Cleaning the Heat Registers

January 4, 2021

In addition to cleaning the covers of the floor registers, Liz is also working on cleaning up the dampers themselves. A lot of this stuff has been… neglected for a very long time.

We live in a house from the 1880’s. And it’s tempting ot say that no one’s cleaned these guys in a hundred years or so. Because, well… look for yourself.

Gross.

It looks even worse when it’s wet.

With a lot of WD-40 and some elbow grease, we were able to loosen the two screws holding the damper in place. Thankfully (amazingly), didn’t end up stripping the screws.

Took a few photos, mostly as reference, for when we need to re-assemble these pieces together again.

A dirty job… but the pieces look nicer, once dry.

Next steps: an electrolysis bath, time on the grill, time with a metal brush, and some oil.

Part of my work today: adding a run of drywall around the kitchen walls, to help reduce the drafts coming in from the floor. And relocating a lot of the materials back in, against the North wall (to clear up room in our main hall).