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#1
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whole house fan in new construction
My father wants me to haul the massive 42" whole house fan into the
attic just before drywall goes up in my home under construction. We are dealing with a non-custom builder who isn't very flexible on most things. My dad says that if I hang the fan onto the roof rafters where it is out of the way, nobody should care (it'll be out of the way of the insulation guys) and it will save us the hassle of getting this monster into the attic after drywall down the road. Would anyone care to chime in on whether this should be acceptable to the builder and is there any significant risk of theft ? I am worried that the builder would discover this and not approve of it, or it could potentially get stolen. I am wieghing that against the advantage of getting into the attic when its easy to do so. I am leaning towards not asking the builder, because the answer almost certainly would be NO. The fan weighs 91 lbs and I was thinking of hanging it off the rafters in a temporary sling or something. I believe we could install it after drywall goes up, but the different between the opening we need to make for the shutters (47") and the unit itself (46" square) is only ~ 1". My dad is probably thinking that the unit is so large (46" square) that it might be difficult to move it into that hole without damaging the drywall with the slightly sway or jiggle. Any comments appreciated. |
#2
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If it's a non-custom builder they will throw a fit. If you take the
fan up there they'll take it out or tell you to come and get it, sling or no. IMO the best approach would be to pay them to frame for it and wire a outlet and switch for you. |
#3
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roger, I am also in agreement with you ... in thinking that they would
throw a fit. I already know my wife would not approve either. Thats part of the problem with a father from the old "do it yourself" / "no nonsense" school -- is that he doesn't understand the restrictions these new builders place on us, even if we did a quality job which didn't cause any subs any harm -- they would still throw a fit, unless nobody every saw it. For that reason, I am leaning towards NOT putting in the fan till AFTER I own the home. I do have the builder wiring a dedicated circuit and switch up there already and the fan mount is really non-existant, since I am going to be using a "no cut" fan shutter mount, which just straddles a joist in the middle and mounts flush to the drywall within the two adjacent 24" joist openings. See the following link for the details on the fan and the no-cut shutters: http://www.trianglefans.com/pdf/Owne...l%20manual.pdf So all I'm looking at doing after we move in is cut out the drywall for the no cut shutter (which will span most of the 2 24" spans) and then adding a couple of blocking 2x4s on the insides of the outer two joists .... and then try to slip the fan up through the hole. I think my fathers main concern is damaging the drywall when putting the fan up through the hole, esp. considering the large size of the fan and small ~1" gap that we'll have to work with. Maybe I could just temporarily pad the edges of the drywall for a little dent proofing? Right now I leaning more towards dealing with my Dad whining then risking a fit from the building and the wife. Seems like the easier of the two battles. |
#4
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The main reason I didn't have the builder install the fan for me was
because: (1) they could give me an exact location of where the fan would be located and (2) they would use an inferior (small) 28 to 30" fan, (3) I had no control over the switch placement and (4) they wanted like $500 for this option. So I figured could remedy all of these for about $400 and still pay them just $100 for a dedicated circuit and switch instead. I'm still concerned of the lack of "appropriate" NFA venting, but as I mentioned in another post, I at least of 13 roof vents and 13 eve vents, which is better than most homes I see being constructed. Its probably only 6 NFA, vs. the 18 NFA the fan mfg. reccomends, however. |
#5
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Doc Savage wrote:
roger, I am also in agreement with you ... in thinking that they would throw a fit. I already know my wife would not approve either. Thats part of the problem with a father from the old "do it yourself" / "no nonsense" school -- is that he doesn't understand the restrictions these new builders place on us, even if we did a quality job which didn't cause any subs any harm -- they would still throw a fit, unless nobody every saw it. For that reason, I am leaning towards NOT putting in the fan till AFTER I own the home. I do have the builder wiring a dedicated circuit and switch up there already and the fan mount is really non-existant, since I am going to be using a "no cut" fan shutter mount, which just straddles a joist in the middle and mounts flush to the drywall within the two adjacent 24" joist openings. See the following link for the details on the fan and the no-cut shutters: http://www.trianglefans.com/pdf/Owne...l%20manual.pdf So all I'm looking at doing after we move in is cut out the drywall for the no cut shutter (which will span most of the 2 24" spans) and then adding a couple of blocking 2x4s on the insides of the outer two joists ... and then try to slip the fan up through the hole. I think my fathers main concern is damaging the drywall when putting the fan up through the hole, esp. considering the large size of the fan and small ~1" gap that we'll have to work with. Maybe I could just temporarily pad the edges of the drywall for a little dent proofing? Right now I leaning more towards dealing with my Dad whining then risking a fit from the building and the wife. Seems like the easier of the two battles. Also consider if you have to replace it. If you install it afterwards, then you will have made all the provisions for future replacing. -- Respectfully, CL Gilbert |
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