Any hvac guys here? Buying a new place and never seen this before.

[Eric Lewandowski]

We are buying a new home soon and are doing a walk through tonight to go over some things. One is this heat duct. I've never seen a stud run through a heat run before. I'm not sure why they did it this way, except for maybe laziness. Anyone know if this could cause any future problems with build up or something, or if its all good?

Thanks

 

[JG plumbing]

Is it a return? Doesn't look like it. Or could cause moisture and rot. Could.

This is generally a no no. Looks like the carpenters screwed the hvac guy and the hvac guy didn't care enough to have him fix it. I wouldn't like it, but it's not a huge deal.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Did you have the home professionally inspected? This would have been flagged and explained...and part of your due diligence or contingency prior to purchase.

 

[PerplexedPlumber]

I don't like wood being exposed in a duct system, whether supply or return. With metal being tacked across the joists, it does look like return air. It's a common practice, unfortunately. In one place where we ran into a limitation and a wood surface was exposed in the return air, I had the wood coated with polyurethane. In this installation, with the joist being used as part of the duct enclosure, I'm not sure that the stud being exposed is significanlty different. Is that a standalone stud supporting something about the juncture of the ducts, or is there a set of wall studs continuing? Looks like i may be standalone from the photo. I would wonder whether it may increase noise when the fan is running. What does your county inspector say?

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Is it acutally going up into it? Or possibly holding up the return?