Covering Furnace Vents?

[Geoff Simpson]

OK, here's the question...

 

I have a customer who's commissioned me to build a window bench for her bay window.  I came up with a couple designs for her to peruse when i went for our first meeting. 

 

Problem:  We have a pair of heat registers in the floor that would be covered by this bench....now, being as there are plenty of registers in the room, i don't feel it would impact the room temperature too much.  Besides, i can easily redirect the air from the furnace using the bench itself, essentially forcing it into the room at foot level.

 

HOWEVER!  Not thrilled with the idea of placing any kind of wood 4" over a forced air register....My feeling is that I should consider foil on the underside and make a "trench" for that hot air to escape into the room.  The customer thinks i worry too much and i should simply build "legs" and let that hot air circulate underneath the bench and let it go where it pleases. 

 

Conundrum

[Joe Luberto]

I personally don't like to cover the vents myself, although I'v senn them covered with baskets and such. The legs to lift your project sounds o.k. Knowing the way I am I would redirect the flow of the heat. Thats all I can really say!!!!!!

[Michael Campbell]

I have built many of these and i like to make the bench with a piano henge and make it as storage.  And doing this i would raise the floor in the bench and relocate a vent in the bench so it is still blowing.  I don't think it is a good idea to block it cause those heat and cool guys have a plan when they set it up and you could really change the temp in the room.  let me know what you think.

[Geoff Simpson]

Thanks Guys,  Mike we're on the same page.  The customer wants shelving in this one, so we're simply building it up on legs, that should keep the air circulating.  That said, i would still prefer to build it flush against the floor and add a vent to the front. 

[Michael Campbell]

will it be cushon or wood top, if wood top run the vent behind the shelf and out the top of the wood bench

[Michael Campbell]

if cushon, shorten up the shelf's and put one vent on each side of the shelf face

[kenny from Sundre]

Consideration should be given to the fact that the main reason hot air vents are placed below windows is to provide air movement over the surface of the window which removes any condensation that may form thus preventing the window from fogging up. The amount of possible condensation is largely determined by the climate of the locale the house is situated in.

[Lloyd Fitzgerald]

I used to build cabinets for a living, and covered at least one vent in 90% of the houses.  It was very common to find a vent directly below a kitchen sink, and often under bathroom vanities.  In my own house, I have no fewer than 3 vents covered by cabinets.  There are several things that can be done, from a typical register mounted on the toe kick, to cutting slots in the toe kick itself to allow the vent to still be used.  I would not close the vent off completely, as it should be part of an "engineered" system.  I would, however, use runners front to back slightly wider than the vent to direct the flow out.  My home is 16 years old, the vents are for heat and a/c, and no appearance of any problems with the wood.

[Geoff Simpson]

Thanks Lloyd, that was my initial plan.

 

But, the customer has decided they want the whole thing resting on feet 3-4" off the ground, leaving us plenty of room for the air to move.

Lloyd Fitzgerald said:

I used to build cabinets for a living, and covered at least one vent in 90% of the houses.  It was very common to find a vent directly below a kitchen sink, and often under bathroom vanities.  In my own house, I have no fewer than 3 vents covered by cabinets.  There are several things that can be done, from a typical register mounted on the toe kick, to cutting slots in the toe kick itself to allow the vent to still be used.  I would not close the vent off completely, as it should be part of an "engineered" system.  I would, however, use runners front to back slightly wider than the vent to direct the flow out.  My home is 16 years old, the vents are for heat and a/c, and no appearance of any problems with the wood.

[Laura F]

Is it possible to build over an electic baseboard heater... maybe???  I was thinking along the lines of the open toe kick concept????  It has to work somehow.. either I build around it or above it somehow... I need the storage more than I need the heater...

[Lloyd Fitzgerald]

Let me clarify when I said I used to build cabinets for a living.  It is true, but I built cabinets on my days off from the fire station.  That being said, I would be concerned about building a wooden cabinet so close to a heat source.  Building over a vent, the heat source is typically located in another room.  You might check the manufacturer's website for information concerning distance to a combustible object.  If you have to build close to said distance, you might look into a product like Dynamat to insulate the combustible product (wood) from the heat source (heater).

Laura Fama said:

Is it possible to build over an electic baseboard heater... maybe???  I was thinking along the lines of the open toe kick concept????  It has to work somehow.. either I build around it or above it somehow... I need the storage more than I need the heater...

[Laura F]

Thank you... I will look into that !!

Lloyd Fitzgerald said:

Let me clarify when I said I used to build cabinets for a living.  It is true, but I built cabinets on my days off from the fire station.  That being said, I would be concerned about building a wooden cabinet so close to a heat source.  Building over a vent, the heat source is typically located in another room.  You might check the manufacturer's website for information concerning distance to a combustible object.  If you have to build close to said distance, you might look into a product like Dynamat to insulate the combustible product (wood) from the heat source (heater).

Laura Fama said:

Is it possible to build over an electic baseboard heater... maybe???  I was thinking along the lines of the open toe kick concept????  It has to work somehow.. either I build around it or above it somehow... I need the storage more than I need the heater...