HVAC

Back from a greatly enjoyed repose, it was time to tackle the HVAC. After much deliberation, multiple trips to Home Depot, more deliberation, a couple more trips... well, you get the idea, I finally managed to acquire the required pieces and a plan to modify the HVAC. As I'd mentioned earlier, the main difficulty is with needing to connect square ducts to round ducts, and not knowing what type of ducting pieces are available. However, I think I've finally figured out what to do, and have gathered up the necessary duct work to implement my plan.

Duct work

Basically, I'm tapping off of existing duct lines to run heat into the finished portion of the basement. As luck would have it, I have two areas of the house that are currently over-served by the HVAC and whose locations correspond to the front and back of the basement. The vestibule just inside the front door has its own dedicated duct, and the powder room at the rear of the house also has its own duct. I will be tapping both of these lines.

Duct work, as opposed to woodwork, does not have to be exact. Metal is flexible, and gaps can easily be sealed up with duct tape. However, you can't use a chop a saw to cut duct work to length, and getting screws to go through metal is not always easy. Cutting requires tin snips, which are basically bulky scissors, and it is always a struggle to cut a straight line. Screws require punching a hole with either an awl or a drill, neither of which really work very well. The screws would prove to be most time consuming today.

Gym side before

Gym side after

For the gym side, I cut a hole in the existing square duct, and installed a top take-off (right), and then a boot (left) directly to it. The boot will connect to a hole in the bulkhead that will have a grate attached.

TV side duct before

TV side duct after

For the tv side, I've installed a "T" to carry the air from where it used to end at the vestibule, all the way to the south wall of the basement. I've also installed dampers so that I can close off the basement duct and open the bathroom duct during the cooling season, and vice versa during the heating season, although the bathroom duct will be left partially open during the heating season. Nobody likes a cold toilet seat! Unfortunately, I neglected to get hangers for the 5' duct that runs from the "T" to the wall, so I couldn't quite finish the job today.

Cold air return before

Cold air return after

I thought a lot about whether to put in a cold air return duct, and I must say that I was inclined not to. However, since the hot air registers will be up near the ceiling, I ultimately decided to put in the cold air return in order to draw that hot air down to the floor. There will be a 5" duct and boot attached to the pictured duct, bringing the cold air return down near the floor to accomplish said feat.

In the end, I'm quite satisfied with how the HVAC went today. While it did take way more time and money than expected (7 hours, $150), the plan was implemented as it had been envisioned, and it will save a great deal of electricity for almost no extra gas.

While I was HVAC-ing, Lesley was dealing with a different issue outdoors. We have a groundhog that lives under our deck named Gary. We like Gary, except that he has recently taken to eating Lesley's tomatoes, and has fallen somewhat out of favour as a result. More recently, he found himself trapped in our garage (we think) afterI had put away the BBQ. Faced with being hopelessly trapped, and being the clever little devil that he is, he managed to burrow a tunnel from the garage to his home under the deck.

Gary's tunnel

He left quite the pile of gravel in our garage, which is the only clue we had that the tunnel was even there. Nonetheless, Lesley managed to replace the gravel and stones, and actually stuffed mortar under the garage itself to discourage any further such tunnelling. Crazy groundhog. Gary is now forever Marmota non gratis.

We'll be back at it tomorrow, although it is supposed to rain all day. Might just be another shopping day.