My home has a microwave over the cooktop in the kitchen. It doesn't vent
to the outside, but recirculates back to the kitchen. The microwave has a
configurable venting, including top vent and back vent, so I wanted to switch
it to vent to the outside. The problem is, there is a exterior-wall stud
right smack in the middle of the microwave's mounting location, making rear
vent to outside impossible (I think). I can't route a duct directly from the
outside to the microwave vent. There is not enough room above to route
a top-vent around the studs to the outside.

What I can't seem to find out is, do all microwaves with hood venting
capability locate the vent in the center of the back face? Or do some of
them place them off-center to one side or another? Retail stores
"mount" the microwaves in a way that makes seeing the back or top all-but
impossible, and this is not data that I see listed generally online. Anyone
here ever look into this? Any guidance?

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:07:36 +0000 (UTC), someone wrote:

... The problem is, there is a exterior-wall stud
right smack in the middle of the microwave's mounting location

Oh the random misfortune.

You COULD cut the stud, frame an opening, and make the equivalent of a
little window for the duct to pass through.

You could also have a pair of openings on either side of the existing
stud. If you really wanted to be belt & suspenders about it I suppose
you 'should' have custom sheet metal so that the stud is not actually
in the exhaust air stream what with fire cods or whatever (but I bet
most people wouldn't actually custom duct it).


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"v" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:07:36 +0000 (UTC), someone wrote:

... The problem is, there is a exterior-wall stud
right smack in the middle of the microwave's mounting location

Oh the random misfortune.

You COULD cut the stud, frame an opening, and make the equivalent of a
little window for the duct to pass through.

You could also have a pair of openings on either side of the existing
stud. If you really wanted to be belt & suspenders about it I suppose
you 'should' have custom sheet metal so that the stud is not actually
in the exhaust air stream what with fire cods or whatever (but I bet
most people wouldn't actually custom duct it).

That is what I was thinking - pretend the stud is not there and then just
put sheet metal around it so the air flows around the metal.
Tomes

"Tomes" wrote in message
ink.net...
"v" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:07:36 +0000 (UTC), someone wrote:

... The problem is, there is a exterior-wall stud
right smack in the middle of the microwave's mounting location

Oh the random misfortune.

You COULD cut the stud, frame an opening, and make the equivalent of a
little window for the duct to pass through.

You could also have a pair of openings on either side of the existing
stud. If you really wanted to be belt & suspenders about it I suppose
you 'should' have custom sheet metal so that the stud is not actually
in the exhaust air stream what with fire cods or whatever (but I bet
most people wouldn't actually custom duct it).

That is what I was thinking - pretend the stud is not there and then just
put sheet metal around it so the air flows around the metal.
Tomes

I wouldn't just go cut a stud in a wall, especially since this is an
exterior load bearing wall. To cut a stud out properly, it should have the
proper header and jack studs to support it which you won't be able to do in
an existing wall unless you remove a considerable amount of sheetrock.

-al sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 23:26:26 -0500, someone wrote:

I wouldn't just go cut a stud in a wall, especially since this is an
exterior load bearing wall. To cut a stud out properly, it should have the
proper header and jack studs to support it which you won't be able to do in
an existing wall unless you remove a considerable amount of sheetrock.

I *SAID* he should frame the opening.

I *DIDN'T* say NOT to cut out a big enough area of sheetrock so as to
be able to work. In fact, that's kind of implicit in the project. Why
the flyin' F do people act like their sheetrock is so precious? (I'd
suggest working from the exterior, BTW. Take off siding & sheathing.
It is often easier to tape in & blend a big sheetrock patch than a
little patch anyway.

And BTW, as long as there is not a max snow load on the roof, and he's
not having a cocktail party upstairs, and there's not a waterbed right
above it - cutting ONE stud is not typically a major operation. The
typical double top plate at each story of a balloon framed wall will
easily carry a normal dead load for the brief time that it would take
to header it in. There are also several elementary ways to
temporarily support the to-be-cut stud until the header is in, if one
is really concerned. (Of course you prep the area and have your jack
studs in place and your header pre-cut first; you don't just cut the
stud and then go for a beer while you think about what to do next.)

In addition to having an architectural degree, I've been a structural
designer of pre-fabricated framing, AND have been a (commercial)
framing contractor, and I'm saying it is no big deal. (All that stuff
was years ago, but gravity hasn't changed much, and wood ony a
little.)


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"v" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 23:26:26 -0500, someone wrote:

Why the flyin' F do people act like their sheetrock is so precious? (I'd
suggest working from the exterior, BTW. Take off siding & sheathing.
It is often easier to tape in & blend a big sheetrock patch than a
little patch anyway.

I just think that going what seemed to be a simple project of installing an
over the range microwave vent to either removing the sheetrock or the
exterior siding/sheathing is probably beyond the scope of what the OP had in
mind. Removal of cedar shakes or clapboards without damaging them requires a
bit of care and experience. Same goes for taking off a bunch of vinyl or
aluminum siding. Popping all the nails out a 4x8 piece of plywood sheathing
is no small task either.

When working from the inside, cutting pieces out of the wall has a low WAF.
Besides, you'd have to remove some of the sheetrock behind the cabinet above
the range. That cabinet might be joined to the adjacent cabinets with
biscuits or other fastener and glue which would make removal a real pain.
Custom cabinets may mean that there is not a separate cabinet above the
range, that is a single face frame for the entire wall. That wall also might
be tiled which would complicate things.

I recommend venting up into the cabinet above, use a small bend to the left
or right and then exit to the rear so that you miss the stud.

-al sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 22:55:36 GMT, someone wrote:


typical double top plate at each story of a balloon framed wall will

Excuse me, I meant "platform" (a/k/a "Western Platform") framing.
That is what REPLACED balloon framing as the norm decades ago.


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