OT Things you would not learn if the weather were not 40something below C....

On Dec 17, 1:43*am, Karen C in California wrote:


Not fun in these older houses with no insulation in the walls.

Whine, whine, whine... try living somewhere with real weather with no
insulation in the walls.

Elizabeth - from her unheated, uninsulated, third floor.

On Dec 19, 2:41*am, Karen C in California wrote:

We now know how to insulate, too. *But when these houses were built 100
years ago, they didn't think it was necessary to insulate in Sunny
California.

Contrary to what you seem to think, houses built a hundred years ago
in the East weren't insulated either.

On 12/19/08 2:43 PM, in article
,
" wrote:

On Dec 17, 1:43*am, Karen C in California wrote:


Not fun in these older houses with no insulation in the walls.

Whine, whine, whine... try living somewhere with real weather with no
insulation in the walls.

Elizabeth - from her unheated, uninsulated, third floor.

You haven't add the insulation up there yet girl! good thing there are no
pipes there

On 12/19/08 2:45 PM, in article
,
" wrote:

On Dec 19, 2:41*am, Karen C in California wrote:

We now know how to insulate, too. *But when these houses were built 100
years ago, they didn't think it was necessary to insulate in Sunny
California.

Contrary to what you seem to think, houses built a hundred years ago
in the East weren't insulated either.



Some were in a sense, with largish (6 to 8 inch) air pockets. Just not most
homes. And it did depend on where you were. My grandmother spent many moons
researching home building practices while on the local (Millis MA)
historical society. Many it was the better off families that built the homes
with the air pocket insulation. They also used milkweed (kapok) and
newspapers.

C

On Dec 19, 4:18*pm, Cheryl Isaak wrote:
On 12/19/08 2:43 PM, in article
,

" wrote:
On Dec 17, 1:43*am, Karen C in California wrote:

Not fun in these older houses with no insulation in the walls.

Whine, whine, whine... try living somewhere with real weather with no
insulation in the walls.

Elizabeth - from her unheated, uninsulated, third floor.

You haven't add the insulation up there yet girl! good thing there are no
pipes there

Can't blow in insulation on the third floor the way the roof hits the
kneewall. Haven't gutted all the rooms yet, so only some are
insulated. Pipes don't seem to care, though, since the first and
second floors weren't insulated the first few years we lived here and
the pipes (which run up the outside wall of the kitchen) never froze -
even when we didn't bother to heat the first floor.

Elizabeth

On Dec 19, 5:20*pm, lucretia borgia
wrote:
On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:22:03 -0500, Cheryl Isaak
opined:



Some were in a sense, with largish (6 to 8 inch) air pockets. Just not most
homes. And it did depend on where you were. My grandmother spent many moons
researching home building practices while on the local (Millis MA)
historical society. Many it was the better off families that built the homes
with the air pocket insulation. They also used milkweed (kapok) and
newspapers.

C

Seaweed was the insulation of choice around NS. *Unfortunately it
dried and dropped down and was not very effective.

This house has air-pocket construction, but the house I lived in in
Ohio was of the same vintage (1880-1890) and the plaster was laid
right on the bricks. Burrrrrrrrr!

Elizabeth (not convinced those air-pockets do all that much).

wrote:
On Dec 19, 5:20 pm, lucretia borgia
wrote:
On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:22:03 -0500, Cheryl Isaak
opined:



Some were in a sense, with largish (6 to 8 inch) air pockets. Just not most
homes. And it did depend on where you were. My grandmother spent many moons
researching home building practices while on the local (Millis MA)
historical society. Many it was the better off families that built the homes
with the air pocket insulation. They also used milkweed (kapok) and
newspapers.
C
Seaweed was the insulation of choice around NS. Unfortunately it
dried and dropped down and was not very effective.

This house has air-pocket construction, but the house I lived in in
Ohio was of the same vintage (1880-1890) and the plaster was laid
right on the bricks. Burrrrrrrrr!

Elizabeth (not convinced those air-pockets do all that much).

I remember my father explaining to me as a child that they would build a
double brick wall with a space between them. That was for insulation
purposes. There were some metal tie thingies between the two walls,I
remember. Dad was an architect, a chartered surveyor and a civil
engineer; he could design anything...but never never ask him to hammer a
nail into the wall, or change a fuse. Mum had to do that!

Gillian

wrote:
On Dec 19, 2:41 am, Karen C in California wrote:

We now know how to insulate, too. But when these houses were built 100
years ago, they didn't think it was necessary to insulate in Sunny
California.

Contrary to what you seem to think, houses built a hundred years ago
in the East weren't insulated either.


Many houses built here in Ontario -- ie, part of the Great White North
where today it's about -22 C with the windchill -- in the mid 1950s
weren't insulated, likely because heating oil was relatively inexpensive
in those days.

On 12/20/08 1:51 PM, in article
,
" wrote:

On Dec 19, 4:18*pm, Cheryl Isaak wrote:
On 12/19/08 2:43 PM, in article
,

" wrote:
On Dec 17, 1:43*am, Karen C in California wrote:

Not fun in these older houses with no insulation in the walls.

Whine, whine, whine... try living somewhere with real weather with no
insulation in the walls.

Elizabeth - from her unheated, uninsulated, third floor.

You haven't add the insulation up there yet girl! good thing there are no
pipes there

Can't blow in insulation on the third floor the way the roof hits the
kneewall. Haven't gutted all the rooms yet, so only some are
insulated. Pipes don't seem to care, though, since the first and
second floors weren't insulated the first few years we lived here and
the pipes (which run up the outside wall of the kitchen) never froze -
even when we didn't bother to heat the first floor.

Elizabeth


Maybe it is just that much warmer near the ocean that it doesn't matter.

But I am seriously amazed by that.


C

On 12/20/08 1:53 PM, in article
,
" wrote:

On Dec 19, 5:20*pm, lucretia borgia
wrote:
On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:22:03 -0500, Cheryl Isaak
opined:



Some were in a sense, with largish (6 to 8 inch) air pockets. Just not most
homes. And it did depend on where you were. My grandmother spent many moons
researching home building practices while on the local (Millis MA)
historical society. Many it was the better off families that built the homes
with the air pocket insulation. They also used milkweed (kapok) and
newspapers.

C

Seaweed was the insulation of choice around NS. *Unfortunately it
dried and dropped down and was not very effective.

This house has air-pocket construction, but the house I lived in in
Ohio was of the same vintage (1880-1890) and the plaster was laid
right on the bricks. Burrrrrrrrr!

Elizabeth (not convinced those air-pockets do all that much).

In theory they do. In practice, I'm with you.

C