After our renovation, our builder left me a recessed area for built-in bookshelves in the living room. Unfortunately, one of the air registers (see photos) is in the way. I would like to make the shelves deep as the cavity will allow. Any creative ideas on how to work around this register? TIA.
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Devil is in the details. Or is that caulk?
Replies
Make the shelves the depth you want, but box off an area in front of the register. The box is open to the room, so it lets the air go to the room, and it is closed to the books, so it keeps books from blocking the air flow. This is so simple that I suspect I'm not understanding what you want to do. Maybe a sketch is in order?
Edited 8/16/2006 8:58 pm ET by Jamie_Buxton
afletch,
Build it into the wall cavity, but just take the grille off the duct opening. Since the duct leads from the basement, except for one or two studs you'll have to relocate, the only obstruction will be the short riser of the sheetmetal ductwork
A suitable sheetmetal 'extender' can be attached to the existing opening of the vent and the grill can be re attached.
Plan for the relocated grill to stand a few inches shy of the finished shelf's outer edge.
Now you can hide the grille with a few false books directly in front of the grill. But, the REAL books will stand upright on both sides or the 'falsies'leaving a left and right gap for air circulation.
The false books can be glued shut and sliced on your tablesaw,then glued together as a 'bloc'
The bindings ends and titles will show to the front. Steinmetz
Edited 8/16/2006 9:06 pm ET by Steinmetz
Steinmetz : Your plan sounds interesting, but I cannot visualize. Can you post a quick sketch?- - - - - - - - Devil is in the details. Or is that caulk?
Afletch, I,m having a deuce of a time attaching sketches right now. Essentially I'm saying: assuming the shelf at the bottom area (when extended from the rear opening,) is eight inches in depth
and by extending the grille forward, 5-1/2", that leaves an opening from the shelf's edge to the grille of 2-1/2" Enough room to hide the grille with false cut down books plus enough air space adjacent to the register (vent) for circulation. Steinmetz
I don't know what you have in mind for style in the room. There would be many ways to build shelves that would not interfere with the duct. It doesn't look like there is much depth between the wall and window casing and the same on the opposite side. I don't see filling that entire wall with shelves floor to ceiling and wall to wall as very appealing. As an alternative, you could design a couple of units that stand away from the wall ends, maybe you could bridge between them with more shelves. This could lend itself to a number of styles, from formal to country. Another option could be wall mounted units, up off the floor high enough. These could be made in a variety of shapes from straight library style to clusters of cubes and rectangles in a modern vein.
If you are thinking more along the full coverage line, could a series of cabinet doors on the bottom work? You could devote the left cabinet to rerouting the duct out the base. Doors are great for hiding the ugly, unorganized stuff. It will also break up the look of a large wall of just shelves. You can also break the run of doors up by alternating with some shelves. With "built in's" it's often a good idea to make them so they can be moved and utilized elsewhere some time in the future. I have a picture of a small library with some doors on the bottom, just for thought.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Very nice, I need 4 of those! Did you do the carving?
Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. ~Italian Proverb
Those are just appliques, I doubt I could get paid for my carving! That library is actually a bunch of kitchen cabinet parts. There are two basic wall cabinets on the bottom, topped by two open shelf units. The rest is just applied moldings, panels and such. The kitchen cabinet manufacturer wanted to display an alternative way to use their products.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
It might sound like a lot of work, but I would relocate the regester. In the long run your work will look better and the climate controll will work better.
Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
Kill the builder. That baseboard around the vent should have been stopped short and a return placed on both sides.
As for the bookcase, make several cardboard templates of the corner with a various ways of rerouting the vent. When you gat one you like go for it. You can also do a minature mock up using basswood for a hobbist store but do it in 1/4 scale.
Dave in Pa.
Move the register.
As many do here, I build these types of cabinets for a living. Let me give you some sound advice from someone who has dealt with this problem MANY times................
MOVE THE REGISTER. It's a heck of a lot easier than designing furniture to try and look right around it. Also, shoot the builder for putting it lower than your base trim in the first place.
Jeff
Move the register, and never use the builder again. The hack job around the baseboard brings tears to my eyes. It's worse than home handyman quality.
Note, if removing the old register is a problem, just seal it off and make a new one in a better place.
In fairness to the builder (although he is a dope) the registers were already there, and in a portion of the house that really was to be untouched by the renovation.I too side with those that say move the register. But-what am I getting into? We've got a duct that travels through a bay of floor joists within a really nice, new drywall ceiling in the basement. And the wall itself is plaster over a block.Can I move the register up and over by turning the duct 90 degrees within the wall?Is this better left to a pro? If so, who? A good HVAC company?- - - - - - - - Devil is in the details. Or is that caulk?
I'm not faulting the builder on the placement of the register -- it's the terrible job that was done with the baseboard to accomodate the register.
If the ductwork isn't accessible, then I understand the hesitance to move the rigister over a stud or two. If rotating it 90 degrees will move it out of the way of the bookcases, you can do that with some tin and snips. Just whatever you do, do not use "duct tape" to seal any ductwork. It will not hold up.
Another option is, as others might have mentioned, to incorporate the duct into the bookcase itself. You might try re-routing the vent into a tall baseboard trim on the bottom of the bookcase by running the ductwork at floor level.
Whatever route you take, good luck and don't use whoever hacked up the baseboard in your picture.Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
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