Some options for venting problem caused by microwave
Q. Our home has a combination microwave/range hood that discharges directly through the sidewall of our home. The wall jack has a weather-head with a spring closure for the back-draft damper. The discharge of the microwave is horizontal into the wall penetration -- a close-coupled fit. Regrettably, the installers did not (perhaps could not) install the damper that usually would be part of the microwave body. As such, the only damper to prevent backdrafts is the exterior one that is part of the wall jack/weather-head.
In cold weather, the interior of the microwave is like a refrigerator, and cold air blows in above the range. I attempted to add closed-cell adhesive strips to the edge of the damper blade from the outside, which has met with little effect on air ingress. Attachment of an interior baffle at the vent mesh is cumbersome; it blocks the air at the vent grille but doesn't work transparently. (This was a homemade solution using stiff paper and magnets for attachment.) I have not seen damper online or in stores that will fit the 4-by-10-inch duct through the wall and still clear other parts of the assembly.
Do you have any suggestions to reduce/eliminate the cold air into the home without forcing relocation of the microwave/range or the wall penetration?
Greensburg, Pa.
A. You have several choices. If you still have the part that came with the microwave oven, and you think it is better than the present wall jack, you should try to install it, even if you have to build out to do so. This may mean a bump-out on the outside wall of the house, but if it helps, it's worth doing.
But whatever you do, you will still feel a cold draft and have a cold oven, because the duct from the oven is an uninsulated void in the wall. The air in the duct is always going to be cold and it will be drawn inside the house by the stack effect, which is caused by warm air exfiltrating through cracks higher up in the house. There is really no way to make the set-up tight enough so that the cold air is confined to the exhaust duct and does no leak into the kitchen.
Many microwave ovens are not vented to the outside. If you are willing to give up the outside venting feature, you can have a service person from the appliance dealer turn the fan around to vent inside. Remove the wall jack and insulate and seal the wall opening.
Q. I have a question concerning insulation in my home. I have a bedroom over a two-car garage. The bedroom is over only half of the garage, while the other half is the pitched roof over the garage. The ceiling in the garage is sheet-rocked and insulated, as I have cut a hole to investigate. The problem is that the bedroom over the garage is consistently 10 to 12 degrees colder that the remainder of the upstairs rooms, and I was hoping there is some type of solution to this problem. Last year, I added insulation in the attic to help retain the heat, but it hasn't seemed to help at all. Do you have any recommendations?
Via e-mail
A. A bedroom over a garage is always going to be cooler, as its floor is over an unheated space. It is also possible, even likely, that the insulation in the floor was installed from below and does not completely fill the joist spaces. Heat is lost around the perimeter of the floor. If this is the case, having cellulose insulation blown in to fill the entire joist cavities should help.
Carpeting over a thick pad will also help. So will adjusting or balancing the heat to feed more of it in this bedroom.
Q. I have followed your column for years, and now that I am actually going to do some work on my house, I am in need of your advice.
My house is a split-level, approximately 45 years old, with cedar shake siding. The siding is in poor shape in spots, and rather than paint it, I want to replace it with vinyl siding. I am also having a new roof done, as the existing one has two layers, and, although structurally sound, is rather worn and stained looking. I am replacing the large front window in my living room, four small basement windows, the entry door, the kitchen door (which leads to the deck), the overhead garage door and the rear garage door that leads outside. I will be replacing the gutters as well.
I have several questions about the various items.
Siding: We want to use the Dutchlap style. We have had several companies over to provide estimates. One company has regular siding; another has foam-backed siding in which a rail is screwed to the house and the siding can slide on the rail as it expands/contracts, and the siding is not attached to the foam; the third has Cedar Ridge Composite Siding, in which the siding is bonded to the foam. I have pretty much decided that I want to remove the old shakes and do the siding over the plywood. Do I need Tyvek to be applied under the insulation?
What do you recommend among the above three options, and what are the pros and cons of each?
Gutters: One company sells LeafGuard, a one-piece helmeted system that they swear by, which is guaranteed never to clog or they clean it free. I should note that I have a lot of trees around my house, and get a lot of leaves and spring bloom, etc. Another uses regular gutters, and says the covered ones don't work, and the water just runs off them. The third sells the GutterMonster, which attaches to a regular gutter, and slips between the first and second row of shingles (without any nails or holes).
