Our years of experience in home inspection tells us that alterations and renovations done by homeowners or unqualified contractors often result in unbalanced cool and warm air in the home. In furnace and duct heating system, warm air is pushed into the rooms through the heat registers. in order to have the warm air evenly distributed through the home and not to have a pressurized room, air return ducts carry the cooled air back to the furnace to be warmed up and return to the circulation again. Since cooler air settles in the lower parts of the rooms, air returns installed at the lower areas and far from the heat registers.
Experienced certified home inspectors will be careful about the air balancing when they notice some sort of interior renovation has been done in the home. When new rooms are created or enlarged and if a basement has been finished, or if an apartment is completed with washrooms, bedrooms, living rooms and so on, air balancing system has to be improved accordingly. Without proper air balancing, the heat in winter and cool air in the summer time won’t be distributed evenly throughout the house. Not only warming or cooling the rooms will be more difficult and costly but the air can be stale and uncomfortable as well.
This issue must be carefully checked during the home inspection process. First, the home inspector should check if any types of renovations or alterations have been done in the home and then inspect air balancing for each floor. This issue is more serious when it comes to finished basements with a door installed between the main floor and basement. With separating two living spaces by a door, heating and air circulation for the basement becomes critical.
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