Moving Ductwork From Basement To Attic

Drop sill would be hard to raise.

Moving ductwork from basement to attic.

In reality such a task can be complicated calling for an evaluation of the heating system the. Part of the job will involve replacing a load bearing wall with a post and expanding the living space into the old laundry room. I am finishing my basement in my 2 story 50 year old home. According to nrel researchers david roberts and jon winkler moving the ducts from a vented attic to a new location inside the conditioned space will reduce electricity used for cooling by 15 to 20 and will reduce the size of the needed air conditioning equipment by 0 5 to 1 ton.

You ll also need to provide a return path from a basement air handler or main level return to the second. Choosing attic hvac systems is not necessarily a bad idea. I d definitely bring the heat ducts down to the floor. It s one thing to blow warm air into a room but cooler air needs to be allowed out of the to make room for the warm stuff.

You ll need to find a corner such as in a closet to build a duct chase to get ducts from basement to attic. A drop ceiling could be fasten right below the duct work and that is about as much height as you could get. Not to mention that if you re going to to that you re already doing half the work necessary to redo the ductwork properly to connect the two zones. Recently i had another hvac company come out and put in a new bathroom vent and they told me they believed the duct work was full of water.

On the face of it the answer is as simple. In warm climates moving ducts out of the attic is probably the lowest hanging fruit there is at least in new construction. It was new when the ac was put in 7 years ago. The work you re describing doesn t sound remotely cost effective or effective at all for that matter.

All the duct work could be moved to one side of the basement possibly call someone and let him look at it. Especially since most people don t make use of their attic space it makes sense to move the hvac system to the attic to free up basement space. The attic ductwork is flex duct work. Not sure where to install your hvac system.

That drop sill might make it impossible. Installing your hvac unit in the attic can free up space for these uses. That s a vital start but it won t make for effective heating in the basement. Is the duct work up aganist the floor joist.

Even more important than that is proper location of the cold air return air ducts.