HVAC Handyman Style (part 1)

It was time to get started on a task I've been talking about for a while.  I've devised a plan for bringing hot air from the kitchen/living room section of the house where the wood stove sits, to the rooms on the north side of the house that remain cool when we're relying solely on wood heat.

NOTE: Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

This is a common problem with homes that are retro-fitted with wood stoves.  You can't always place the stove in a spot that will allow it to heat the whole house so you either find ways to move the hot air around or you live with the resulting cold spots.

My plan is to install a quiet ventilation fan in the ceiling of the kitchen and duct the exhaust into the north rooms.  I mapped out a route for the ductwork and with that in mind I purchased the fan and the duct.  Now it's time to start cutting into the walls.

The first hole is through the wall the separates the master bedroom from the attic space above the kitchen.  I can access this attic through the master bedroom closet.  (I'll be crawling in and out of that hole a hundred times before this job is done.)

Now a little history:  The wall between the MBR and the kitchen attic was once the back exterior wall to the house.  From the attic you can still see the original clapboards and even a section of the nearly two-hundred year old roof with wood shakes still in place.  There are no records to show it, but the kitchen ell was probably added to the house around a hundred years ago.

History is all well and good, but I need to cut a hole through this wall.  It being a former exterior wall means I've got a little more of a job to do than punching a hole through drywall.  First of all, I know this wall is made of 3x4 studs that comprise the knee wall sitting on top of the first floor's timber frame, but my stud finder gets confused by the strapping and insulation board that's sandwiched in there and it can't reliably tell me where those studs are.  (By the way, 100 years ago, 3x4 meant 3" by 4"--a big hulkin' stud.)

So I decided I should drill and cut where I want the hole to be and hope there's no stud there.  Well, there was a stud right there.  So, now I have to go around it.  This is not a big deal, because what looks ugly now will all be boxed-in later to hide the ductwork.

And of course, by the time I had got all my tools in place, furniture moved, drop cloths dropped, and this first hole cut, it was time to clean up.  A familiar story, but a continuing one anyway.  Stay tuned.

handyman

Comments

[Tom Herman]

Yeah, this is great! The installed my fireplace on the upstairs level of my split-level home about 20 feet from the thermostat.

Once in a while I build a fire just to freeze the wife out of the basement...

But this is a better idea ;)