Tips to Protect Your HVAC System During Home Remodeling
With spring just around the corner, many homeowners have remodeling projects on their to-do list. One thing that’s sure to accompany any remodeling project is sawdust, plaster or drywall dust, regular dust and plain old dirt. And that can all be hazardous to HVAC equipment. Many heating and cooling system repair issues can be traced back to dust and dirt buildup in sensitive components. Your home remodeling project costs enough – don’t let it add to your HVAC maintenance costs, too!
If you have a home remodeling project coming up, here are some common sense tips for making sure your furnace, AC, heat pump or other HVAC equipment isn’t adversely affected by all that dusty and dirty indoor work. A little bit of prevention is easy and inexpensive, and it’s definitely preferable to dealing with expensive repairs caused by the storm of dust that’s coming to your house.
Prepare for Your Home Remodeling Project
Plan ahead for the impact on your heating and cooling equipment. If you’re working with a home improvement contractor or other remodeling professional, they should be able to inform you of the steps they’re taking to protect all parts of your home, including your HVAC equipment – ask them for details. If you’re taking on a DIY home improvement project, go over your remodeling plans with your HVAC company before embarking on a project. They should be able to advise you on how to protect your heating and cooling equipment while the work is being done.
Turn off your HVAC equipment. It’s better to not have your furnace or AC blower running during the project, drawing in dust and debris. In many cases, such as roof repair or window replacement, your home will be open to the exterior elements during the time of the renovation, anyway, so you’d just be pumping that cool or warm air out into neighborhood, anyway. And even if your home improvement project is indoor-only, workers will be coming in and out all day, leaving doors open and probably opening windows to vent fumes – so it’s better, all around, to turn off your HVAC.
Close registers and close and cover vents where the work is occurring. You want to prevent your equipment from drawing dust and dirt back into the duct system once the equipment begins operating again, but it’s also important to prevent dust and debris from falling into registers or vents while the work is happening, because then it will just get sucked into the heating and cooling system as soon as you turn it back on. (If you decide to leave your forced-air heating or cooling on during the work, don’t close too many registers, since that will adversely affect airflow and could cause other problems in your HVAC system.)
Protect Your HVAC System During a Home Improvement Project
Control the dust. Use plastic tarps to separate the work area from the rest of the house. Ask your contractor (if you’re not doing the work yourself) to employ dust control techniques. Is there a way to maintain negative air pressure in the work area during the project, so any airborne dust is likely to move into, rather than out of, the work area? Have as much of the remodeling prep work as possible done outside or in the garage, especially dusty tasks like cutting and sanding wood. This prevents a lot of the dust from the project from ever even entering your home, giving you one less headache to deal with.
Keep things clean. The work area should be cleaned frequently during the project to avoid dust and dirt from being tracked around the house or swept into HVAC registers and vents.
Keep an eye on your HVAC filter. Inspect your HVAC air filter frequently during and after the project to ensure that it hasn’t gotten clogged with airborne dust and debris. It will most likely need to be changed more frequently than usual for months after the project is complete!
Have your HVAC system checked after the project. It won’t hurt to have your HVAC company inspect your indoor heating and cooling equipment, as well as the duct system, to make sure dirt and dust haven’t accumulated during the remodeling project. Better to get ahead of any needed maintenance than to let it accumulate into a bigger headache down the road.
Here in Cincinnati, we’re happy to help you with preparing your HVAC system for a home improvement project or dealing with the consequences after you’re finished. Planning ahead and taking proactive steps helps keep your home improvement related HVAC problems to a minimum (though we can’t help you with the rest of your remodel)!