BiggerPockets

We recently closed on our first investment house - an REO that had the HVAC stripped out at some point. We got a pretty good deal, and we are beginning renovation. It appears that there has never been a range hood for the stove. The house had gas at one point, but more recently had an electric stove. The ceilings in the kitchen and some other rooms have greasy stains that required extra prep work when painting. I think we probably need to bite the bullet and install a vented range hood, but the installation for this is pretty expensive. Is it worth it? Have others done this? If we leave this off (we bought a new electric stove) are we setting ourselves up for problems?

Leonard

I was told by one of my contractors, but have not verified by reading the code, that a hood is required for a gas or dual fuel range, but not required for an electric range.

I've looked for vented hoods for $50 or so without luck. The ventless ones are that cheap, but the vented ones are consistently more.

re-sell or rent? For resale, install a ventless. It looks good, and works slightly better than nothing. (Actually, they work OK if the filter is cleaned regularly, which no one seems to do)

If you are keeping it, I'd recomended a vented hood. They don't actually cost much. The big box stores have cheapies. Don't ask the stove guys to install. Call a couple of roofers and maybe a woodstove installer and get quotes. The guys who do solar tubes will also do the ductwork for a vent.

Don't buy the fancy one with matching pipe. If there is no cabinet over the stove, install a cheap one to hide the vent pipe and give a bit more storage.

It's for a rental and it's against an outside wall. I think we could vent it straight outside.

Originally posted by Just Don

MOST outside horizontal vented ones turn into a birds nest location,,,flap, 'rattle' in the wind and lose alot of heat from the house in cold climates. nothing else the bees and wasps will have nesting grounds,,,

The ventless SEEM to work as good as a bad vented one

Ductless hoods are garbage, especially if you buy a lower end one like you would in a rental. You have to constantly change the filter on a ductless hood and we know tenants don't rush out to do that type of work. If you have someone that cooks a lot the whole house will be smelling in no time. There are plenty of side vents that while looking somewhat unsightly work just fine and have no issues with bugs or birds.

I have many low income rentals with no range hood at all. NO PROBLEM! If it's a nicer SFH rental, then I would install a ventless range hood if an electric connection is nearby. As someone else said, you can't count on tenants to use the hood even if you install it. It's just too complicated for tenants (as are ceiling fans, screen doors, garbage disposals, dishwashers, etc).

Good Luck,

Mike

I put in a ventless range hood in my recent rental house with the tenants request. It cost me $30 for the hood and about $10 to run electric to that spot. I used conduit up from the floor and over to the top of the hood. We'll see if they yse it.

I wouldn't (didn't) put one of those hood/microwaves in my own house, and certainly not a rental. I'd be amazed if it would get you any extra rent. They're expensive compared to a hood plus a microwave. Seriously I was at Habitat for Humanity on Saturday and they had stacks and stacks of ventless hoods for $15. A basic microwave is $100 and its the tenants problem. If you put in a hood/microwave, its likely to be at least $200 and any problems become your problem.

We finally settled on a vent fan with an added grease filter on the wall above the stove. There was not even room for a range hood with just a 24 inch wide cabinet too low over the stove. This is an oddball solution to an oddball problem in this particular house that has a small kitchen. I appreciate the advise about avoiding the microwave too. I'll learn - hopefully not the hard way.