Comments on cooker hood plans?

[Another John]

Hi all

A year (or so!) ago I asked for recommendations on cooker hoods, and I ended up deciding on this one (I think it was from John Rumm, thanks!):

well now I'm about ready and psyched up to start this job (!). I haven't ordered the hood yet, but will do soon. (I've done all the measurements a couple of times.)

I plan to install it here:

white circle shows where I hope to drill a 5" hole to take the extractor vent (it will be a close-run thing between the ceiling and what I assume will be a concrete beam above the window). I assume that round ducting will be better than flat.

If anyone has the relevant experience (and can be bothered!): does this look easily enough do-able?

TIA John

[Phil L]

This may or may not be possible. Firstly, the lintel may be steel, IE a catnic or similar, but even if it's concrete, you aren't going to be able to get through it neither, well not without seriously weakening it Secondly, in order to go above the lintel, you may have to remove some of the coving around the ceiling, which will look hideous, unless you remove it all.

Don't attempt to drill it, cut it out with a hammer and chisel and patch up around it - a core drill isn't suitable in such a confined space....you might be as well drilling through from outside first with a long masonary bit, and going straight through both leaves of brickwork, then cutting around the drill-hole.

Lastly, put the ducting sloping downwards to outside slightly to avoid any rainwater getting in

[Phil L]

Can't really tell from the picture whether there actually is any coving around the ceiling, but it looks like there is!

[Harry Bloomfield]

Another John laid this down on his screen :

In view of the other reply with regards to the lintel (with which I agree), could the duct be taken straight up into the ceiling, then through between the joists and out through the wall? Do the joists run the right way to allow this?

[Dave]

Kitchen extractor ducts should always point downwards, just like drains and gutters, otherwise they will get a well of inflammable oils and fats.

Dave

[Steve Walker]

I did a very similar install in our kitchen. We used rectangular duct on top of the cupboard, and removed a couple of bricks by raking out the mortar with a 12" 8mm masonry drill. The outlet *just* cleared the concrete lintel.

[John Rumm]

It does not make much difference to be fair. You could also use 4" rather than 5, which will make getting the hole through simpler.

Because of the window blind, I can't quite see where the top of the window is. You might have just enough space. If would mark out where a

4" hole would go - assuming you stick the top of it against the ceiling. Then use a 8 or 100m long drill bit to do a test hole through the lowest point of you marked hole. Assuming that goes through ok without hitting the lintel, then stick another hole right through in the centre of the hole, and use that as a marker to core drill back in from the outside.

If you do need to go into the ceiling to get the height, I would be tempted to just box in from the top of the units to the ceiling after - it would look neater than trying to repair a textured ceiling. Go the full width and you would not really notice.

[Another John]

Wonderful advice so far thanks chaps.

I certainly would have had a go with exploratory drilling, anyway, but now know better how to go at it. And - y'know what - I didn't think about angling the ducting downwards (though possibly the hood instructions will tell me this).

Thanks a lot!

John

[John Rumm]

Let me just translate that into what I intended to say: use a long (400mm or so) 8 or 10mm diameter bit for an exploratory hole.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Aldi had some sets of 1m long SDS bits in last week - three or four different sizes at an extremely good price.