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U ducting in the middle of room...how do I hide this (imgur.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Need help figuring out how to hide this U ducting. Direct link to the Imgur album (so sorry if this is not the right way to share, still trying to figure out how to create a thread properly. Tried to add with new photo but it wouldn't let me add by URL): https://imgur.com/a/9xdkYrP

Background: We're finishing our basement and changing to ducting for HVAC. The HVAC contractor called us in and showed us this U duct next to the support beams in the middle of the room. There is no way - and I mean NO WAY - to do anything else with this U. The ducting has to cross there and the beam has no space above it. The floor joists also apparently run the wrong way so they can't just put the ducting up above and to the side.

So we need to figure out what to do to hide this. It has completely stumped us and our GC. Drywall a weird U in front of this post? Make a fake cabinet? Build it out and put fake lights in front of it? Totally lost.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Geez. That is ugly. Couple of observations:

the rafters are paralleled to the ‘turn’ it’s making to cross the beam. The photos suggests there is space above the support beam between the rafters. Are your contractors 100% positive that space can’t be utilized for this turn?
This is ugly enough that I might consider totally re-doing that run of the ducting, and whatever else it might affect. Have your guys offered any such options? It’s probably expensive, but it’s probably better than an ugly-ass ‘something’ in the middle of the room.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks, I completely agree. It is beyond ugly.

Your first point: there is actually NO space above the support beam. Our HVAC guy grabbed a ladder and showed us. That beam is like 2-3 feet deep and goes all the way up. And they can't cut through because we're on a mountain and it has to support several hundred pounds of snow load.
There is truly nowhere else to put the ducting. We walked all through the area with the HVAC guy and suggested idea after idea and there is physically no other location to run it. Hiding it is the only option, as horrifying as it is, unless we tear out the entire new HVAC system (which we can't do).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Bleh, yeah it can be hard to wrangle HVAC stuff. For that reason, I've put off my HVAC redesign here for a few years and have been heating strictly with wood until I can come up with a design that I like. Contractors will rarely take the time to make a design that will work with your space in an attractive way

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Build some vertical storage shelves underneath it! Make them run all the way up to where the U is, then drywall over the U or something so it isn't sticking out. Maybe even make a bigger covered space on top of the top shelf. Make the thing go all the way from the floor up to where the U meets, maybe some of those real dark aged bronze type metal supports that seem to be popular as finishes these days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If it was me I guess I'd just soffit it out and try to make the soffit look interesting. It'll always be kinda weird, but whatcha gonna do

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I actually came up with an idea - there's a woodstove in the room, so we are going to frame it out and make it look like deliberate tall, skinny log storage. We'll see how it goes.