Sunday 6 January 2013

DIY Duct Work

We are getting close to being done with our kitchen reno and ready for the big reveal.  This duct work was a last minute job that was overlooked by us and the contractor. The job fell to me (the not so handy man) to get done.  We are extending our cabinets in the new kitchen design and they will cover the only heat register in the kitchen.


We needed a solution quickly. I did an internet crash course on vent and duct work and picked the brains of the staff at Rona to get the information I needed to get the job done.  I contacted our cabinet maker to determine that a 4 inch diameter flexible duct would fit under the cabinets.  I purchased a register boot to fit the vent hole and divert the air towards the “kick” of the cabinet.  I inserted the register boot then attached the flexible duct and cut it to length with a hack saw. 



I then sealed around the boot and the flex-duct joint with metallic duct tape.

I had to order a 2 ½” x 10” white register with a round 4” inflow from an H & V supply store to fit on the cabinet kick.  We picked up the register the morning that the cabinets were coming.  I wasn’t sure if everything would come together in time; I didn’t want to hold up the cabinet installation as our cabinet maker was coming from Guelph, Ont.  We put the register in the hole cut into the kick, attached it to the flex-duct, sealed it with tape then put the kick into place by compressing the flex pipe.  It took a little finessing but was not too hard.  The finished look is great.


Not bad for a rookie ductworker and Mia likes the heat blowing on her feet when she is cutting vegetables on the counter.

Misha

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful! We are looking to do the same thing. We have a heater/ac vent under a dormer window in a hallway and want to run it three feet away into the bedroom. A trip to Home Depot had me panicked that we were going to have to rip up the floor. So, how did you attach boot to the duct where the old register was? How did you make sure it was as air-tight as possible? Thanks!

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  2. Hi Kirsten
    Thanks for writing. I did a bit of a McGyver on this as I am not the handiest of handymen. I raced to home depot the night before the cabinets were to be installed and pulled this together. The standard boot with a 4" round duct opening, the 4" round flex duct and silver duct tape we got from home depot. I had to go to a specialty store to get the 2 1/2 x 10" register. I just used the silver duct tape to seal the register and it seemed to work okay. The 4" round flex duct just fit under the standard space under the counter top. If you want to add extra sealant you could try Durafoam spray insulation that we used in other applications. It is VOC free and seems to work well where we have used it. We attached the new register in the hole our cabinet guy made in the kick then attached the flex duct. We carefully put the kick in place a squished the flex pipe under the counter. So far we get lots of heat out of the register and it is our favourite place to stand when cutting vegetables in the winter because our feet are kept so warm. I hope that helps and sorry for the delay in responding. We just finished the bathroom reno. If you have any other questions just ask. Take care,
    Misha

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