I know you have previously recommended the commercial-size gutters, but my concern is that it will just be a bigger trough for leaves to collect, and will fill and freeze. What should I do?
Doors: Steel or fiberglass? One says steel, because anyone with a torch can cut through fiberglass. Another recommends fiberglass, because steel gets cold, even though the overall insulation may be similar. The third makes a nice fiberglass door, which is available with a baked-on enamel finish, so I won't have to paint or stain it. What to do?
Windows: One has triple-pane; another has double-pane and says that triple has seal/leaking issues. Both are Low E, gas filled. Any thoughts?
For the big front window, I was planning on a new construction casement window, either an Anderson or a Pella. All of the companies are saying that a good vinyl replacement window will be just as good, look just as nice and be a lot less expensive. I am not looking to change the size/shape of the opening. What do you think?
Lastly, is there any disadvantage to doing the work in the winter based on it being cold? Obviously, a snowstorm could interrupt the work. I know this is a lot to cover, but I would really appreciate your help! We want to get this off the ground (my wife says she is embarrassed to have people over with the way the house looks), so as soon as you could get to this, I would be most grateful.
Via e-mail
A. Your house is lovely judging by the photo you sent, but whose car sits out in the elements since you only have a one-car garage? Some contractor is going to love you! All that work planned! But I think you should think twice about replacing your cedar shakes with vinyl siding. Consider talking to an experienced real estate person very knowledgeable with your area, and ask her or him whether the change will negatively affect the resale of your house. The choice is to refresh the shakes or replace them.
The third firm you mention offers composite siding; that's not vinyl. It all boils down to which siding you prefer and, after asking for and checking several references from each company, which do you think will be the better to work with. Most of these siding products are good; the kicker is the installer, its reputation, record of service (prompt performance of the work and of the warranty), and length of time in the business (so you have some assurance that the firm will not go out of business tomorrow).
The vinyl-siding industry specifies a housewrap of some sort under the siding. It is also recommended under any type of siding.
Both gutter guards you mention will work in gentle and perhaps even normal rains, but when a gusher comes, water will simply overshoot the gutters. Commercial gutters I prefer do collect leaves, and debris but they compost and get washed away. The large-sized downspouts never clog.
How often will someone wanting to break into your home carry a blowtorch to melt fiberglass doors? There are easier ways to break in. Either type of door is fine. Fiberglass doors are an excellent choice.
Choose windows based on their tightness and performance, and whether they have double or triple panes. Ask for the test results. Pella had very serious rot problems a number of years ago and refused to accept responsibility; Pella claims that these problems have been solved. Andersen has an excellent customer-service policy. Vinyl windows are definitely much less expensive, but be sure that you choose high-quality windows, as the cheaper ones may leak and be drafty.
The work can be performed in winter with a competent contractor who covers the unfinished work to prevent damage from the elements.
Q. Thank you very much for your very informative articles. I enjoy them very much and look forward to all of them. In my basement, I have the family room and the utility room, where there is a sump pump. I started getting water coming into the family room when it rains hard. It seems my contractor told me we are under a "high water table," so we had a French drain installed around the perimeter of the family room and connected it to the existing sump pump. The French drain is working properly for the concrete subfloor appears very dry, even when it rains very hard. However, I noticed that there was a puddle of water in a small area right next to the foundation wall. (The water is below the level of the subfloor inside the French drain, so there is no water coming onto the floor.) Further inspection showed that there is a small canal that appears to have been intentionally created by the previous owners. It appears to run under the bottom of the foundation wall between the footing and the foundation wall.
I noted that there is water coming specifically from this canal, and although water coming in is going into the French drain, my concern is that if there is a surge of water coming in via this canal, it may cause a leak. What do you think is the purpose of this canal, and would it be safe for me to plug it? My foundation walls are the poured-in type.
Via e-mail
A. The canal was probably installed to direct water from the base of the foundation into the sump. There may be several such channels around the foundation. This system is used if the land is flat and there is no way to daylight a foundation drain. You should make sure that the grade around the foundation slopes away gently, so water does not run down to the footings from which it is fed to the sump pump. This is a better approach than sealing the channels, which could come back and bite you.
© 2008, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.