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I worry about security in a ground-floor house. I like open windows and it's too easy for someone to split a screen open and intrude. Especially in high-crime florida.
Can you point me to a reference for the extra power required to push air up a vertical vent in low-rise residential construction? Every reference I've seen basically says that the difference between 20 feet of vertical duct and 20 feet of horizontal duct, in a closed system, is basically nil, until you're talking about hundreds of feet you can ignore elevation head loss when calculating total head loss in air ducts.
Yes, boosters are often found on second stories, as a band-aid for poorly designed or retrofitted systems using long runs and/or undersized or flattened ducts (e.g. inside walls for the vertical runs). It's because of friction loss, not because the blower needs to fight gravity to "push air up".
You aren't just moving the air up. You are moving it horizontal, then make a 90 degree turn on top of your main trunkline with a takeoff (usually 6" 30 gauge) or a 6" 90 degree 30 gauge elbow with a 6" a-collar. That feeds over to the floor header in the wall where a boot ( end, straight or 90 degree) hooks onto your wallstack that runs up the wall in between the studs and behind the drywall. On a single story your boot is your termination point. If you played around with CFM and blower speeds much, you would know medium low or low will never work. It almost always has to be on medium high or high speed....even then it still isn't enough often times. You have to figure something else out that will work.
Keep in mind that there are computer programs nowadays to help calculate duct size, heat loss, friction etc... Any house built before was all done in someones head or on paper. Mistakes are common and it's just how it is/was. Even today, nothing is perfect, you are always thinking and trying to figure out what will work. Might not get it on the first or even the 5th try......if you are persistent and keep trying, you'll eventually get something that is acceptable....NEVER extraordinary.
No wonder why people are having trouble visualizing what I am saying in their heads. After Googling for a bit and searching, I couldn't come up with any pictures of what a standard basement duct layout looks like at least 90% of the time.
You need hands on in person experience to know what is the most common.
I worry about security in a ground-floor house. I like open windows and it's too easy for someone to split a screen open and intrude. Especially in high-crime florida.
^ I agree 100%. Even though i do not live in a high crime area, i have always felt safer sleeping on the second floor. As for the fire worries, you can have a cheap soft escape ladder to feel safer.
As for security, I think it's a moot point. In a 2 story, if someone breaks in you are essentially trapped upstairs unless you have a ladder handy. There's also a chance that you wont even know they've broken in. My aunt had this happen a few years ago - someone (or a few) broke in and stole some things down stairs while they were sleeping upstairs. Thankfully, the burglars didn't decide to quietly venture upstairs - if they would've, the whole family would have been sitting ducks. My guess is that those willing to break into an occupied home aren't going in unarmed.
If security is that big of a deal, move to a safer 'hood, get a dog and install an alarm system. I just don't see the 2-story floor plan providing a significant safety advantage.
I've owned 2-story homes and that's why I bought a 1-story home in 2009. I hated schlepping up and down stairs all the time. Staircases are a pain to keep clean too. I'm not old or disabled either. I just don't want stairs.
As for security, I think it's a moot point. In a 2 story, if someone breaks in you are essentially trapped upstairs unless you have a ladder handy. There's also a chance that you wont even know they've broken in. My aunt had this happen a few years ago - someone (or a few) broke in and stole some things down stairs while they were sleeping upstairs. Thankfully, the burglars didn't decide to quietly venture upstairs - if they would've, the whole family would have been sitting ducks. My guess is that those willing to break into an occupied home aren't going in unarmed.
If security is that big of a deal, move to a safer 'hood, get a dog and install an alarm system. I just don't see the 2-story floor plan providing a significant safety advantage.
Most home robbers are unarmed. Not to say it can't happen otherwise, but doubtful it's the norm.
The whole point of robbing a home isn't to hurt who's inside. It's to get stuff you can sell for cash. You DON'T want to get caught. Story after story of confronted home robbers who make a break for it when they're exposed.
I had one person break into my bedroom as I slept. Unfortunately I sleep light, and I just watched them sneak around through squints in the dark for a bit, then calmly said, "that dresser doesn't have anything worth stealing, just so you know." They were terrified; broke out quick. That was when I was a brash teenager with nothing to lose.
My elderly friends who have lived in the their modest two story home for 57 hears woke up to a burglar in their bedroom... the guy wanted money and jewelry...
They said they didn't have any jewelry and told the guy all their cash for the month was in the dresser drawer... the guy grabbed the cash and then the husband said they have no money and the thief left a $20 on the dresser... true story.
Lucky thief because there are plenty around here that would have simply shot the guy... lots of armed homeowners around here.
I would have preferred a one-story (after living in an essentially 3 story house) but there were other "musts" ahead of that.
In this area, most new houses are multiple story because the land is worth more than the building, hence lots tend to be smaller, hence houses need to go up for space, particularly as buyers tend to want larger (>2,500 sf) houses.
Most home robbers are unarmed. Not to say it can't happen otherwise, but doubtful it's the norm.
The whole point of robbing a home isn't to hurt who's inside. It's to get stuff you can sell for cash. You DON'T want to get caught. Story after story of confronted home robbers who make a break for it when they're exposed.
I had one person break into my bedroom as I slept. Unfortunately I sleep light, and I just watched them sneak around through squints in the dark for a bit, then calmly said, "that dresser doesn't have anything worth stealing, just so you know." They were terrified; broke out quick. That was when I was a brash teenager with nothing to lose.
Does most being unarmed apply to robbers that break into an occupied home? Most robbers probably break into unoccupied homes because they're smart enough to avoid confrontation and only want things of value. My guess is that a significant number (5%+) of intruders into occupied homes will carry some form of weapon or will at least be willing to physically assault someone if they need to.
Here are the stats I found:
Quote:
*An estimated 3.7 million burglaries occurred each year on
average from 2003 to 2007.
*A household member was present in roughly 1 million burglaries
and became victims of violent crimes in 266,560 burglaries.
*Simple assault (15%) was the most common form of violence when
a resident was home and violence occurred. Robbery (7%) and
rape (3%) were less likely to occur when a household member was
present and violence occurred.
*Offenders were known to their victims in 65% of violent
burglaries; offenders were strangers in 28%.
*Overall, 61% of offenders were unarmed when violence occurred
during a burglary while a resident was present. About 12% of
all households violently burglarized while someone was home
faced an offender armed with a firearm.
With 26.5% of burglaries turning violent with someone home - I'm not sure if I could calmly tell the robber where the valuables were or were not. 12% is also a pretty high number of armed robbers.
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