small rooms and good insulation (houses, landlord, closing)

[starwalker]

Sitting here in what passes for cold in NC, in a drafty old house... with only a leaky heat-pump furnace which we do not use (a couple of winters ago we discovered WARM air pouring out from under the house through a foundation grate... and the thing sits too low to the ground to repair the holes in the ducting which the landlord would not do anyway...) has me thinking about all the old northern houses I have seen with small rooms. At its best, it put out luke cook air that really did nothing to warm the place (too drafty) but did eat electons (and $$) like mad.

This place has an area that is about 36 feet square that is broken up by halls and walls... but no doors on the doorways to speak of and multiple arches.

I have a couple of grill size propane bottles with heater tops and one of them can make the kitchen (which can only sort of be closed off) or my Craft room (which does have a door!) adequately warm. But despite my having carried the heater in while I had supper the dining room temp was 46 degrees (it is all of 28 outside). My studio is part of that large, more or less open area and while it has warmed a bit more than that 46, is still not toasty.

Looking at the temps in ME today, I have decided that those folks who built the small rooms had a good idea, especially if there is good insulation to go with them. I briefly rented a room in another drafty old house in WA state when I was just starting out on my current career and kept that room quite comfy with "just" the heat output of my two computers augmented by a couple of oil lamps and a candle or two. That old house had no vents to the upstairs and my landlord kept the stairway door closed to conserve.

[Elcarim]

Yep, I've been concerned about the small rooms I've been seeing up there. Now, I may shift my focus to finding a smaller built house! I guess we could all live in one room during the winter and only heat that little area.

[Boomerang]

At one point I lived in an old farmhouse with 8 rooms built in early 1800's. In winter when all the visiting relatives were gone the upstairs rooms got closed off and only the 1st floor got heated. Saved a ton of $$$. Those old low ceilings may not be de rigeur but they don't waste as much heat!

[Bydand]

You don't need a smaller built house, you need a well built house. One that is wind tight goes a LONG ways. Mine has no insulation in most of the walls, but in order to know if the wind is blowing hard outside you have to look out a window. No drafts, so it heats better than you would think. A well insulated house with poor fitting windows and doors that let in the drafts, will kill you at the fuel tank come heating season. Look for tight closing doors (if you can rattle them, they are drafty) and tight sealing windows. You will notice most of the older houses in Maine have a door on every room, mine even has one at the bottom of the stairs, just so they could close off rooms they didn't use in the winter.

[Elcarim]

Maybe I should stop losing weight - I may be needing the extra insulation!!

Send me those whoopie pies!!!

[starwalker]

You are so right! I saw an explanation on an energy saving site long ago that explained how wind pulls heat from a house through the cracks by making a vacuum that the warm air flows out to fill. (nature abhors a vacuum)

Originally Posted by Bydand

You don't need a smaller built house, you need a well built house. One that is wind tight goes a LONG ways. Mine has no insulation in most of the walls, but in order to know if the wind is blowing hard outside you have to look out a window. No drafts, so it heats better than you would think. A well insulated house with poor fitting windows and doors that let in the drafts, will kill you at the fuel tank come heating season. Look for tight closing doors (if you can rattle them, they are drafty) and tight sealing windows. You will notice most of the older houses in Maine have a door on every room, mine even has one at the bottom of the stairs, just so they could close off rooms they didn't use in the winter.

[starwalker]

Don't have any whoopie pies, but I will be glad to send you the 14 lbs I need to shed to reach my goal <g>

I broke the elusive 150 this week!

Originally Posted by Elcarim

Maybe I should stop losing weight - I may be needing the extra insulation!!

Send me those whoopie pies!!!

[Submariner]

I have been inside some of the smaller houses.

You have a woodstove in the center of the living room, a cleared ring around that and then chairs and things get cluttered everywhere.

To me a small house would 'close' in on me, during long cold weather months.

When we lived in Scotland, it was cold, but the houses had very high ceilings. Most kitchens had very high ceilings with a clothes line suspended by pulleys. Start up a coal and peat fire, and as the heat fills the upper air it dries your laundry.

Maybe it is just an old submariner talking but I want big rooms with high ceilings.

[Elcarim]

Originally Posted by starwalker

Don't have any whoopie pies, but I will be glad to send you the 14 lbs I need to shed to reach my goal <g>

I broke the elusive 150 this week!

Oh, good for you!! I'm proud of you - I know how hard it is.

[dmyankee]

Most old farm houses have doors all over the place. You just close off all but the kitchen bath and maybe the parlor during the winter.