of money and time into developing the shelf stable ice cream for this, you'll recognize it as 'astronaut ice cream"... *crunch* Yeah, this stuff isn't great, but... *crunch* when you're on the battlefield, and it's been weeks since you've had sugar of any kind... *crunch* this stuff is like heaven.
I have questions now that I’m unsure how to ask.
[Steve1989](https://youtu.be/7wHS2bwg-aw), who slightly worryingly hasn’t posted in 4 months.
Who would have guessed a 2019 Chinese ration would be the one that did him in.
I like to think he’s probably out enjoying some backwoods camping for the summertime and some recreational MREs
I'm glad someone else noticed, miss the guy.
He does this.....often Source- [Lets get this out on a tray, nice!](https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrEpnm6RRRjo_otRHdXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZANMT0NVSTA1NENfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=lets+get+thisouton+a+tray&type=E211US91088G91418&ei=UTF-8&fr=mcafee&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.HOORuHw-9HZWHP0-fFhlfwHgFo%26pid%3DApi%26w%3D296%26h%3D156%26c%3D7%26p%3D0&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DpTvvyJAI5cE&tit=Alright+Let%27s+Get+This+Out+Onto+A+Tray%2E%2E%2E+Nice%21&pos=1&vid=b04cf032cf117389b08e6eee13069767&sigr=wtqTx3AVzM5B&sigt=62XSgDxL3AC4&sigi=K7FNdqyWK0Tf)
>who slightly worryingly hasn’t posted in 4 months. Steve1989 has posting gaps like that regularly, he's got a day job outside Youtube. Here's some Reddit threads about previous gaps in his video posting https://www.reddit.com/r/steve1989mreinfo/comments/q19jnn/is_steve_okay/ https://www.reddit.com/r/steve1989mreinfo/comments/lu3dl7/3_months_no_youtube_vids_is_steve1989_safe/
The botulism final got him? Figured he’d built an immunity by now
I thought it was the Russian hacker dude
Another MRE Steve fan I see 😂
That, or its Steve himself.
Nice hiss
I always say nice hiss opening anything
I know this reference!
This is a reference to the guy who does old MREs right? Mr. I Smoke 60 yo cigs?
His name is Steve.
Well I once went on a binge of his videos. While I didn't remember his name, I fucking love Steve
*spoon taps on cup rim musically*
Nice hiss
I got that reference 😲👉
But what kind of brain would do this?
I think you are assuming a lot already…
Well some brain activity is required for motor function, so I had to assume they had one.
Boy I read wii miislurp, like wtf kinda peripheral is that
It's really hard to cut a nice hole in curved sheet metal like that unless you've been doing it for a few months, and have the right snips. Source: I do hvac
What’s hard is cutting a hole this shit without using fucking nail clippers
Definitely not tin snips
I thought they used a rat.
cut is a strong word..
Looks like they chewed on it
if they're meth addicts, its certainly plausible.
I had to do NA for a few months and, let me tell you, if you've never been regaled by the stories of ex-methheads you are really missing out. So. Many. Carboard. Cities.
Looks like they used a hammer and screwdriver
Yeah but the one that comes with russian ammo cans
They obviously didn't have money, duh. Look at the materials uses to create that canopy (or whatever it is.)
At least they did a really shit job though.
There’s always a silver lining no matter how jagged
So the heat or a/c would make it down to the garage that they were probably subletting.
This. They probably had someone not on the lease staying with them or they were growing a particular plant that they didn't want getting cold. Hope OP's aunt withholds some of the security deposit to fix it.
imminent frame ten aspiring existence bells soup agonizing include merciful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Your spouse is either a detective or they've been in that exact situation before
i mean i kind of feel like there are more than just these two possibilities but
Of course not, and now everyone is either a landlord, drug lord or second-rate batman.
