Thanks for the prop's, Frozengator. You ain't alone; I have a stack of honey-do's that go back 3 years at our principal residence. This gar/apt project has sucked up all the time and money...and yet I soldier on. - Tin Knocker The HVAC sheet metal work is pretty much done. It came with a reasonable amount of cuts and scrapes. I had a few traffic jams and clogged intersections, but it finally came together. Here is my most dangerous intersection.
The cold air returns (CAR's) were a joy unto themselves. When it came time to tie the bedroom returns to the main chase return, there was no combination of standard fittings available to bring it all together. I had to use stock galv sheet metal and measure-snip-measure-snip-fold-snip-fold and came up with this Rube Goldberg special:
It was a super tight fit, but we got it up into the 2nd floor framing and everything hooked up well. This is a shot looking up to the top of the mechanical room, directly over where the furnace and AC handler will reside. The two 8 x 12's on the left are the feeds and the 10 x 20 Bski Goldberg on the right is the CAR.
Upstairs, we lined the chase with more of the galv sheet metal and caulked all the corners. I like to put a high and low opening for CAR's. This allows using magnetic sheeting to cover one up, depending on whether it's the heating or cooling season. The bedroom CAR's will be the same.
All joints and takeoffs are either caulked or taped with aluminum tape. The only fittings that I haven't yet sealed are the elbows. The tub of duct sealer and pair of latex gloves oughta get that job done....next trip.
