This has been a two-day project: I finally got that range hood installed. And it's only been five months since I
bought the stupid thing!
The first time I attempted this project, I
ran into a wall stud I was unwilling to cut (the left wall, in this photo):
It wasn't until I was messing around with
Christmas lights that I realized the back of the house is not one continuous line: about three and a half feet of the wall behind the cabinets is actually exterior wall!
That realization, combined with the plan to have Thanksgiving dinner at our house (it's a small group this year, and that way Brianna stays close to our hospital) led to me installing the range hood this weekend.
Saturday was very good weather - forty five degrees Fahrenheit and sunny. So I installed the exterior vent first. Sunday, when I took this photo, was of course snowy, which made me glad I got this part out of the way early:
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| Yes, I still have to take down the masking tape. |
Once that was done, I prepped the range hood and started work on running the ducting through the cabinets:
I had also trimmed down the top of the cabinets to keep the ducting low:
With Brianna's help, I got the range hood into place:
At this point, I made a mistake. I assembled the in-cabinet ducting, but forgot about the back-draft preventer, which I had left in another room. I had already cut the ducting to size without it, and had to spend quite a bit of time taking things apart and fixing them in order get the back-draft preventer in place. However, things did fit together (in terms of matching diameters) much better once that missing piece was in place.
After that fiasco, I got the electrical sorted out:
And then I cleaned up my mess and called it a night.
Today, I worked on the ducting on top of the cabinets. I made myself an L shape:
And then made all the connections above the cabinets.
In the process, I made a (very small) blood sacrifice to the gods of home improvement. I think that's actually the first one for this house! (
Electrical shocks are a different matter)
Later on, and hopefully with some help, I'll get some crown molding on top of the cabinets, which will hide the ducting from sight completely. For now, the vent hood actually looks pretty decent, and is very functional:
...Darn - you can't see in this photo, but all the steam from the skillet on the front burner is going into the hood - and it was on the "low" setting!
Comparing the work I did this weekend to work I've seen someone like my Uncle Gary do is a little disheartening - my "carpentry skills" have a looooong way to go. Fortunately, I can call for advice - Thanks for taking my phone call, Uncle Gary!
