My parents were talked into buying new plastic-flex ductwork
Years ago I remember my parents being tough with grifters and snake oil salesmen. There was a situation once where these two men in their 30s were hitting all of these houses in broad daylight that happened to leave their garage doors open. One man would knock on the resident’s door and distract them with nonsense about a neighborhood watch program while the second man would pilfer the garage for whatever expensive tools they could grab and run with. When they tried to hit our house, my mom answered the door while my dad hid in the back of the garage with a shotgun in hand. When he jumped out from behind his table saw and pointed the gun at the man, the man literally fell backwards onto the concrete and screamed at the top of his lungs. He kept the gun trained on him while my mom pulled a revolver on the first man. They kept these burglars at gunpoint until the police arrived. I always had an immense respect for my parents after that moment, but it’s hard for me to recognize them the same way now that it’s 20 years later. Not only are they physically disabled to one degree or another, but their minds aren’t as sharp these days as well. They were randomly solicited by a new HVAC supplier at their front door two weeks ago. I found out about everything after the fact, but sadly they made a business arrangement with this man. He talked them into ripping out their metal ductwork and replacing it with plastic-flex duct. It has to be replaced every 15 years and it isn’t durable like metal ventilation. I wish they had called me and asked for my advice before agreeing to mutilating their ventilation system.