Issues Uncovered during Central Heat Pump Replacement: Wood Damage, Improper Sealing, and More

The central heat pump preparation for replacement (No surprise) has uncovered more issues needing to be addressed, first the old unit was covered where it meets the crawlspace however it was not sealed properly thus water got behind it ad damaged the wood.

Besides the wood damage they knocked down the brick to the ground allowing rain water to seep into the crawlspace, the area where the metal ducts were also had no vapor barrier! They were mostly laying on dirt!.

To my surprise the old Rheem packaged unit was sitting on what I describe as fake cement! It is styrofoams coated with a hard resin, but sitting on good looking brick! (see pic’s) I know they sell pads to place AC’s on however I really thought this was on cement!

I had to pour cement to create a curb to stop ground water from entering the crawl. All the ductwork is going to relocated and raised, the old ductwork was in sections with metal straps holding them together, NO seam tape was used, I found plenty of air leaks on both the supply side and return side.

In short it’s a quagmire mess, electrical wires hanging not secured, drain pipe laying on ductwork, insulation falling down, missing plastic vapor barrier, etc.

This will take much more work and time to repair properly including brick and siding repairs to be done after system is installed.