Looking for advice (not pond related) of a home construction nature adding a vent hood for stove (2 story house)

[Mmathis]

Whoever decided to make a microwave that also functions as a hood vent was a moron. That was our old kitchen set up and it was terrible - the vent was useless and we burned out half a dozen microwaves because electrical components do NOT like heat. Not to mention, reaching over a hot pot on a stove to get something out of the microwave is hardly safe or ideal. We learned (after microwave number three) that they had installed ours too close to the stovetop (voiding any warranty on the MW of course) but honestly any higher and I wouldn't have been able to safely get anything hot out of it - and I'm NOT a shorty! And of course, once they build it that way you're stuck until you remodel.

Good luck @Mmathis - I added zero to the solution. Just commiserating!

Actually, as we learn here on GPF…..no input is ever considered “zero.” Just hearing the trials and tribulations of other people is comforting.

 

[Lisak1]

Actually, as we learn here on GPF…..no input is ever considered “zero.” Just hearing the trials and tribulations of other people is comforting.

We lived with this dumb idea for 30 years. When we first saw it we thought it was brilliant. But no one who actually cooks would choose this set up.

As for inspectors - they don't work for the buyer is what we've learned. Our son bought a beautiful almost new condo with a "gourmet" kitchen. Gorgeous vent over the cook top. The inspector flipped it on and off - it works! The first time he cooked a steak in the kitchen he realized it TURNS ON - but it didn't go anywhere! Why go to all the trouble to install a vent hood if you aren't going to vent it! Oh and the city code didn't require it to be vented because there was a window in the kitchen... huh?? He paid a contractor to come in and actually vent it to the outside. Not a single one of the owners in the other five units ever figured it out! "Oh we don't actually USE the STOVE!" haha!

And I agree with your concern about what other corners they would cut - we found the answer was ALL OF THEM. I could give you a laundry list. We did a whole house remodel and fixed them all. It was nuts.

 

[Mmathis]

Shoot, we don’t want to put TOO much (more than we already have….we made some renovations when we moved in 3 years ago) money into the house now, because I’m sure that whenever we get ready to sell (once son and his new wife decide where they will live in 5 years or so), there will be a ton of routine stuff that will need to be updated/fixed……so guess we’ll take it a step at a time and “fix it when it breaks.” We are in one of “those” neighborhoods, so……

 

[poconojoe]

Our stove is in our island, the microwave in a totally different spot. Hung below cabinets, but no where near the stove. It works!

Ah! That's a great idea!

 

[poconojoe]

Somebody mentioned a soffit.
That's another great idea.

If there's a soffit above your cabinets, you might be able to run the duct up through the cabinet, turn horizontal and run through the soffit to vent it outside.

Opening up a sheetrock soffit and closing it back up, is no big deal.

If you don't have a soffit and it's just open space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling, you can still do it. Run the duct and hide it by either fastening it to the top of the cabinet toward the back or if that will be noticeable, build a sheetrock soffit.

 

[addy1]

Pictures Pictures Pictures ! of the entire space, we will ignore clutter spider webs etc. But I bet it is cleaner than mine!

 

[Lisak1]

Somebody mentioned a soffit.
That's another great idea.

If there's a soffit above your cabinets, you might be able to run the duct up through the cabinet, turn horizontal and run through the soffit to vent it outside.

Opening up a sheetrock soffit and closing it back up, is no big deal.

If you don't have a soffit and it's just open space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling, you can still do it. Run the duct and hide it by either fastening it to the top of the cabinet toward the back or if that will be noticeable, build a sheetrock soffit.

That was me - exactly what we had previously. The vent ran up through the cabinet over the MW and then took a sharp left through the soffit and out the front of the house. When we demolished the kitchen, we realized they had built the soffit about 26X bigger than necessary for the size of the actual vent. Knowing how our whole house was built I'm sure it was because that was easier for them. Or they had some leftover dry wall that they wanted to use up in JUST THAT SIZE and didn't feel like cutting anything. haha!

Oh how I wish I was kidding! You learn SO MANY THINGS when you start to take a house apart. Never again would I build a tract house in a subdivision. They take every short cut known to man and make some up as they go along. And yes, they got signed off on every step by the building inspector in our village. But every contractor we've ever had work on our house has pointed out things that "never should have been allowed". Pay for the permits and they all look the other way.

 

[GBBUDD]

with the top of the microwave no more than 54 inches

I believe that is to be the microwave is not to start . saying that the bottom of the microwave can not be any closer to the floor.