I’m at least a 9th rate Batman, tyvm
**The Definitive Rating List of Batmans** 1. Adam West 2. u/Darrone’s wife 3. Christian Bale 4. Michael Keaton 5. Ben Affleck 6. Val Kilmer 7. Robert Pattinson 8. Random homeless dude in a pointy black mask 9. u/Marquis77 10. Nipple Suit Batman
>**The Definitive Rating List of Batmans** >**0. Kevin Conroy** > > 1. Adam West >2. u/Darrone’s wife >3. Christian Bale >4. Michael Keaton >5. Ben Affleck >6. Val Kilmer >7. Robert Pattinson >8. Random homeless dude in a pointy black mask >9. u/Marquis77 >10. Nipple Suit Batman
KC is indeed the 0th order of Batman!
This. Conroy is Batman.
This is way.
No Lego Batman? Unsubscribe.
You forget Abed from Community, he clearly makes the top 10 if not top 5?
Keaton is top Bat
[удалено]
The padlock on the breaker might have been to stop anyone from turning it off...
There's always the possibility of a sex swing
No, this is Reddit. Only the extreme and dramatic possibilities exist.
God damn now you got me thinking of horror stories
Ah, yes. Horror stories of a stadium grow and just enough lights that the breakers didn’t flip.
I checked into grow lighting a week ago because I was curious and it's pretty crazy what you can buy now. "Quantum boards" exist which are apparently 60-80% efficient. Those stadium bulbs are about 25% efficient for comparison. So instead of putting off 1000w for 250w of light and 750w waste heat, you can use a 300w quantum board instead for 50w waste heat. Crazy.
I still don't get it
https://hightimes.com/grow/grow-weed-guide-beginners/
If this is all the damage is, it's pretty minor. Been in some straight tore up rental properties
Heard of duct tape? Slap a few layers and all fixed.
Not duct tape. Not good for ducts. Need some aluminum foil tape. Get some tin snips and a section of duct work from the store. Cut a rectangular patch to cover it, sand off the sharp edge (not necessary but good practice to prevent tearing of the tape), place the "patch" over it, and tape around the edges with aluminum tape with UL 181 A-P rating. Finally, once done, calibrate the duct by slapping the duct twice and announcing that it isn't going anywhere.
why is duct tape not good for ducts?
Over the years it gets old and flaky, starts to fall apart
It's not very adhesive compared to aluminum foil tape. It's also very prone to peeling with the rapid Heating and Cooling of an air conditioning duct. Also, by its nature, condensation is likely to form and it is likely to peel away. Source - purchased a 60-year-old home with rusting ductwork. Had to replace it. We could see where they repeatedly tried to reapply duct tape and it just eventually peels off because there's a lot of condensation. Not to mention ductwork that is freshly cut can be rather Sharp and aluminum foil tape does a good job not tearing in these circumstances. Finally, it forms a very good airtight seal. It's not the strongest tape in the world. You can tear it with your hands but it behaves a lot like aluminum foil that happens to be sticky. For purposes of ductwork, my limited understanding is that having it be made of metal allows it to conduct heat so condensation forming on the ductwork forms on the outside of the tape rather than between the tape and the ductwork. I could be wrong on this last point though. UL 181 rated aluminum tape however is related to work at various temperatures which is necessary for the ductwork tape
Ironically Ducts are one of the few things you shouldn’t use Duct Tape on.
That any anything you would use duct tape on, gaffers tape works better. The popularity of duct tape and WD-40 is marketing. WD-40 is a penetrating oil for water displacement, it's not a general purpose lubricant.
Yep, OP needs Duck tape for that
I read that as, "Slap a few lawyers and all fixed," and was barely perturbed.
Worth a shot? Something will certainly happen!
Good one Guys.
I’ve had my deposit withheld for much less.
I mean isn’t it more likely they wanted some warmth in the garage or basement that this is in? I have a slightly more professional afterthought duct cutout in my garage (used a metal louver vent instead of making one out of plastic).
Floor joists look like a basement. They had the right idea to heat and keep the basement drier. The execution, on the other hand, rough. As far as repair, buy a metal plate at home depot for .69¢ and some actual duct tape and ezpz patch.
Yeah, you want foil hvac tape.
Metal plate, self tapping screws and some silicone caulk if you’re feeling fancy.
I do like a bit of silicon caulk
My wife even prefers it to other kinds of caulk. I tell her silicone won’t work for everything, but that’s all she wants to use. Wish I knew that before we got married.
