Asbestos contractor removed ducts and didn't replace them

5 years ago

Title says it all. We had 3 companies come out, unfortunately went with the cheapest. The house was built in 1942 and used to havea coal burner so we have those big giant unsightly registers/boots lol. The new furnace was a custom job, or uncontracted because the unisulated plenum is too short, 4 round ducts come out of the top, with an extra unsealed duct hole that i just found out about, and two ducts on the sides. 2 instances of 1 duct going to a boot that supplies 2 separate rooms; another discussion another day lol.

He said usually they use 2 man crews but my project was small and the co-owner came to do the work himself because my appointment was delayed a week because his truck broke down.

First he didn't ask how old the house was. He didn't go upstairs to look at any of the boots/registers, just assessed from the basement. He said it should only take a few hours. The first day he came over and unbeknownst to me, he was moving all my furniture by himself. He never asked me to move furniture (there wasn't much but he had to move it all to one side of the room. I would have moved the furniture if he asked me to, i just thought he'd tarp it off because there was plenty of room to wrok. Or i would have helped him move it if he asked me, i was home all day. He traped off the sections and put his air thing in and then he left to do another appointment. It took him 5 hours

The next day he gets there and says it should only take about 45 mins. 2 hours later, with lots of banging muttering and grumbling. i heard the vacuum turn on just as i was heading out the door to pick up my roommate from work. My partner is home but doesn/t know anything about this stuff. The guy says to him, "The asbestos was so caked on the ducts i had to remove them completely. The cost didn't include installing new ducts."

My partner paid him and he left. When i got home i was obviously livid. And instead of doing the right thing and calling the guy back, i was in full panic mode because the house is 55 degrees and dropping. I went to home depot and picked up some ductwork. I was going to redo the whole thing because i wanted it to be right. Somehow he got the asbestoss off the boots without removing them from the wall.

So just in case i got my gloves and respirator and starting chiseling out the plaster and removed them all. I then started undoing the ducts from the plenum. Just as i was going to start removing the plenum i found loose asbestos paper still on top. I don't know if it's from before or after he came and i don't know if any got into the unit.

So now I'm removing myself from this job. What do i do? Do i call him? Call a lawyer? Either or both?

Featured Answer

mike_home

5 years ago

Now I understand. I saw "new furnace" in your post and I assumed this was the work of the HVAC contractor. Bottom line it was one person working 7 hours over two days at a cost of $3000 and you were left with a cold house.

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Comments (10)

sktn77a
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Sounds like you learned the hard way....... Most asbestos removal folks don do new ductwork but call the guy back and ask him how much to install new ducts. Depending on the nature of the install, you could be looking at anywhere from ~$1000 - ~$2000. Not cheap but how much is your life worth to you.

Get 2-3 bids just to get a sense for what the going rate in your location is.
mtvhike
5 years ago
I would never let a job like this be done without my being there. You said you were present, but didn't you see what he was doing?
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3onthetree
5 years ago
It sounds like he was an HVAC sub, not as asbestos contractor. And maybe his fee covered his amount of hours, and he hit those hours and stopped, as it also sounds like you did not have a contract stating what the exact scope of work was. A certified asbestos contractor will remove the materials, that has nothing to do with new installations.
shaggyfox44
Original Author
5 years ago
The basement was completely sealed off at the top pf the stairs. I wasn't about to go down there while he was removing asbestos lmao.

I contracted him through angie's list, they do residential and commercial. Their website says they specialize in asbestos abatement but also do mold, water and fire damage

I didn't know it was common for the asbestos guys to not replace them. Oh well, I'm always expecting the worse so Live and learn.

Lowest quote i got was $3000, I had to rig it myself for about $300. Just got done.

Yeah i know a bunch of math and technical stuff that i didn't have time to figure out. It's been 20 degrees outside ever since he left, 3 days ago. i got plumbing covered on home warranty but i really don't want to deal with frozen pipes. Plus it was keeping me warm lol (it got down to 45 with a space heater in every room.

Alright back to and/or on to the next project lol!
mike_home
5 years ago
Let me understand this. The co-owner of an HVAC company installs a new furnace and did not connect it to the duct work? He didn't think it this was important to tell you when it is 20 degrees outside?
shaggyfox44
Original Author
5 years ago
Did you read it at all? Or my response? He's a co-owner of a disaster remediation company, they don't specialize in anything else lol.

Everyone i seem to know keeps asking, so i'm sure some of you are wondering why i chose to have it removed rather than encapsulate.

For some reason i can't upload more than one photo but this here is the ceiling above my furnace, and stretches 5 feet, goes above the steal I-beam and connects to a rectangular trunk with a hole cut out the top of it spanning 2 joists, The trunk was resting against the joists with asbestos sealing the gaps, asbestos paper or wrap all over the surrounding wood, swinging, blowing and probably flying lol.
shaggyfox44
Original Author
5 years ago
shaggyfox44
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
They also tapped a smaller vent size on the bottom to try to heat the basement, that''s how i got that last shot, all it was doing was wasting energy trying to heat 2 floors at once lol
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CoolAir Inc.
5 years ago
Professional contractors do not work like this. May be he was a noob and you should have een there to inspect whether he has complaeted the task or not.