 

[GBBUDD]

they don't work for the buyer is what we've learned.

Ain't that the truth. Some neighbors here were looking to buy their first home and i told them that even though the hire they pay the home inspector never ever use the inspector the real estate agent suggests. The inspector works for you once maybe twice in a life time they do business with the agent two or three times a week. Who would you side more toward the one time buyer or the agent.

 

[Mmathis]

Pictures Pictures Pictures ! of the entire space, we will ignore clutter spider webs etc. But I bet it is cleaner than mine!

Working on pictures. Also, trying to analyze the structural parts of the house (Upstairs and downstairs) to see how they fit together and their physical relationships — like 3-D puzzle. My brain is very visual, so I often have to draw things out or else I can’t “see” it.

 

[Mmathis]

Here are some pics and drawings — nothing is to scale, but you still get an idea of placements. Ask questions if you aren’t sure of something — these are a little disjointed.

In the second to last grouping, I forgot to note that this is a hallway and a bedroom on the other side of the cooktop (1st floor). Where the door is in the “hallway” shot is approx. where it is located on opposite side of the wall.

The second grouping shows the layout of the kitchen area in relation to the outside of the house.

In the final grouping is a shot of a crawl space in the attic that accesses the HVAC and hot water heater for the 2nd floor bath. Not sure exactly HOW they connect or even if the connection is a continuous one.

 

[GBBUDD]

Easiest way to do this that I can see is to run the duct in the upper cabinet out the top of the cabinet and up into the ceiling. Poke into the bay with the floor joist and run the duct to the right from looking at the over all kitchen picture. once your past the outside wall from the upper floor bathroom i believe your in an other attic space run that duct to the outside wall and vent out trough the soffit . YOU THEN WILL HAVE TO INSTALL SOME NEW SHEET ROCK ABOVE THE KITCHEN VALLANCE TO HIDE THE PIPe. I WOULD make that the size of the cabinet being 30 wide and 12" deep.
An alternative is to cut open the drywall and run the duct into the wall the cabinet is hung off of cut the top plate giving you access to the floor joist bay . The risk there is not disturbing the sheet rock on the other side of the wall. And hoping there is no joist above the top plate. This will more then likely need the ceiling opened up as well . Run the duct to the outside wall within that small attic space one i bet you dont have access too . In that case i would simply open up the roof above the soffit removing the shingles carefully so you can reuse them. drill the soffit with a 4" hole saw and install the duct. replace the ply ice and water barrier and the roofing. replace the sheetrock inside and paint.

The third option but will be a bit more costly is to just run the duct above the cabinets and poke into the ceiling at the wall to the right and vent like option one out through the soffit . Then box in the entire cabinet valance up to the ceiling stepping out the valance duplicating the outline of the cabinets. Install new crown molding at the ceiling and several other trim pieces to complete the look you like. This can look incredibly rich like you spent twice as much on the kitchen as you did.
Or you can create a masterpiece and make the valance step out over the cabinets with it's own soffit and do a multistep detail . here's some food for thought.

 

[GBBUDD]

RUH ROE . ..... @BETTING HUBBY IS NOT LIKING THAT THEY ASKED FOR HELP THAT FULL VALLANCE WITH THE LIGHING WILL PROBABLY BE AN OPTION ONE OF THEM LOVES AND THE OTHER WELLLLLLL LESS ENTHUSIASTIC

 

[Mmathis]

@GBBUDD You advice and instructions were excellent…..but lost on me. BUT, it did give me hope! Hubby and I may be close to the point of calling a couple of contractors — any work done is going to be done by a professional, not by us. Initially, what we may have to do is settle for just having the vent/ductwork installed, and wait a little while on getting the area fancied up. Mainly, I just want the get rid of the fire hazard.

Just to give me an idea, and I know that codes will vary by location, but out of curiosity about how BIG is the ducting that would be installed to the outside, diameter, etc., and is there a specific type of ductwork that’s used for this type of venting? How flexible can the ductwork be, or is supposed to be ridged? Is there a maximum length aloud for the ductwork (I know, the shorter the better)?



I measured, and the distance (in a straight line) from where the cooktop is located and the outside wall is roughly 20’. I hope it will be that simple.

 

[Mmathis]

@GBBUDD I guess, to paraphrase my above post…..I don’t know all that stuff in the spaces between the floors looks like, so it’s hard for me to picture where anything would go. We have crazy high ceilings, if that makes a difference in any way (probably not, as the space between the 1st and 2nd floors is likely a standard spacing).