Toxic Heating (Update)

Duct Man came and had a looked. He was quite disappointed. As you recall, he started moaning when I told him about Santy Claws so he expected and hoped for the worst. I'm sure a messed up crawlspace is a duct repair person's ultimate dream. However, Santy Claws was a very tidy guest and did no damage at all! Well, excluding the bits of opossum shit here and there. Duct Man was concerned with the old-style duct walls used to cage the air return vents. They are made with fiberglass and over time the surface will disintegrate. Heating systems with duct walls can't be cleaned because they will loosen the fiberglass fibers creating a [more] toxic breathing situation. He neither replaces or cleans ducts nor duct walls so I could see he was a little disappointed more of it wasn't falling apart so he could repair something.

I guess I should be happy he doesn't need to repair and charge me a lot to do what he would do, but this doesn't offer a solution to my problem. At the very least, I really wanted to have the system cleaned.

So again I contacted the heating company that recommended Duct Man and asked their advice. As I waited to hear back I decided I needed some guilty pleasure treats to get me through the trauma of it all so I drove to the nearest town. On the drive back home I saw the heating company's office! I decided to pay them a personal visit. The office was non-smelly which is always a good sign. My heating guy is GORGEOUS! :) Really, truly gorgeous. And charming. And knowledgeable. I've made an appointment for an inspection for Monday to find out how expensive this could be.



I'm personal hygiene-impaired...

Problem with any solution at this point is it might not rectify the problem. I still can't figure out why I am so sick this year and not so much previous years. I did accompany Duct Man under the house donning my homemade bio-hazard suit with added mechanic-style jumpsuit. Crawling through opossum shit was not fun, but I felt adequately protected. (Good Lord, the things I do as a home owner!) Am I reacting just to the opossum shit deposits from last Christmas? Maybe, but I can't imagine or I would have been feeling poorly last winter and spring. The fiberglass has also been there for as long as I've lived here. It's a mystery, as health often is.

The cayenne pepper wasn't too bad as it's so old now. I'll have to re-apply when all this is over.

Again, I may just opt for no centralized heat and use only space heaters until I can move, but I think it'll be a very cold winter...or two!