When I built this house, I went with spray foam for the entire envelope and itās been fantastic. However, it has one downfall, which is the house is too tight for having a wood burning fireplace, so we have to open a window or two so it draws well and doesnāt smoke up the house. Thatās fine for an ambiance fire on a 55 degree night, but sucks when itās 20 degrees out and you want to be cozy. So Iāve been wanting to add a āmake up airā vent of sorts behind our fireplace for years. My theory is that putting a vent in the outside wall behind it will allow the air to come in all around the firebox without pulling cold air through our living space. And itās on an obscured corner of the house where no one ever goes, but also within the screened porch so there wonāt be any bugs. Only problem was the wife thought it would be āunsightlyā
Anyway, thanks to the impending icemageddon she finally realized how wise I am and said ok.
I then realized that we also have lights on the porch and I donāt have to work via headlamp haha!
Based on construction pics, I was 98% sure where the studs were, but I cut a small hole and felt around just to be sure.
Dang, 67ā instead of 66.5ā, close enough!
Also knew that wire was there so kept the saw shallow. Cutting through masonry board got suckier as the blade dulled, but it got er done with a bit of red glow haha.
Amazing how much foam volume comes out of this 14x25ā space.
Her āunsightlyā looks good to me.
Most importantlyā¦
First fire weāve ever had in this house where we didnāt have to open a door or window, the living room is actually warm, and not even a hint of smoke!
She asked me how long ago I bought this grill, I said āI dunno, probably 4-5 years agoā
Yeah make that over 6 years ago haha. We moved in August 2019 and we have been dealing with drafty cold fires for 6.5 years! So the moral of this story is: if your wife says donāt, do it anyway!
guess me and curt get to load up in the cold in the morning 
