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Last week we moved into my parents’ home after their passing. We’ve discovered a lack of return air flow from the bedrooms when the doors are closed causing a great reduction of air returning to the central air unit and thermostat. The AC guy who came out to give an estimate on replacing the A coils gave two suggestions. The first is to remove the bedroom doors and cut off the bottom two inches then put the doors back up. While easier I don’t personally like this idea. The other option is to purchase four rectangle vent grills of the same size, measure and cut holes near the bottom of the two doors, and then mount the vent grills on either side of the doors to allow air to flow back to the unit. I’m leaning towards this second option as it would give me better control over the size of the return air opening. I would measure the opening size of the supply vent, get a square footage, and find a narrow vent size to match the square footage of the vent opening. Before I set my mind in stone on the second option I’d want to take measurements of the door width and AC vent to see exactly how much of the bottom would have to be removed to match the cubic inch of the supply vent.
One concern I have with the first option is the appearance of the door bottom from a circular saw cut or hand saw cut. Both methods will cause splintering of the doors. Frame of reference, the house was built either in the late 60s to early 70s and the inner doors are of a dark wood stain appearance. They feel like a heavier version of modern internal hollow plywood doors. Is there a method or tool I can use to safely cut the bottom section off the doors without excessive splintering or cracking? For cutting a rectangular hole in the door could I use a cutting bit with a cordless drill?
I assume you have children and want privacy? Otherwise it is simpler to leave the doors partly opened. Or it you can afford it have a transom installed above the door.
Both methods of increasing return air flow are common. Avoiding splintering when cutting is simple. The door bottom is clamped between two sacrificial boards and then the resulting sandwich is cut. (One is technically sufficient, but using two avoids clamp indentations and other marks.)
I assume you have children and want privacy? Otherwise it is simpler to leave the doors partly opened. Or it you can afford it have a transom installed above the door.
No children. I work rotating shifts at the hospital. First shift is 11pm-7am 7 days straight, 2 days off, 3pm-11pm 7 days straight, 2 days off, 7am-3pm 6 days straight, 4 days off, repeat rotation. My wife suffers spinal problems and severe arthritis in both knees. This means I’m sleeping in the day for a week a month and many days awake after wife is in bed trying to sleep.
Another thing we’re doing to help is insulation the attic. Seems the blown in insulation is the same was when the house was built. In the daytime after the AC turns off the temperature quickly warms up and AC restarts. We came from a 20 year mobile home parked out in the open with no shade at all and the AC never kicked on and off so frequently.
I assume you have children and want privacy? Otherwise it is simpler to leave the doors partly opened. Or it you can afford it have a transom installed above the door.
Forgot to add there’s only about one foot between the door frame and ceiling
Another future issue is bathroom ventilation. There is no supply nor exhaust vent and the door is a pocket door. There is an old circular electric heater/fan in the ceiling we’re considering replacing with an exhaust vent but with no visible gaps in the pocket door I’m not sure it’s going to work unless the door is partially open while the fan is running. With it being just my wife and I leaving the door open while showering isn’t a problem unless we have visitors.
Well, it's easy enough to cut the bottom of a door. Just use a fine tooth plywood blade and go slow. If you are using a circular saw, secure a piece of sacrifical wood to the upper surface.
Putting a grille in a hollow core door is going to be a hassle, because the hole you make will be where the door skins aren't supported, so you'll have to make a frame around the hole, inserted between the skins (probably I would glue it in, using a few small brads to hold it in place while the glue sets up).
You allude to you and the wife having different sleep schedules thus wanting the door closed, but if you cut off the bottom of the door or make a grille, you're going to have an opening, so why not just leave the door cracked open a bit? I don't see that it will be much different. You could just put a heavy book or one of those wedge shaped rubber doorstops to keep it from opening more than a crack.
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