Half the houses here are newer than the equipment in them deserves
Thornton has been built out fast, and a great deal of what we are called to is a system that was installed correctly, signed off, and then never commissioned, balanced or looked at again. Prescott works on that — in houses, in premises, and in new builds before anybody moves in.
Four things, and they overlap more than people expect
Heating and cooling that has stopped, or never quite worked
Gas furnaces, air conditioning, heat pumps and evaporative coolers. Diagnosed from the cheap end — power and controls, then airflow, then ignition, then the expensive parts last, because they fail least.
Combustion tested with an analyser and the readings written down, so the next visit has something to compare against.
The room that never keeps up
Nearly always ductwork rather than equipment: a branch added during a finish-out, a crushed flexible run, a damper closed years ago, or a return far too small for the rooms it serves.
We measure static pressure and the airflow at that register. An oversized replacement makes it slightly worse, and that is what usually gets sold.
Making an installed system actually perform
Airflow balanced room by room, charge verified, gas pressure checked against the altitude requirement for that model, controls set to how the building is really used, and the figures handed over on paper.
It is the step that is skipped most often and the one that makes the largest difference to a house that was built correctly and still disappoints.
Shops, suites and light industrial
Rooftop and split systems, extract with the make-up air it needs, planned maintenance with a record kept per unit, and fit-out work coordinated with the trades that come before us rather than after them.
If your house is new, you are at one of four moments
About to sign, under construction, just moved in, or one to three years in. What is worth doing — and what is already too late — is completely different at each one, and almost nobody is told that at the time.
New does not mean commissioned
A production builder installs a system that meets code and passes inspection. Almost none of them balance the airflow room by room, verify the charge under real conditions, or set the gas pressure for the altitude according to that model’s own instructions. All three are legitimate to skip and all three are why the bedroom over the garage is unusable in August.
Questions in writing, with a deadline attached
Each stage lists what to ask for, who to ask, and what you have already missed — along with whether it can still be recovered, which it usually can. It ends with the five things worth having in writing before a builder’s warranty period runs out.
Houses and premises, in equal measure
Homes
Houses of every age across Thornton, Northglenn and the corridors north of Denver — the new ones that were never balanced, and the older ones where a basement was finished and nobody added a return. Gas heating, cooling, heat pumps and evaporative coolers.
Businesses
Shops, restaurants, professional suites, clinics, warehousing and light industrial. Surveyed first, maintained against the survey, and given a written record per unit rather than per building.
What this website will not tell you
Each one would be a number we invented.
| Not stated | Why |
|---|---|
| A price | A capacitor and a full duct rework are not the same visit. You get a fixed figure on the phone once we know what is installed. |
| A response time | We are not going to promise an hour on a January morning when half the county has no heat. |
| A saving | “Cut your bills by a third” depends on your house, your habits and your tariff. Nobody can know it from a web page. |
| How long it will last | Two identical furnaces on the same street last very different lengths of time. The plate gives you the age; nothing gives you the future. |
Asked often enough to answer here
My house is only a few years old. Why is one room unusable?
Because passing inspection and being commissioned are two different things. A production builder installs a system that meets code; balancing the airflow room by room, verifying the charge under real conditions and setting the gas pressure for the altitude are usually not included. All three are legitimate to leave out and all three are why a bedroom over a garage can be unusable in a house with nothing wrong with it. There is a page on this site about what to ask and when.
Does the altitude change how my furnace should be set up?
It can, and it depends on the model. Thornton is at roughly 5,300 ft and the input rating stamped on a gas appliance is a sea-level figure. Some manufacturers require an orifice kit above a stated elevation, some specify a manifold pressure change, and some certify the appliance across a range with no change at all. It is written in that model’s own installation instructions, so we read the model number off the plate and check.
We finished the basement and now the whole house is off. Why?
Almost always because the basement got supply registers and no return. Air that cannot get back cannot keep arriving, so the basement runs cold in winter and stuffy in summer while pulling the rest of the house out of balance. Adding a return is cheaper than any equipment and it fixes both seasons at once.
Should I replace my evaporative cooler with air conditioning?
Not automatically. In a dry climate a cooler is a different machine doing a different job and in plenty of houses here it is the right one. The commonest complaint about them is a house that goes muggy, and the commonest cause is that the window or relief opening the cooler needs was closed up. Where one genuinely cannot cope we will say so and price refrigerated cooling.
Is a bigger furnace the answer to a cold room?
Almost never. An oversized furnace runs in short bursts, heats unevenly and tends to make the cold room slightly worse rather than better. The cold room is nearly always airflow — a crushed branch, a closed damper, duct leakage or a return that is too small — and measuring settles it in half an hour.
Which areas do you cover?
Thornton, Northglenn, Brighton, Westminster, Broomfield, Commerce City, Federal Heights and Henderson.
Where we are
13691 Colorado Blvd, Thornton, CO 80602. Monday to Friday, 7am to 4.30pm.
We cover Thornton, Northglenn, Brighton, Westminster, Broomfield, Commerce City, Federal Heights and Henderson.