Expert Q
Question:
Our family room (located over the garage) tends to be cold during the winter months. There seems to be sufficient warm air flow into the room. There is one cold air return in the room but it doesn't seem to draw very much air through it (I tested it with a Kleenex). The cold air return comprises a 5" round duct (not very big). I was wondering how I could get the return to draw more cold air. Should I be increasing the size of the duct? Perhaps the room is too far from the furnace. The cold air duct running to the furnace has minimal bends
Answer:
About the only system that appears to alleviate this sort of situation is to lower the garage ceiling creating a crawl space. The walls and floor of this crawl space are heavily insulated and the area heated. This makes the space above comparable to the rest of the house as regards heat. If that is not a possibility, you might consider laying in an electrically radiated floor covering.
Answered By: Ren Molnar
More Questions & Answers ...
2.
In a 140 yr. old house with triple brick walls and very large rooms (14'x23') is it ok to add 2x4s, insulation ...
3.
I adore you! I moved to Ottawa from the US three years ago. I had listened to the most wonderful man on talk r ...
4.
I recently had air conditioning installed in my house. The house is about 45 years old. There are two bedrooms ...
5.
I am getting some conflicting advice regarding a HRV system in an all year cottage and the use of a kitchen ex ...
6.
I have a 37 year old home in Ottawa, Ontario. Long ago the then owner poured a 5 inch thick concrete raised "p ...
7.
Re: the radiant heat in the "carriage house" on a slab we are building. Some suggest having the concrete slab ...
8.
I am considering creating a living space in my unfinished basement (2-year old home). However, directly at the ...
9.
In the basement we have two finished rooms. The large family room has a return air that does not draw any air ...
10.
We'd like to change our stucco ceilings into a regular 'flat ceilings. Is there a way to remove the ...
11.
We have an old seasonal cottage built on a cement slab with no crawl space. I think the carpet is glued right ...
12.
I put a cold air return in the basement (floor) this wall I used for the duct I have one return on one side. Q ...
13.
I am planning on moving my furnace to the other side of my basement near the water heater. Currently I have t ...
14.
We live in a 2 storey 40 year old house. The furnace is new (2 yrs old) we just had insulation (r60) added to ...
15.
I've read some of your advice on cold air returns in the basement and found it extremely helpful already. ...
16.
We are planning on adding a room above our garage. What should the first couple of steps be? ...
17.
We own a 12 yr old town home. One bedroom has about 7ft of overhang (open porch underneath)& dining rm has abo ...
18.
I have a natural gas forced air heating system in a ten year old house, the house is warm except the basement. ...
19.
I have a 25 year old California style house in the Ottawa (ON) area. It is slab on grade and is impossible to ...
20.
We have an unfinished basement with a finished concrete floor about 4' below grade. It is extremely cold ...
21.
We are renovating the basement and we are moving the heat registers down the wall closer to the floor...do we ...
22.
I have a typical ranch house. Ten years ago I added an addition off the dining area. Now there is a heat vent ...
23.
Bought our 860 square foot bungalow three years ago. It was built in the late thirties and it sat for the long ...
24.
We are building a two storey (1995 sq feet) home. Should there be cold air return ducts on the second floor a ...
25.
Our propane boiler chimney runs horizontally through a bulkhead to the outside wall. There is also a freshair ...
26.
We have a 6 y/o house and there is an intake in the basement (i am not very knowledgeable in this area) Should ...
27.
I have a detached garage that I use solely as a woodwork shop. How pratical is it to tap into my house furnace ...
28.
I am wondering how close the hot air & the cold air return vents can be to each other ? Since they both need t ...
29.
I was talking to someone the other day and they said it was possible to put a normal houlhold fan in your duct ...
30.
I am finishing my basement and would like to know where is the ideal placement of cold air returns in a baseme ...
31.
We have a 17 year old home and in the winter the floor above the garage gets cold and in the summer it's ...
32.
i have a semi-finished basement with no heat. can i cut in to the existing duct work to allow heat down into t ...
33.
Our unfinished basement has no air returns to the furnace. I've read that one should be installed as close ...
34.
Doing the basement office in a 14 year old townhouse. Poured concrete, with nearly 10 foot clear space for cei ...
35.
The previously owner installed two cold air returns but in the ceiling. I have subsequently installed one cold ...
36.
You have mentioned many times on your show about installing a booster fan to remove humidity in the basement. ...
37.
I'm finishing the basement of my new house and had a cold air return question. The cold air returns for ea ...
38.
We live in a 1965 bungalow where the attached car porch has been converted to a main floor family room. The f ...
39.
i live in a 1700 sq.ft ranch that is 9 months old. a 12 x 12 bedroom in the farthest corner of the house is m ...
40.
I am considering buying a home which has the return air vent for the central unit installed in an old floor fu ...
41.
I am considering installing a new high efficiency gas furnace in my home. My problem is that each supplier sug ...
42.
I have a six year old furnace in the home I recently purchased. The original ducts and cold air returns are st ...
43.
I have a one and a half story home that's in need of insulation. On the radio you recommended cellulose fibre. ...
44.
I have a one and a half story house that's about 70 years old. The kitchen floor and dining room floor sag tow ...
45.
I have a wood furnace and over the last couple of years I have noticed a brown stain has appeared on the shing ...
46.
I live outside of Waterloo, Ontario and I have an old oil burning boiler heating my house. The room that the b ...
47.
I've got a 1000 sq. ft. cabin in Lake county Ohio in the states that I use for three seasons. It has electrici ...
48.
We have one return air vent into the furnace, should there be more? Where should they be placed? Sorry for th ...
49.
The exterior walls are partially insulated - to just below ground level. The insulation is held in place by 2 ...
50.
The house was built in 1965 and has 7-1/2 foot ceilings throughout. We want to finish approx. 450 sq. feet in ...
51.
My furnace room is 23 x 10 ft; got this 5" insulated flexible pipe coming from the outside, coming down into m ...
52.
Re cold air returns in basement; you never mention whether one is needed in the furnace rooms, where especiall ...
53.
I think I understand the principle of cold air returns, cold air is heavier than warm air so it falls to the b ...
