Most homeowners think about their air conditioner, their furnace, or their thermostat when HVAC problems come up. The ductwork — the network of metal or flex ducts that carries conditioned air throughout your home — tends to get overlooked. But leaky ductwork is one of the most common and most costly hidden problems in homes across Gwinnett County. Studies have found that the average home loses 20–30% of conditioned air through duct leaks, meaning nearly a third of the energy you pay for never reaches the rooms it's supposed to. At Henson Heating Air and Plumbing, duct inspection and duct sealing are some of the most impactful services we provide for homeowners who want to lower their energy bills and improve comfort.
Why Duct Leaks Happen
Ductwork in most homes was installed when the home was built, and it doesn't last forever without wear. Over time, the connections between duct sections can loosen, the tape used to seal joints (which in older homes was often standard duct tape, not the mastic or metal tape used today) dries out and fails, and flex duct can develop holes or tears from pest activity, contact with sharp edges, or simple aging. Homes in Georgia also experience significant temperature swings in attics where much of the ductwork is routed — those extreme heat cycles accelerate wear on duct materials over the years.
Signs Your Ductwork May Be Leaking
Duct leaks can be subtle, but there are several signs that point toward ductwork as the culprit when your HVAC system isn't performing the way it should.
Uneven Temperatures Room to Room
If some rooms in your home are consistently harder to heat or cool than others — despite being roughly the same size and having similar sun exposure — it's often a duct issue. A leak near the supply duct serving a particular room means conditioned air escapes before it arrives. The result is a room that never quite reaches the temperature on the thermostat, even when the system runs for long periods.
Higher Than Normal Energy Bills
If your heating and cooling costs have increased over time without a clear explanation — no major weather changes, no new appliances, no changes in behavior — duct leakage is a strong candidate. When your HVAC system is dumping conditioned air into attic spaces, wall cavities, or unconditioned areas, it has to run longer and harder to compensate. That extra runtime shows up directly on your utility bill every month.
Dustier Than Usual Indoor Environment
Leaky return ducts are particularly problematic for indoor air quality. Return ducts bring air back to your HVAC system to be filtered and conditioned again. When a return duct leaks in an attic or crawlspace, it pulls in unconditioned, unfiltered air — along with dust, insulation fibers, pollen, and other contaminants — and distributes it throughout your home. If your home seems dustier than it used to be, or if your air filter is clogging faster than normal, leaky return ducts may be the reason.
Weak Airflow at Vents
Hold your hand near a supply vent in a room that feels too warm in summer or too cold in winter. If the airflow feels noticeably weaker than at other vents, there's likely a restriction or a leak somewhere in the duct run serving that register. Air is escaping before it reaches the vent.
Visible Duct Damage
If you have accessible ductwork in your attic, basement, or crawlspace, it's worth taking a look. Disconnected sections, kinked flex duct, visible holes, or joints where the tape has peeled away are all signs of leakage. In some cases, pest activity — rodents nesting in or chewing through duct insulation — can create significant damage that's easy to spot if you know what to look for.
HVAC System Running Constantly
When your system can't maintain the set temperature despite running almost non-stop, it's often because conditioned air is being lost before it reaches the living space. This is a classic sign of duct leakage, particularly in homes where the ducts run through unconditioned attic space — common in Georgia ranch homes and split-level homes built before the 1990s.
What Can Be Done About Duct Leaks?
The good news is that duct leaks are fixable, and the return on investment from duct sealing is often significant. Henson Heating Air and Plumbing provides professional duct inspection and duct sealing services using mastic sealant and/or metal-backed tape — the materials that actually hold up long-term, unlike standard household duct tape which was never designed for HVAC applications.
For more extensive duct issues — disconnected sections, collapsed flex duct, or ducts that have been significantly compromised by pests or moisture — we can handle partial or full duct repair and replacement as well. We also inspect duct insulation and can address cases where duct insulation has deteriorated and is causing thermal losses in addition to leakage.
The Impact of Duct Sealing on Comfort and Cost
Homeowners who have their ductwork properly sealed often notice immediate improvements — better airflow in problem rooms, more even temperatures throughout the home, and a system that doesn't run as long to maintain comfort. The efficiency gains typically translate to measurable reductions in monthly energy bills, with many homeowners seeing 15–25% reductions in heating and cooling costs after sealing leaky duct systems.
Beyond comfort and cost, properly sealed ductwork also means less dust and allergens circulating through the home, which matters especially for households with allergy sufferers or anyone with respiratory sensitivities.
Schedule a Duct Inspection with Henson Heating Air and Plumbing
If you're experiencing any of the symptoms described above — uneven comfort, high energy bills, excessive dust, weak airflow, or a system that runs constantly — a duct inspection is a logical next step. Henson Heating Air and Plumbing serves homeowners throughout Loganville, Lawrenceville, Duluth, Conyers, Covington, Lithonia, Stone Mountain, Decatur, Oxford, and all of Gwinnett County. We provide professional duct inspection, duct sealing, duct repair, and duct replacement services.
Call us today or request a duct inspection online. Leaky ductwork is one of the most fixable efficiency problems in your home — and the sooner it's addressed, the sooner you stop paying for conditioned air that never reaches you.