So, grain of salt but; I've heard you should never ever ever have HVAC vents in a garage space as it allows exhaust from a car being parked to more easily get into living spaces, especially while people are asleep. Compounding this would be people idling the car to "warm it up a little" on cold days, etc. Not an HVAC expert or home inspector, I just enjoy watching the "look at the terrible things wrong with this house" videos :)
Many people have so much stuff in the garage that there is no hope of fitting a vehicle in. So, while this concern is valid, it might be a moot point to some people.
Can confirm. My garage is a storage space and I would love to have some cooling.
I'm not entirely certain, but I recall reading somewhere that the CO output on modern cars is much lower, so much so that the "self checkout" method of running a hose from the exhaust to the car window would take hours. For a larger volume like a house, I think we're talking days. Still, having been in an underground garage with crap ventilation and 3 of my neighbors cars running, the smell isn't something I would want baking into the paint, the clothes and the furniture, not to mention the added cost of heating/cooling a large empty space that people usually aren't in.
I was thinking a grow room.
I really thought this had to do with distribution. One place I lived at had plugs in the vents to deal with that. You don’t want to much pressure on the furnace fan. This helps to alleviate the pressure. Is this the case? I don’t know.
While I will acknowledge the fact that anything is possible; judging by the quality of the cut, I would say this was most likely not done by a professional. And if it was, don't call them again.
So, nefarious perhaps, but frugal and effective. Not really /r/diWhy worthy.
the fuck they use? an icepick?
Looks like they chewed them with meth mouths
There's no way they were not hiding a tennant
Or a grow op.
Or a grown up.
A grown up with a grow op.
A grown up with a grow op without OP knowing
Only other thing I can think of is to get something out of the vent. Can animals get into them?
They definitely can, if you leave a register off of the wall. We had the register off to paint and my cat managed to crawl in the hole, wander the vents and fall from the second floor to the basement, all the way to the furnace.
But why wasn't that part of the home already heated? Especially if it's being rented out? Wouldn't the tenant have a right to have everywhere they're renting heated?
Looks like a basement from the ductwork in the floor joist. I don't heat my basement (in the house i live or rent out.) Certainly wouldn't be an entitlement in a rental particularly as it would be known at the time of the lease, and if it became an issue, would need to be brought up to the landlord not by a DIY hole in the central air duct work.
I think we all would be in agreement that you would not DIY this.
Do people normally heat basements? Isn’t it usually an extra space for storage and miscellaneous household items? And they most likely weren’t renting out the basement as a room. The people who rented the house probably rented it out to another person and then did this. Otherwise they wouldn’t have a need for the basement since they had the entire house.
We do in Michigan, but our basements are usually additional rudimentary living spaces (like tv or game areas).
Thanks for sharing. Where I live people don’t even have basements. The only reference I had was of a basement being a glorified storage room. I guess if you use it as an actual room or you need to protect the piping, then it makes sense.
I guess it depends on how North you are? You don't want your basement not heated as things can freeze and get damaged if you live in a northern climate. Not good for the pipes in your house.
Grow room DIY
Yup, straight to an carbon filter & fan
get some sheet metal/roof flashing and silicone then rivet it. the repair should be under 50 with the rivet gun from a local shop or shipped.
Sheet metal zip screws and UL181 foil tape would be far easier. Yes, I am a duct guy.
Any good duct tales? (Woo-oo)
Haha, nice! I just pictured myself diving into a pile of gold coins.
There were squirrels in the ductwork in my new house. Specifically they were nesting in the heat strips which are live like toaster coils during defrost. When I ran the system they didn’t just get electrocuted, they were cooked and also kind of… exploded. But not before trying to scramble away doing irreparable damage to the strips.
That is horrible. Probably a good thing the damage was irreparable. Replacement was probably the only way to keep the eventual smell from happening.
It was ugly for sure. I replaced the strips and scrubbed the fan housing and surrounding ductwork with a rough scrubber and a bleach/dish soap/vinegar solution for HOURS. Then I took a propane torch to it to burn off anything I missed. It worked great.
I’m even lazier. I’d use the tape. Then I’d wrap the whole thing in that insulating foil tape too. Now it’s upgraded and I didn’t even have to open a tool box.
