Do I need to do anything before the duct estimate visit?

Two things help. First, make sure your advisor can reach the attic hatch or crawlspace opening — if there's a dresser under the hatch or boxes in front of the opening, clearing a path saves time. Second, have your list of misbehaving rooms ready: the stuffy bedroom, the weak vent, the room that never matches the thermostat. That list is genuinely useful — it tells your advisor where to look hardest. Everything else is on us.

Will you run a duct leakage test at the estimate?

No — the estimate visit is an eyes-on evaluation of your ductwork, end to end. If sealing looks like a fit for your ducts, your advisor will explain how the leakage measurement works and give you a straight answer on whether your ducts are good candidates. The actual before-and-after measurement happens when sealing work is performed — every Aeroseal sealing job includes it, so you can see exactly what changed.

What if my ducts only need a repair, not replacement?

Then a repair is what your proposal will say. Sometimes the fix is reconnecting a fallen section or re-routing a crushed run; sometimes it's sealing the leaks; sometimes the ductwork has genuinely reached the end and replacement is the right call. The proposal follows what the walkthrough actually found — if what you have is worth keeping, that's what it will say.

Is it a problem that I'm getting other quotes?

Not at all — comparing quotes on a decision this size is exactly what we'd do at our own houses. Take the questions on this page and ask every bidder the same things, ours included. Our proposal is written, itemized, and priced upfront, and nothing in it expires when the advisor leaves — it's built to hold up in a side-by-side comparison.

What We Look At When We Quote Ductwork

You asked us to walk you through what we look at when we quote ductwork — so here it is, the whole walkthrough, before we ever ring your doorbell. By the end of this page you’ll know what a proper duct evaluation involves, and you’ll be able to hold every company that quotes you — ours included — to the same standard.

(209) 368-4264 Contact Us

First, we go where the ducts live

You can’t quote ductwork from the driveway, and you can’t quote it from the hallway either. Your ducts run through the attic or crawlspace — in a Lodi summer, the least glamorous real estate on the property — so that’s where your advisor goes. Not a glance through the hatch: following the actual runs, end to end, from the system out to the far rooms.

That matters because two identical floor plans can hide completely different ductwork — one tidy and sound, the other crushed, disconnected, and patched over the decades. A quote built on your actual ducts is worth something. A quote built on the average house your size is a guess with a signature on it.

What we're looking at up there

The layout. How air travels from the system to each room. Long, roundabout, or kinked runs starve the rooms at the end of the line — air is lazy, and it gives up on hard journeys.

The sizing. Ducts too small for the system choke it, like drinking a milkshake through a coffee stirrer. Plenty of “weak AC” complaints are really duct-sizing stories.

The connections. Wherever sections meet — at the plenum, at branch takeoffs, at every register boot — is where duct systems leak. According to ENERGY STAR, a typical home loses about 20 to 30 percent of the air moving through its duct system to leaks, holes, and poorly connected ducts. That’s where your advisor looks hardest.

The insulation. A duct crossing a Central Valley attic in July is carrying cold air through an oven. If the wrap is thin, torn, or slumped off, your air arrives warmer than it left.

The returns. The forgotten half of the system. Your home can only push out as much air as it pulls back in, and undersized or too-few returns quietly strangle everything downstream.

Then we talk about the rooms that act up

Here’s the one thing worth preparing before the visit: tell your advisor which rooms misbehave. The back bedroom that never cools down. The office vent that barely whispers. The room that’s fine at six and stuffy by ten.

Those complaints aren’t small talk — they’re evidence. That stubborn bedroom usually sits at the end of a specific run with a specific problem, and a good advisor connects what you feel in the room to what they found in the attic. If uneven rooms are your main complaint, our comfort guide is a good companion read.

And if the misbehaving room is also the dusty room, say so — return-side leaks can pull attic air into the house, which makes duct cleaning or an indoor air quality conversation worth having in the same visit.

The honest part: replacement isn't always the answer

Sometimes the walkthrough turns up real problems with simple fixes — a crushed run to re-route, a fallen section to reconnect, leaks that Aeroseal duct sealing can close from the inside without replacing anything. If what you have is worth keeping, you’ll hear that from us. If your ducts are a poor fit for sealing, you’ll hear that too. Full replacement earns its place on the proposal only when the ductwork itself — the sizing, the layout, the material — is the problem.

Questions worth asking every bidder

Getting two or three quotes on ductwork is smart, and we mean that. Ask every company — ours included:

Did you go into the attic or crawlspace and follow the runs, or quote from the hatch?
Did you look at the return side, or only the supply vents?
Which of my room complaints does this quote actually fix, and how?
Is the price in writing — and does it change if I take a week to decide?

Any company doing this right will have good answers. So will we.

What you'll have when we leave

A written proposal with exact upfront pricing for exactly what your house needs — itemized, and if you asked about something your home doesn’t need, it says so in writing. Nothing in it expires when your advisor pulls out of the driveway. It’s yours to keep, compare, and sleep on. (Comparing quotes on a new system too? Here’s how to compare system quotes — ours included.)

Bring the hard questions to your visit — your advisor likes them. Questions before then? Call (209) 368-4264.

All-Air Heating & Air Conditioning — Lodi, CA. Your Partner For Life. License #959972.

(209) 368-4264 Contact Us

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to do anything before the duct estimate visit?
Two things help. First, make sure your advisor can reach the attic hatch or crawlspace opening — if there’s a dresser under the hatch or boxes in front of the opening, clearing a path saves time. Second, have your list of misbehaving rooms ready: the stuffy bedroom, the weak vent, the room that never matches the thermostat. That list is genuinely useful — it tells your advisor where to look hardest. Everything else is on us.
Will you run a duct leakage test at the estimate?
No — the estimate visit is an eyes-on evaluation of your ductwork, end to end. If sealing looks like a fit for your ducts, your advisor will explain how the leakage measurement works and give you a straight answer on whether your ducts are good candidates. The actual before-and-after measurement happens when sealing work is performed — every Aeroseal sealing job includes it, so you can see exactly what changed.
What if my ducts only need a repair, not replacement?
Then a repair is what your proposal will say. Sometimes the fix is reconnecting a fallen section or re-routing a crushed run; sometimes it’s sealing the leaks; sometimes the ductwork has genuinely reached the end and replacement is the right call. The proposal follows what the walkthrough actually found — if what you have is worth keeping, that’s what it will say.
Is it a problem that I'm getting other quotes?
Not at all — comparing quotes on a decision this size is exactly what we’d do at our own houses. Take the questions on this page and ask every bidder the same things, ours included. Our proposal is written, itemized, and priced upfront, and nothing in it expires when the advisor leaves — it’s built to hold up in a side-by-side comparison.