u/Daniel_Boomin

Tl;dr Need to add 6” duct vent through either vinyl siding wall or standing seam roof, both SIP construction. Which is better?

So I live in a “tiny home” SIP construction house. There is an upstairs loft area, which has become our media room. Since it’s a small home and SIP construction, we don’t have a normal HVAC system but mini splits downstairs. This leads to the closed in loft getting pretty warm due to all the equipment and no direct cold air.

I want to install one of those small freestanding portable AC units, and vent the hot air outside through either the gable end wall or the roof. There is a casement window in the loft but because it’s a casement window I’d have to craft some special solution in order to vent out of it, and don’t love the idea of the window being open throughout the summer with rain. Plus it’s in the middle of the room and would cause the ac unit to be in not an ideal spot.

I have a standing seam roof and vinyl siding, and am unsure which route I’d like to go for adding a 6” vent. I have added a vent in a roof before at a previous house when adding a range hood, whereas I’ve never added a vent in a vinyl siding wall. My main concern of course is water leaking inside.

I’m afraid with the vinyl siding, I won’t properly seal the 6” duct, and water will get into the SIP wall. The wall option is also more difficult because I’d need to be pretty high up on a ladder, which again makes me think I will mess up the sealing process, plus overall installation will be harder.

The way the house is built is sort of like a traditional A Frame style where in the loft, two of the side “walls” are really the roof. So I could make a hole towards the lower end of the roof/wall, where the “ceiling” meets the floor. And since the standing seam roof panels are flat, I’m very confident I can seal this better. The roof is a bit steep, but again since I can make the hole towards the lower side, closer to the eave, I’m not as concerned as I am with the wall option. But then again, the roof will see a lot more rain than the wall might. I’m also concerned that I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was leaking, as the water may just drain into the insulated part of the SIP? I don’t know how that would work, it wouldn’t be like a traditional attic where I could see the underside of the roof sheathing if it was wet.

Any insight would be appreciated! I will have to make another vent in the wall for a new range hood I’m installing in the kitchen, but this one is closer to ground level, and because of the vaulted ceilings I don’t want to go through the roof as you’d see the ducting coming out of the top of the cabinets. So I may do that one first, see how difficult it is, and then decide. But I’m currently leaning towards the roof option for the loft AC vent.

Been all over the place trying to figure out a new build. Originally wanted to go with a Ncase M2 or M3 but have moved away from that for now. My concerns are the cooling capabilities of the M series for the components I’ll be using.

The A3 and D32 seem to be the top contenders. I was trying to build as small of a PC as I could, so leaning towards the D32 but am curious of others thoughts who have done similar builds.

Planning to do a 9800x3D/5090 build. I’ve seen builds on here of both AIO and air cooler configs, and am wondering if those on here that have this CPU could give insight on temps with either. I prefer air cooling but because this will be the smallest build I’ve done yet, I’m not sure if AIO is necessary to keep sub 80 temps.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!