The snow started about 9:20 this morning. It's 20F. The street was covered in white in half an hour. Within 45 minutes the pattern of shingles on the roof was hidden under an unbroken field of white. If you have to put up with cold weather, you should get to enjoy the beauty of snow. Have a great weekend. Tom
It is snowing here
- Thread starter tomturbomatic
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We're experience a sudden cold snap over the last couple of days, really the first all winter. However no snow again to speak of anywhere in the 60 mi protective bubble that reaches from here down to around Detroit. But go 60 mi east and they're getting hammered in places again.
No snow here either but it did go down to -34 C last night....BRRRR it is cold.
Gary
Gary
Your methods of construction up there must be entirely different from down here. Your insulation standards must be quite high also. We would not be able to keep our houses comfortable or maybe even safely habitable at those temperatures.
mynameismiele
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Overseas, In Rosmalen:
Also full of snow!, My dad had to get up on 3 a.m in the morning to go throw salt on the roads.
Also full of snow!, My dad had to get up on 3 a.m in the morning to go throw salt on the roads.
mysteryclock
Well-known member
Ice, on snow, on ice...
We got quite a blast yesterday and today, and our roads are a river of ice today. Considering it is supposed to be 9F tonight and below freezing tomorrow, it is going to take a while to get rid of this mess!
We got quite a blast yesterday and today, and our roads are a river of ice today. Considering it is supposed to be 9F tonight and below freezing tomorrow, it is going to take a while to get rid of this mess!
xraytech
Well-known member
No snow here, it is really cold and windy though.
I wish we would get alot of snow,
I wish we would get alot of snow,
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Tom:
"Your methods of construction up there must be entirely different from down here. Your insulation standards must be quite high also. We would not be able to keep our houses comfortable or maybe even safely habitable at those temperatures."
Tom - I can't speak for where Gary is in Canada, but there is a huge difference in the standards I was used to in Atlanta and the ones I see up here in Iowa. My house's walls are heavily filled with blown insulation, it has storm windows and doors of high quality, and I think I have more Fiberglas batting in my attic than the average Home Depot has in stock where I'm from.
It pays off - my utilities are quite reasonable, and I'm comfy, even during protracted periods of sub-zero weather. -10 F is not uncommon here in Winter, and I shudder to think of what it would be like trying to keep an Atlanta house warm if it got and stayed that cold for a while. Expensive, for sure - and as you note, maybe not even really possible.
"Your methods of construction up there must be entirely different from down here. Your insulation standards must be quite high also. We would not be able to keep our houses comfortable or maybe even safely habitable at those temperatures."
Tom - I can't speak for where Gary is in Canada, but there is a huge difference in the standards I was used to in Atlanta and the ones I see up here in Iowa. My house's walls are heavily filled with blown insulation, it has storm windows and doors of high quality, and I think I have more Fiberglas batting in my attic than the average Home Depot has in stock where I'm from.
It pays off - my utilities are quite reasonable, and I'm comfy, even during protracted periods of sub-zero weather. -10 F is not uncommon here in Winter, and I shudder to think of what it would be like trying to keep an Atlanta house warm if it got and stayed that cold for a while. Expensive, for sure - and as you note, maybe not even really possible.
I believe we do have higher insulation requirements up here. We have to otherwise it would be impossible to keep the house warm. My house has all double pane windows with low E gas. The houses have 2x6 stud walls with fibre bat insulation. It is quite comfy in the house although the boiler definitely has to work harder and longer.
Gary
Gary
toggleswitch2
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2x6 studs on 24" centers is the structural equivalent of 2x4 studs on 16" centers. Yet, the 2x6s allow for 6" insulation with an R-24 insulating factor. (24 times better resistance to cold/heat than nothing at all). Whereas 4" deep walls allow for only an R-19 factor.
The presence of a gas stove in super-insulated homes becomes a problem in that they pollute indoor air BADLY. Mechanical means to provide fresh air to super-insulated homes becomes a necessity.
The presence of a gas stove in super-insulated homes becomes a problem in that they pollute indoor air BADLY. Mechanical means to provide fresh air to super-insulated homes becomes a necessity.
2 things.
#1, Mielabor, in your pic of the red salt box, the bicycle to the left has a full chain case! I am restoring a 1952 Raleigh that is missing that part. I am looking for one, but it's darned hard to find, and thus far, it's been 2 years with no luck! It's a good thing o have because it keeps the chain covered from road grime and weather, also it keeps your pants out of the chain.
#2, I wrote my graduate thesis on learning sustainable and energy efficient building design and use FROM historic buildings. My inspiration was the thought "What better incentive to make use of natural light and ventilation than when you are designing a building prior to the introduction of electric utility service?" As technology has allowed buildings to become super-tightly sealed, they have become far cheaper to heat and cool. Unfortunately, as Toggles so accurately pointed out, this can have unintended consequences.
With buildings so tightly sealed, there is significantly less air exchange and the air inside is often more polluted than the air outside. In order to combat this, filtration systems must be used and maintained, as well as air exchange components on the HVAC system. Unfortunately, many people do not utilize such systems and often don't maintain them properly when they do have them. Sick Building Syndrome is real and it affects people's health! In my mind, a good building, in this subject area, is a balance of several factors, including: safety, ease of maintenance, and operating costs. One cannot outweigh the others. We have the technology to super-seal buildings, but should we?