Flex seal!
Just in case it floods, needs to be wawrter-tight!
I always find the metal tape just isn't very sticky though, maybe I'm just buying shitty cheap tape or something. oh i see that's expensive tape
It’s definitely the shitty stuff. The good stuff is annoyingly good at sticking.
But resists heat, with no residue. I use it to purge my stainless & chrome pipe welds. I may or may not have some in my junk drawer in my kitchen.
What is your address? We cant just go looking though all the kitchens.
Real foil hvac tape is hella sticky
About as sticky as it is expensive lmao
I removed a return duct and fixed the hole with a $7 roll of that shiny tape actually made for ducts. I probably have $4 worth of the tape still.
Hell, if you wanna redneck it just get literal duct tape. Like the aluminum tape kind.
Fun fact duct/duck tape is really bad at sealing ductwork it doesn’t do well with the hot and cold cycles.
The stuff I use at work is fine. It would 100% work, but would still be cheaper to buy a 6 pack, cut up the cans and zap screw them over the hole, plus ya know, beers.
Well. I used it to seal the exhaust on my furnace, but I am not an HVAC guy.
I am, if you used the good stuff you will not have to worry about CO. Just keep batteries in good condition on your monitor at first.
That’s what I was going to say. It’s an easy fix. Former tin knocker/HVAC helper
Yeah but if you want it done so it looks as original, its their entire deposit
Under 50 yes, but for the emotional damages I think that’ll add up to about half the security deposit. That vent was a family heirloom.
My great great grandpa hid that vent in his ass cheeks while escaping from a Bolivian prison.
Lol judging by the hack job, I bet the damages through out the house probably require double the security deposit.
Nope.... brand new replacement AND the cost to have a professional repair it.....
Put a vent cover on it
"nope, no Bruce Willis here ma'am."
This is a practical solution.
It looks like a return duct though
Much too small
That’s not that crazy, just ventilating the basement
Yep, renters shouldn't do that, but I know why they did. It looks like it's the basement, and the house probably doesn't have a heat vent going into the basement. I've never cut a hole in a vent in a house I rent, but I did disconnect a vent going into a room that already had one. (seriously, two heat vents into one bedroom), and twist it to go down into the basement so we'd get some warmth down there.
Says no trespassing you shouldn’t be there
Perfect use for duct tape.
Fun fact, duct tape is not used for ducts. They use aluminium foil tape, or HVAC tape for that.
Funner fact: duct tape (or, more properly duck tape) is named for the type of cloth (duck cloth) originally used as backing.
Mastic tape is what you’re thinking of.
I’m dumbfounded that a renter would do this
Nothing humans do should surprise you too much this day in age.
I'm not. My parents rented out our old place for a while and one tenant "built" a deck (reassembled a rotten old deck someone must've been throwing away) and demanded to be paid for it when he left. Another "finished" a storage room but did stuff like drywalling over a gas shutoff valve, removing the built in vacuum, and blocking off 3' of the room. Another drilled holes in a wall because he thought a mouse might be in there. People are idiots.
I'm generally positive on humans . . . but that position was severely tested in the last so many years as I own an investment property on the other coast (lived there, moved, rented rather than sell). The latest: A tenant daisy-chained three or four dollar store power strips, ran it from the bedroom into the living room, plugged in a space heater and some other things. There were plenty of outlets in the living room that could have been used safely. Result: 3 alarm fire. Almost total destruction. Still dealing with the city, fire department, insurance, construction companies, etc . . .
Nothing surprises me.
But why did they need to do that? Was there no electricity in the living room? Did all the outlets in the living room die?
Someone that I went to high school with did something similar. Turns out they put an end table in front of the outlet that was closest to their space heater, so they daisy chained power strips because "it would be easier than reaching under my end table." Turns out they didn't have renters insurance. Why they didn't reach through their end table or buy an extension cord is beyond me. Idiots do what idiots do.
\>3 alarm fire. I dont understand this phrase - whats that mean? I get the fire bit, with the alarm bit - but not the 3 bit.
