Thursday, May 14, 2015

Staying Comfortable at home



            This past weekend we had a hot spell.  The temperature was in the 80-90s, which for some people may not seem like a big deal, but after the winter we had here, it was a huge change from the weather we were having before.  Needless to say, I was glad that we have a central air system that helped us to stay cool, while other people who don’t have a central air system were complaining of how hot their homes were and that it was hard to sleep at night!  The thing I like most about these types of systems is that they are very customizable and can be designed around the layout of your home or other space where people will be living/working.
            When we were finishing our basement, we didn’t have to worry about the placement of the rooms because of the layout of the air system vent (we had to plan around the existing pipe for the bathroom instead).  Once we knew what needed to be done for the existing plumbing, we were able to get everything framed up and ready for the next stages of construction.  Although we ran into some problems with other projects, we were able to get the vents (diffusers) to heat/cool the rooms that we were building.  It was fairly easy to install these diffusers, especially after watching a video similar to this one.  All I needed were the diffusers that were going to be installed, a marker and some tin snips to help get the job done right.

            Using the marker, I was able to trace the outline for each of the different vents that we had chosen for the bedrooms and the bathroom.  Drilling a hole in the space where the pipe needed to be cut made getting the rest of the pipe cut out much easier (just like back in elementary school when I learned how to cut out a circle in the middle of construction paper).  I cut each hole wearing safety glasses and gloves to avoid injuries that I had experienced in the past (a cut from aluminum is not a fun one to get).  After each hole was cut, I was able to get the unit on the pipe and install the “decorative” part of the vents (we just went with the basic white grates to save on cost).


            Now the years have passed and we are enjoying the fruits of our (mostly my) labors (don’t worry, I got permission from my wife to say that!).  Now when we experience some “scorching” heat, we are able to keep our cool.  But most importantly, we also can stay warm during the bitter cold winter months that we have been experiencing the past few years.  With each season, we can be comfortable in our home when we are spending time there, whether it be by choice or because we have been snowed in and there are travel bans!  Whatever the weather throws our way, we will be ready for it!