Week Four: heating + air

This week turned out to be one of the most stressful weeks during this entire process. The basement did not have heating and air yet and the idea of adding a brand new HVAC unit just for this space was a little daunting. The HVAC unit located in the basement supplied the main floor of the home. So we had the unit tested to see if we could tie into it to supply the basement without compromising the quality and potentially killing the unit. I had assumed we could tie into the current unit without having to purchase a brand new one for the basement so the thousand of dollars for that undertaking did not reflect on the budget.

The verdict…

The current HVAC unit could accommodate adding supplies for the basement. Whew! We slept a little better that night. The next few days the HVAC technician came out to add the new return and install vents for all the rooms.

A soffitt frame was built around the current ductwok. We spent some time visualizing what we wanted the framing to look like before work started. It was really important to make it look as clean and tight as possible. If the wood used is not straight then your framing will look crooked once the drywall is put up.

Fortunately, the wood pieces were straight and the basement now had heating and cooling! This happened at the perfect time because February in Nashville is cold! And with contractors and family coming and going throughout the day the space was always freezing. The next few weeks it got dark, really dark…