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About Bill Hutson
Expertise
Founder and President of Table Talk Foundation for Better Living Inc. a non-profit organization aimed at making free home repairs for the elderly, the disabled and the disadvantaged. I have extensive expertise pertaining to cost effective rehabilitation and repair in older homes as well as all phases of newer residential construction.

Experience
Remodel and rehab contractor from 1979 to 1993 specializing in restaurant remodel and home restoration. Jobsite troubleshooter assisting residential contractors through KA Components, Mid America Truss, and Kerkhoff Associates from 1993 until 2002. Contractors' consultant 1990 to present. Used as a construction expert in the local court system. Registered contractor with The Fedral Government, FEMA and several insurance companies. Master Carpenter at Table Talk Ministries a non-profit organization aimed at making free home repairs for those who could not ohterwise afford to have them done.

Organizations
Table Talk Foundation for Better Living Inc. www.tabletalkministries.org Founder/President.

Publications
Features have been published in Fleet Owner's Magazine, Trucker's News Magazine, The Daily Clintonian Newspaper, The Hoosier Topics Newspaper, and The Banner Graphic Newspaper several times. We have also done features on WKJK and WREB radio stations. WXIN 59 Indianapolis, WTHI 10 Terre Haute

Education/Credentials
Northwestern State University

Awards and Honors
"Make a Difference Award" from WTHI channel 10 in Terre Haute Indiana. We have recently received the Fueling Good prize from Citgo where we won free gas for a year, that will help us in our efforts to make homes warm, safe and dry for our elderly and disabled neighbors. We were recently featured on WXIN 59 in Indianapolis on their "Paying it Forward" segment, mainly because I pay for 90% of the repairs that Table Talk makes from my own pocket.

Past/Present Clients
We focus our attention to the elderly, the disabled and the disadvantaged. We are receiving clients from 1 Federal and 5 State Agencies, 9 different public and private organizations plus multiple churches and hospitals.

You are here: Experts > Home/Garden > Home Improvement/Repair > Home Improvement--General > Roof venting for a natural gas furnace

Home Improvement--General - Roof venting for a natural gas furnace

Expert: Bill Hutson - 10/21/2009

Question
I live in the Bitterroot Valley in Hamilton, Montana. I bought a 57 year old wood framed home about 5 years ago. I began using the furnace the first winter I moved in but after experiencing a series of pilot lights not staying lit, not to mention other things,and an unrelated carbon dioxide episode, we had our local power company come out to investigate. (Actually, they ordered us out of home until they could come check the carbon monoxide issue) Upon inspection they tagged my furnace and said it was illegal and that I needed to vent it out of the roof before I could use it again. Apparently it had been tagged before I bought it but the tag had been removed. The furnace unit is in the basement.

Nonetheless, I have what I believe is the correct size furnace piping to go from the unit to the roof, but do not know how else to proceed. Please help.

Thanks,

MaryPat

Answer
Marypat

I would check your local building codes before I got started with this, Here in Indiana you can vent that out through the sidewall, I don't know if snow would be an issue with that in your area.

If you do need to go through the roof, use a hole saw to cut through the bottom and top plates of the wall above the furnace ( this will require some tricky measuring to make sure both holes are inside the same cavity, always measure from an outside wall to find your spot and always measure from the same wall in basement and in attic.), you can use a 45 degree angle in the pipe if you need, in order to get to the right spot in the wall.

Cut through the bottom of the wall, then go into the attic and cut through the top plate of the same wall, run the pipe through, then cut a hole right through the roof and stick the pipe through it, then put a pipe boot flashing on the outside of the roof over the pipe, tuck the top part of the flashing under the upper shingles and leave it on top of the lower shingles.

If you need to go through the roof, you might want to pay a handyman to come and help you with this, it's not going to be an easy job.

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