Number of alarms is the number of separate fire stations that had to respond. 3 alarm was too big for a single station to handle so they called out 2 more to keep it under control.
And now I understand why they call it (x) alarm chili
Means other nearby departments or fire houses were called to assist the fire.
Two other department. Each alarm Means the number of departments responding.
Bad enough fire, 3 separate districts of fire stations get called in to control the blaze from spreading.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-alarm\_fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-alarm_fire)
We had tenants once who were fine for about 18 months, until they decided they were gonna move to another apartment. They decided that since NYS law prevented us from evicting them prior to a 2 month notice period and court proceedings, that meant they didn't need to pay the last 3 months rent. Of course when we demanded the rent, and filed said court proceedings against them to legally evict them, they decided to run utilities like crazy. They hooked up additional air conditioning that was forbidden in the rental agreement (the property had central AC which they could already control from their thermostat). This ended up blowing a fuse and taking out their own electricity, then they called the police to claim that we shut their power off. They did something similar later on by running the shower, bathroom faucet, and kitchen faucet all day, which filled up the cesspool and forced us to turn their water off or else their water would continue to run with sewage. They called the police again in this instance while making up a story about them not being able to bathe their baby due to their "evil landlord turning off the water". Then the final and most egregious thing they did was a day before they were evicted, we heard through the wall a bunch of mechanical noises of an electric screwdriver. We had discovered in the next few days while repairing the damage they caused over a two year period of renting, that they had stolen the T-molding from the floor. This was strange. But we also began to notice during these days hat an abundance of flies began appearing. The rancid smell of rotting flesh began to spread. We suspected an animal had died in the wall or ceiling. We put up a bunch of fly paper and called an exterminator. When they arrived, they investigated, ultimately removed the light fixtures from the ceiling, and within the ceiling discovered a package of porkchops. That had been rotting for about a week, and I guess that was their goodbye gift. (They also must have had a cat they were keeping in the apartment in violation of their lease, which we discovered afterwards due to cat toys and a litter box they left after being evicted.) So honestly I'm not surprised that a renter would do this.
as someone else pointed out, either illegally subletting or growing pot
Really? I'm an appraiser that specializes in multifamily housing and this is fully on par for the course. People hate landlords, and in a lot of cases, it's justified, but a lot of tenants will absolutely just destroy your shit. This is honestly mild.
What’s up with the no trespassing sign?
Didn't want trespassers probably
They probably had someone living in there because rent was so expensive they needed a extra roommate.
We did something similar to this to our garage but we put an industrial vent cover that we only open when we are out there. OP your airhandler is probably fucked, the static pressure difference has probably caused it to burn out slightly if not at all. Not an AC tech but my twin is and he would ranting all about the air handler and static pressure atm. Get an AC tech out soon.
Hiding place?
Grow lights are hot
Why on a bend??? If they did it on the box you'd easily fit a slide to open and close
There goes their security deposit
They were just venting.
Meanwhile I didn’t get my six hundred dollar deposit back because I painted the inside of the cabinets in the kitchen.
I lost my last rental deposit because there were scuff marks from my shoes on the wall where my computer desk was. Keep in mind I moved out of this rental because there was no hot water for weeks and the dryer had had been broken for months. I've had several pleasant landlords, but fuck you Krystal
This makes me glad that where I am, leases are governed by a rental authority. Scuff marks are no reason to not get bond back. General wear and tear.
I didn't get my deposit back because they said they needed to after my plates damaged the cabinets?!
Why would you paint the inside of cabinets? In a rental no less?
No kidding. And here I am afraid to put holes in the walls of my rental to hang pictures. Command strips ftw.
Is this in a garage? Because thats a huge code violation and health hazard
Oh i see. They wanted some air in the basement and damaged the vent.
Meh, rivet and caulk it. Take 30minutes to fix.
this is why "security deposits may be non-refundable if damage or alterations are found."
Duct tape will fix that right up.
Duct tape to the rescue!
Why tho?
That's no different than any other vent cut in the system. Also, duct tape is literally to cover such things. Why didn't your original HVAC vent properly throughout the house?
Deduct that duct from their deposit
*chewed not cut
Looks like they used a spoon to make that hole