Yall have been so kind putting up with my duct work updates I should share the motivation for this effort.
The house was once heated by q coal fired convection furnace that was latter updated to gas fired forced air. That furnace was 50 years old when I purchased the place. We replaced that furnace and added AC at that time. I saved money by electing to run the ducts myself.
At that time I was only thinking about heat and didn't take into consideration the differences that AC needed. They key element I had missed was the air return ducts to collect the hot air in summer from the second floor. It was rather noticible as I climbed the stairs above floor level.
We lived with the issue for many years but last year I conducted a proof of concept experiment to determine ot running a air return duct to near the ceiling of the second floor and constructed a cardboard duct to extend a return in the floor to near the ceiling. The experiment made a big difference. But a cardboard duct was not a fix. Hence my duct work project to fix it in the 3 rooms that needed a good return.
The first project The Princess wanted done after I retired was to remodel the room in the basement to be a hobbit hole. I did just that.
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But after getting pretty far with the framing I realized if I cover everything up getting the ducts would be an even bigger pain.
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So the duct project is just one part of the hobbit hole.
Ben