Bulky Ducts

The fact of an old house that uses forced air to heat it is that you need large metal ducts to move that hot air along to various points where it is released for human consumption and comfort, and even larger ducts to allow for cold air to flow and be part of the equation for beneficial air circulation. The other fact of an old house with a basement of limited height is that those ducts must at some point run across and thus below the joists, thus impeding one's vertical movement within space.
Earlier in the week, the furnace was placed its new home and we were asked about where we wanted the new basement heating vents, but we were not really advised as to what that would mean with relation to size and location of ducts and the resultant bulkheads when the ducts get covered in gyproc and painted to become the final definition of the rooms' dimensions.

On Friday, with now ducts in place and framers starting to encase them, we suddenly realized that we now had ducts and bulkheards up the yin yang, as the old saying goes. We imagined our 6'+ tall friends cracking their heads on them as they moved around to get the snacks and top up the wine we put out for them in future imaginary entertainment scenarios, and then getting blood over our nice clean walls and bulkheads, and then maybe suing us for lost wages and stress. This is not good we told ourselves. This is not good we told the framer and the contractor.

Work was halted and omnipotent EJ was consulted via email, sitting in his lofty den in faraway DC. He must be omnipotent because not only is he extraordinarily capable, and able to envision the most obscure idea put to him but he responded as immediately as only a supreme being could possibly respond. He concurred with our concerns and outlined a plan. Measurements were required. Questions were asked. Research was necessary. Our weekend plans were expanded to fulfill whatever was necessary.

After umpteen phone calls, emails and quiet moments of judicious thinking, 3 options emerged.

Early this morning we put these to the contractor and to our joy it looked like the very first question (do we really need so many cold air returns that we can't loose that huge metal box that is hanging down from of our new workspace ceiling?) resulted in striking off option C. Hurrah! Less cabinetry to design, build and pay for. Option B was gone with a swipe of pen once the study's (and upstair's kitchen's) heat requirements were confirmed. Let the trumpets blair as flow returns to the west wall!

Option A rules! This means that the bulkheard running north to south along the west study wall (necessitating shifting all the windows down a smidge and having to change our path a bit to the inside through the passageway into the workspace) is gone. We can keep one hot air vent in the study and replace the other one with 2 small electric baseboards on either side of the French doors. We can move the kitchen vent from the original place near the back door to the base of the cabinety near the dishwasher or refrigerator. The large duct that runs inside the top part of the storage cupboard under the stairs might become as little less huge.

We will still have to move the wall on the back end of the furnace which shrinks the laundry area, and shift the large laundry room window down a bit to accomodate a large bulkhead, and will sadly have to lose the smal laundry window for the same reason, but the impact on our lives is considerably less dire on the east, utility side of the house.

Of course it means having to pay to have the old work taken out and redone (including moving the gas line running up to the upstairs kitchen stovetop back to its original course) before the framers can resume their work, a loss of a few days, maybe even a week in the schedule. But we take a breath, close our eyes and think of it as a small price to pay for a future of obstacle free entertaining and living!