Closets , Window Seat, and Base Board Heat? Help.

[semenza]

Hi,

        Upcoming job.  Turn a bedroom wall into closets and a window seat. The room has base board heat (hot water) all the way around. And the customer would like to keep it, preferably in use.  So is it ok to build over, enclose, enclose with heat vents in the kick board with the closet floor above the heat units?  I think, not.  But I know some of you do this type of built in so how about a little help on this one.

Seth

 

[Per Swenson]

Seth,

Here is what I would do and what we did in the shot below.

Remove the the hotwater base bard housing and build

a more efficient one from flashing in your built in design.

In the picture below, we switched the base board to a hot water radiator

and both the the panel and the whole enclosure is flashed tight.

You could do something like this in sections along the floor using the existing baseboard and

incorporating it in to your design.

Hope this helps.

[attachimg=#]

Per

 

[Eli]

I'd vent it well. Very well. Got some more details, depth and length of closets?

I'd do the same as Per said.

 

[semenza]

Hi,

    O.K. I was at the customers house today to measure and check things out.  The heat unit runs the entire 16' length of wall where they want the closets, and it is the only reallly feasible wall for them.  Probably  be around  18 - 20" deep.  The base board heat is about 8" tall.

  The room is 16' x 16'.  Out of the roughly 64'  about 48' is base board heat and doors.    I have them convinced to check out the cost of having the base board replaced with a couple of those new compact style wall mount radiators, in locations that will not be so obstructive. The basement has good , clear open access,a nd nice neat pipe runs, so I don't think it would cost them much to do. Compared to gaining the freedom of using amost all the wall space however they want.
    I am hoping that works out. They just bought the house and are not wedded to the base board heat at all,

Seth