Vent Your Style With Reggio Registers
August 15th, 2007 by Marcos
Reggio Registers deliver top notch metal grilles for hvac. Did I ever mention that nothing in our house in “standard size”? Oh yeah, I have mentioned that about 100 times. In perhaps one of the sadder “non-standard” dissapointments, I was not able to purchase the great looking metal cold air return grilles I was coveting from Reggio Registers. My opening size was off enough that none of the numerous size options Reggio offers would work. Aside from not carrying my house’s crazy vent size, Reggio appears to have great vent cover grille options. Available in wood, metal with square holes, and metal scroll pattern (which I was coveting). The metal grilles come in several finishes, including a great looking cast iron look. They can also be ordered with or without mounting holes. There was even a coupon for 10% off in the July/August issue of This Old House Magazine. Reggio has numerous sizes (except ours) and pricing ranging from $100-$200 for most grilles, with a few lower priced and some as high as $500 depending on finish and size. Available from ReggioRegister.com
Last year I heard about Enviro-Logs and just had to give them a try. They are 100% Recycled and made from food grade waxed cardboard boxes. We decided to decorate the tree tonight and so I grabbed a couple of the logs to fire them up. The first bonus. . . super easy to light. As most of you no doubt know, the ability to start fires quickly and skillfully is the true sign of a real man. Now, even if you normally need an entire Sunday paper worth of kindling, you can crank up a fire in no time. Just take off the wrapping, put it under the log and light it up. The logs will even catch fire just by holding a flame to them briefly. With two logs, I was pleased to see a roaring fire immediately, and the logs really look like real wood when burning. The wrapper makes the logs easy and clean to transport and store. On top of all those benefits, they burn cleaner than wood and with more heat per pound. I am definitely sold on these and don’t think I will be going back to hunting down regular wood logs anytime soon. I got my box of Enviro-Logs at Home Depot, but they are also sold at other retailers including Whole Foods. They’re available online as well for about $30 for a box of 6 five pound logs at the 
Winter is coming and Nuheat has an innovative concept to keep your home and toes cozy. Nuheat produces electric-blanket-esque radiant floor heating. The Nuheat system provides warm floors to keep tile, stone, laminate and engineered wood surfaces at your favorite toe-nirvana-inducing temperature. The system is electrical, making installation quite a bit easier than some other radiant systems. The Nuheat systems are pre-built, with no loose wires or complex calculations needed. Nuheat mats can be ordered to fit any room regardless of shape or size, and are thin enough to minimize increased floor height. For information on finder a dealer and for pricing inquiries, visit 
Last Christmas my wife and I, and other vital family members, were almost killed at Grandma’s house. I know, I know, it is always Grandma who is supposed to get run over by a reindeer. Well, not this year. It seems that in all the holiday festivities, no one checked to make sure the chimney damper was was opened. As a result, carbon monoxide filled the room and some really nice black soot stained the white brick around the fireplace. Man, if we only had the Soot Eraser afterward. Never mind the carbon monoxide poisoning. . . Grandma said cleaning the fireplace was a nightmare! The Soot Eraser is billed as ideal for occasional smudges and for cleaning soot and smoke-covered bricks and walls. It is like the eraser you used in school, only it is 3″ x 6″. The Soot Eraser is made of vulcanized natural rubber so it is safe, non-toxic, and eco-friendly. The manufacturer, who I could not find online, also makes a liquid version which sounds like less fun to me. Consider this a public safety announcement to make sure your fireplace damper is open when you have a fire this winter! Available for about $10 at 
Do you have really ugly baseboard heating? If so, my condolences. In addition to my condolences I have a great tip: Overboards. Overboards are foundry-crafted of solid cast aluminum and are designed to install easily over your existing baseboard heaters. They complement your home’s classic architectural details with four styles including Traditional, Gothic, Federal and Shaker. Prices start at about $23 for small components such as corners and spacers and go up to $63 for a 30″ panel. They install with a standard drill, screwdriver and 3/8″ wrench. More details are available at 
As much as it pains me to say it, winter is coming. This means overnight temperatures here in San Diego might dip below 68. Worse yet, it gets dark right after work which severely restricts outdoor home improvement. Where am I going with this winter theme? Under the couch of course. If your dream interior furniture layout results in your couch residing on top of your heat vent, take heart. A company called 
Why is there a nearly naked gnome on this post? All because the Snorkel Stove Company loves gnomes. They specialize in providing hot tubs that are not only made of wood, they also burn wood! The Snorkel® Stove utilizes a remarkable submerged wood burning heater. The average tub heats up at the rate of 30 degrees F, or more per hour. Thankfully a protective fence/backrest is supplied with the stoves to separate the bathing area from the heater. Otherwise we would be hearing about boiled gnomes. The Snorkel and Scuba reportedly will burn just about anything, but the most popular fuels are firewood and coal. The Snorkel® Stove was originally developed at the University of Alaska. The purpose was to create an efficient wood burning water heater that would provide the luxury of hot tubbing in rural areas without electricity. Apparently, the original stove became so popular that demand grew rapidly. After making stoves for friends and neighbors, their popularity continued to grow and the Snorkel Stove Company was formed in the late 70’s. Hot tub and stove combinations range roughly $2000-$4000. Lots of gnomes and more details are available through the manufacturer’s web site, 
In old homes, installing the ducts needed for a cooling or heating system can be a challenge. I got some perspective on just how hard this is by wiring a phone system in our house. Considering a phone cable is about 5mm in size and a typical HVAC vent is about a foot wide and six inches deep, I can’t even imagine adding ducts to our existing walls. The Unico System is produced to make adding a discreet and streamlined heating and cooling system to older or custom homes a real possibility. All without bringing in a wrecking ball to make way for the ducts. The Unico System leverages higher velocity air movement along with smaller, subtle ductwork and vents. Vent options include tiny, paint-able/stain-able 5 inch round and 8 inch slotted outlets. Unico also boasts quiet operation despite the higher air velocity. 
Who needs a heater in San Diego? We do!!! My wife got cold easily to begin with, but after three years of school in Phoenix, she now thinks anything under 90 degrees is “chilly.” I’ll spare you the agony of hearing about our winter thermostat battles and, instead, share some decorating joy. Our original vents were 60’s vintage brown aluminum grills. Definitely not sexy. After a quest to find a stylish replacement, we eventually settled on some vents from Restoration Hardware. If half your rooms are missing vents like in our house, it may not even cost much to outfit your entire house. Restoration has a few different styles, all of which seem solidly made. They run about $25-30 each depending on size. Replacing our 60’s style vents with these has made a subtle but huge difference. And they were a piece of cake to install.