I’ll try posting this again – It didn’t “take” the first time….

I want to put cold air returns in the exterior walls of the house I’m building…it’s a cape cod over an insulated and finished basement. I heat with a woodstove and I’m hoping that the warm air will circulate from the woodstove in the basement up the open stairways (stacked), assisted by ceiling fans on the second story..I was told that cold air returns were necessary to aid in the circulation of air, as the cold air needs a different route to fall than where the warm air is rising…

I was planning to place the registers close to floor level on the second floor,  run “duct” in the exterior wall and exhaust the cold air near the ceiling of the basement (as the walls in the basement are already closed in)…

Any suggestions on the most efficient way and simplest way to achieve this? Use duct or pvc? Is one cold air return in each room enough? (rooms are about 10′ x 24′ with cathedral ceiling)

Thanks for your input…