I have a two story home that sits on a slab. There is some duct work that runs through the slab. I have some duct work that runs through the ceilings of the first-floor and points towards the floor of the second-floor. I have at least one duct that runs through my attic and points down into the second-floor.
The duct-work is very poor — half of the house doesn't even get heat. The air doesn't cycle (warmer down stairs than up stairs) even though my intake is upstairs. In at least one point, I've found where a previous owner used a dryer vent to run a duct line in the ceiling of the first floor.
Instead of tearing up all of my ceilings in the first floor in an attempt to properly re-run the ductwork, would a better option be to run the ducts from the attic and just seal off the ducts in the first-floor ceiling?
I've never done any work with HVAC, although it doesn't look too hard to run ducts. I'm assuming it's a bit more complicated than it sounds. Here's my utility closet which looks to be pretty unusual or overly complicated.
Best Answer
Drywall is the enemy.
That dryer vent is disconcerting; lets find out what other shenanigans are going on here. You may not have ever done ductwork but at least you seem to know a proper installation will require opening the walls to install rigid (use flexible only if you must).
Can you run it in the attic, sure: at a loss of efficiency; longer run, more leaks\back-pressure. Also, efficiency will drop like a rock if you run any ducts through unconditioned space. Ideally everything is within the building envelope.
Running ducts isn't that hard; fixing what you had to destroy to get them in, is.
You will cut yourself while working with sheet metal. Proceed slowly and methodically; everything is sharp...