I have a finished basement. In the summer it is the coldest due to the central AC and in the winter it is the warmest since it is closest to the furnace. I was thinking that an easy way to move this air to other parts of the house would be to modify the formed door at the head of the stairs so it would allow the air to pass through. I could put a fan at the bottom of the stairs to help it along. All my interior doors are the molded or formed doors I guess they are fiberglass or some sort of plastic derivitive.

My question is "Is it possible to cut into these doors to allow ventilation to pass through and if so how do I go about it? I would probably try to mount some sort of decorative metal or plastic in the openings. My other thought was to just get a decorative screen door and mount it in it's place although it might seem a little strange looking.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance. Bob

 

The main question I would have is whether the doors are flush, or paneled. It would be hard to cut a vent in a paneled door due to the decorative nature of the door. But if the surface of the door is flat, you've got it made.

An easy thing to do would be to locate a metal cold air return louver (18x18, perhaps), then cut the hole 17x17 and put a cold air return louver on both sides to cover the hole. You'd put the louvers pointing down so that you couldn't see through the hole from a distance.

I've also built custom door louvers out of oak, and installed them in doors to do exactly what you described... even out the temperature in a room with no cold air returns.

 

Thanks for the reply. I do have panel doors but I found a place that has flat stamped air vents that have the size I would need to basically cut out the recessed parts of the door and put the vents over the door. Can you tell me how you cut out the holes? Any special kind of saw? Also the vents have just 2 screws in them on the top and bottom. I am wondering if I need more than that to hold them in place and since they go on both sides of the door if the screws may be hitting each other. Is there any way to use a sealant or glue perhaps? Thanks again for any advise. Bob

 

I see. Just use some different screws that are shorter, and drill some new holes in the grill if you need more screws in it. I'd probably cut the holes with a skilsaw, then finish cutting out the corners with a jigsaw or pullsaw. If you use a skilsaw, you might want to cover your sawguide with duct tape so that you don't scratch your door up.