New Home Duct Checklist: What to Check in Month One

Why do brand-new homes need a duct check?

New should mean clean, and often it does not, because ductwork is installed early and sits open through the dustiest phases of construction. Drywall sanding, floor cutting, and general site debris happen around and above open boots and unfinished runs, and whatever falls in stays in unless someone removes it. Beyond debris, new construction has its own defect profile: flex duct crushed by a rafter or a careless boot, connections that were never fully fastened, registers blocked by settled insulation, filters installed as placeholders, and dryer runs routed for the framer's convenience rather than airflow. None of this reflects a bad builder necessarily; it reflects many trades working fast around an open system. The first month matters for leverage, because most builders warrant workmanship for at least a year, and problems documented early, with photos and dates, are unambiguously construction-era problems. The same checklist applies nearly unchanged to a newly purchased older home, where the unknown is history rather than construction.

What builder debris ends up in new ductwork?

Crews who clean new systems report a consistent inventory. Drywall dust is the universal item, a pale powder coating run interiors and pooling in boots. Sawdust and wood offcuts fall through open floor registers, as do fasteners, screws, and nails. Packaging finds its way in: zip-tie clippings, plastic wrap, cardboard fragments, and the paper circles punched from electrical boxes. Beverage containers and food wrappers are common enough to be a running joke in the trade. Insulation is a special case, because blown-in attic insulation can drift into ceiling registers and supply boots left uncovered during the insulation phase. The check is the same register-off inspection from our twenty-minute checklist: system off, grille unscrewed, flashlight and phone camera into the first few feet, floor registers first since gravity made them the primary collection points. Objects and heavy powder are findings; a light film is not. Photograph everything with the room name, because this album is about to become a warranty document.

How do you check filter fit and size in the first month?

Builders commonly install a basic filter, sometimes a coarse construction filter meant to be swapped at handoff, and sometimes nobody swapped it. Pull the filter in week one. If it is caked with pale dust, it has been catching construction residue and is telling you the system ran during dusty phases; photograph it before replacing. Check three things about the slot itself. Size: the dimensions printed on the filter frame should match the slot without bowing or gaps, and a filter that rattles loose or needs bending is wrong. Bypass: look for gaps around the filter edges where air can slip past unfiltered, since a poorly built filter rack is a construction defect worth reporting, being both common and cheap to fix now. Orientation: the airflow arrow on the frame points toward the blower. Then buy a multi-pack of the correct size, date the frame, and check monthly at first, because a new home sheds construction dust for a surprising while, and early filters load fast.

How do you test register airflow room by room?

Weak rooms in a new house are usually installation faults, and month one is when they are the builder's problem rather than yours. Run the system in fan-only mode and walk every room with a tissue, holding it at each supply register. You are building a relative map, not taking measurements: every register should move the tissue convincingly, and what you are looking for is the outlier, a room dramatically weaker than its peers. When you find one, check the cheap explanations first: a closed damper behind the grille, often adjustable with a visible lever or screw slot, a rug or furniture blocking a floor register, or a register whose grille louvers are shut. If those pass, the likely culprits are hidden: flex duct crushed, kinked, or pinched by framing, a run that was never connected to its boot, or a boot buried under attic insulation. Note the room, photograph the register, and add it to the builder list; fixing a disconnected run is squarely warranty work.

How should the dryer run be routed, and how do you verify it?

Dryer venting is where new-construction shortcuts concentrate, and it deserves its own twenty minutes. Verify four things. Termination: the run must end outdoors, at an exterior hood with a working flap, never into the attic, garage, crawl space, or a soffit vent; step outside, run the dryer, and confirm strong airflow at the hood. Material: the concealed run should be smooth rigid metal, not plastic and not corrugated foil, which codes have moved away from; check the visible portions behind the dryer and in the basement or utility chase. Length and bends: long runs with multiple elbows collect lint faster; if yours looks torturous, put it on the accelerated schedule from our dryer vent guide. Connection: the transition duct behind the dryer should be uncrushed, clamped rather than held by tape alone, and free of screws protruding into the airstream, which snag lint. Any termination or material failure goes on the builder list immediately; these are code-adjacent items builders fix without argument when documented early.

What paperwork should you collect from the builder?

Documents you gather in month one save arguments in year one. Ask for the HVAC system's specifications and manuals, including the air handler model and the filter size and type it is designed for, so future filters match the design rather than the placeholder. Request any duct layout drawing or at least the locations of all returns, dampers, and access panels; even a photographed sketch from the site supervisor is better than nothing. If your jurisdiction required a duct leakage test at construction, and many now do, ask for the test report and its number, which is your baseline if you ever test again. Get the warranty terms in writing, specifically what the workmanship warranty covers regarding ductwork and for how long, plus the process for submitting items. Finally, ask directly whether the HVAC system ran during construction and whether ducts were cleaned or protected; the answer, whatever it is, calibrates how hard to look. Builders answer these questions most readily before the final check clears, so front-load the asking.

What warranty timing matters in month one?

Builder warranties are strongest early and erode on a schedule, which turns this checklist into a deadline. Most builders provide a workmanship warranty covering at least the first year, with punch-list items often expected within the first weeks or at a thirty-day walkthrough; disconnected ducts, filter rack gaps, debris-loaded runs, and misrouted dryer vents all fit comfortably inside workmanship. The tactical implication: run every check in this post before any thirty-day contact, submit findings in writing with photos, and keep the builder's written acknowledgment. Findings reported in month one are construction defects; the identical findings reported in month eleven invite the suggestion that you caused them. If the builder disputes a duct cleanliness finding, the EPA's criteria and your photographs are your reference points, and an independent inspection, from a company with no stake in the sale, is a modest expense that converts a disagreement into documentation. Calendar the one-year warranty expiration now, with a reminder a month prior for a final full pass of this checklist.

When should a new-home finding lead to a professional visit?

Escalate along the same evidence lines our other guides use, with the builder as your first call. Debris and construction dust loading the runs: request builder-paid cleaning, since the EPA's clogged-ducts criterion plus your photos makes the case; vet the builder's vendor with our choosing guide as if you had hired them. Weak rooms that survive the cheap explanations: builder's HVAC subcontractor, under warranty, to trace and repair the run. Dryer vent terminating anywhere but outdoors, or plastic duct in the run: builder, immediately and in writing. Suspected mold in a brand-new system, rare but possible: lab confirmation first, then remediation and a moisture diagnosis, because a new home growing mold has a water problem first. Where the builder route is exhausted or the home is new to you but not new, DuctDove can introduce local technicians; we are a referral service, we never perform the work, and month-one photo albums make us unusually happy.