Daily Home Renovation Tips

Summer time is here and with it hot temperatures and humid air. Even with our turbine vents on the roof helping to get rid of the rising hot air in the house and our exterior solar blinds helping to reduce the direct sun light from overheating our home, we still need to use the air conditioner.

One of our daughters lives in our basement. Her bedroom had the requisite vent in the drop ceiling. This of course is a good thing in the winter for hot air from the furnace. But, in the summer the last thing she needs is cold air conditioned air coming out of the vent into the room that is naturally cool.

So, I went to close the vent and discovered that the prior owners of our house had installed the vent covers with wire. What I mean is that they had installed stiff wire running through the duct work at each end of the vent opening. This stiff wire was then tied to the vent cover’s grill.

Yes, this was an effective way to hang the vent cover. But, this wire prevented the vent cover’s interior ‘flaps’ from closing. The result was that there was no way to close the vent cover and prevent the cold air conditioned air from entering an already cool room.

We needed a new solution.

Sure we would replace the current vent cover with one that was actually meant to go in a basement ceiling. You know the kind, the one that has a hole for a screw on either end, and the one whose packaging says it is a ‘Ciling Register’, just like this one?

However, those screw holes  are great to use in a drywall ceiling. Just use a drywall plug. But have you ever tried to use one a drywall plug / anchor in a crip ceiling tile?

Doesn’t work, for very long, does it.

Come back tomorrow when we tell you the solution we used to see if it might work for you as well. This situation has always puzzled me for years and every time I would go to a building supply retail store it seemed to confuse them as well. Now, at least I have one way that will actually let the vent cover close when you need it to close.

To continue with the second part in this short two article series, simply select this link to Part 2.