Stormin Mormon wrote:
On the other thread, I mentioned stuffing plastic
bags into a sewer drain line. One time I saw an
unfinished front door frame at a house, the tenant
had been stuffing plastic bags to keep the cold
out. Seemed to work.

I used a van load of cardboard boxes one time, to
help a friend who had pretty much no attic insulation.
That helped a lot.

On Ice Road Truckers, I saw one time a guy used
some copper tubing in place of battery cable.

Ether to inflate tires.


The installation instructions for the bathroom fan I just installed
suggested 2 methods for mounting the fan in the open space between 2
joists:

1 - Use the metal brackets that came with unit and suspend it in the
opening.
2 - Build what they called a "header" with two 2 x 4s perpendicular to the
joists and then two 2 x 4's in between them, forming a frame. Then screw
the fan housing to the bottom of the 2 x 4's that run parallel to the
joists.

My alternate (and so much easier) method: scab some short 2 x material to
the side of the joists to make the space between the joists narrower and
positioned exactly where I wanted it. Then screw the housing to the bottom
of the 2 x's. I did have to rip one of the 2 x's down a little bit, but it
was still a whole easier than trying to build and mount a box frame.

Trying to use their metal brackets and mount the unit while up in the attic
wasn't even a consideration. Everything I did was done from inside the
bathroom.