I don't believe all insulation, sealing, and new technology is bad, it just needs to be applied properly and it must work well without making life more difficult in other areas,
Dave
#1, Mielabor, in your pic of the red salt box, the bicycle to the left has a full chain case! I am restoring a 1952 Raleigh that is missing that part. I am looking for one, but it's darned hard to find, and thus far, it's been 2 years with no luck! It's a good thing o have because it keeps the chain covered from road grime and weather, also it keeps your pants out of the chain.
#2, I wrote my graduate thesis on learning sustainable and energy efficient building design and use FROM historic buildings. My inspiration was the thought "What better incentive to make use of natural light and ventilation than when you are designing a building prior to the introduction of electric utility service?" As technology has allowed buildings to become super-tightly sealed, they have become far cheaper to heat and cool. Unfortunately, as Toggles so accurately pointed out, this can have unintended consequences.
With buildings so tightly sealed, there is significantly less air exchange and the air inside is often more polluted than the air outside. In order to combat this, filtration systems must be used and maintained, as well as air exchange components on the HVAC system. Unfortunately, many people do not utilize such systems and often don't maintain them properly when they do have them. Sick Building Syndrome is real and it affects people's health! In my mind, a good building, in this subject area, is a balance of several factors, including: safety, ease of maintenance, and operating costs. One cannot outweigh the others. We have the technology to super-seal buildings, but should we?
I don't believe all insulation, sealing, and new technology is bad, it just needs to be applied properly and it must work well without making life more difficult in other areas,
Dave
Dave:
Yes, I do believe we should seal our buildings and super-insulate them. And you yourself pointed out why: because a good building offers safety, easy of maintenance and low operating costs. I'll add another one: because a good building is a healthy place.
I'm not downplaying the sick-building syndrome. I know it happens. But my point is that the vast majority of those cases (a) happened in commercial buildings, not homes and (b) happened to buildings that did a poor job of it. If those buildings had actually been sealed and super-insulated, and had the appropriate mechanical air-exchange, they would not be sick buildings. The vast majority of the cases were not sealed, they just had windows that wouldn't open, which is not the same.
It's long past time that we abandon the random ventilation in buildings. We should aim for a building process that doesn't leave huge gaps between walls, ceilings, floors, roofs etc. And we should go back and seal the now minor gaps. Then have a proper system to distribute fresh air all over the home and exhaust stale air. There's no real good reason why we should accept random air exchanges, which make one room drafty and uncomfortable and another room stuffy and not-fresh enough when at the same time we pay through the nose to keep the home at the proper comfortable temperatures. If your home is going to have 3 air-exchanges per hour by being leaky anyway, you would be better off having equipment that makes the air be exchanged 3 times per hour (thus providing freshness and a healthy environment) while at the same time having everything else being sealed so that's the only loss you have and having good insulation in the walls to avoid more losses.
I'd like to stress that just because one says a home is "sealed" and super-insulated, it doesn't mean one is stuck with non-operable windows. One can still have windows that open when desirable to do so in mild weather. And end up with a fresh, pleasant, comfortable home on top of it.
Yes, I do believe we should seal our buildings and super-insulate them. And you yourself pointed out why: because a good building offers safety, easy of maintenance and low operating costs. I'll add another one: because a good building is a healthy place.
I'm not downplaying the sick-building syndrome. I know it happens. But my point is that the vast majority of those cases (a) happened in commercial buildings, not homes and (b) happened to buildings that did a poor job of it. If those buildings had actually been sealed and super-insulated, and had the appropriate mechanical air-exchange, they would not be sick buildings. The vast majority of the cases were not sealed, they just had windows that wouldn't open, which is not the same.
It's long past time that we abandon the random ventilation in buildings. We should aim for a building process that doesn't leave huge gaps between walls, ceilings, floors, roofs etc. And we should go back and seal the now minor gaps. Then have a proper system to distribute fresh air all over the home and exhaust stale air. There's no real good reason why we should accept random air exchanges, which make one room drafty and uncomfortable and another room stuffy and not-fresh enough when at the same time we pay through the nose to keep the home at the proper comfortable temperatures. If your home is going to have 3 air-exchanges per hour by being leaky anyway, you would be better off having equipment that makes the air be exchanged 3 times per hour (thus providing freshness and a healthy environment) while at the same time having everything else being sealed so that's the only loss you have and having good insulation in the walls to avoid more losses.
I'd like to stress that just because one says a home is "sealed" and super-insulated, it doesn't mean one is stuck with non-operable windows. One can still have windows that open when desirable to do so in mild weather. And end up with a fresh, pleasant, comfortable home on top of it.
My little cottage is now 106 years old but the double brick construction keeps it warm & cozy against winter winds and holds the cool in summer. It leaked like a sieve from everywhere the first 20 years I've lived here but when I had the whole house freshly painted a few years back I spent weeks going over every seam caulking. The windows were the worst offenders with brick mold gaps up to 1/2" around every window frame. Pulling some brick mold away I could see into the rooms! No wonder it was so breezy. Well, I refitted every inch, foot and yard of original mold and carved & crafted replacements where necessary. Then, every original ripply cylinder glass pane was re-puttied including the original wood storm windows, Storms had real rubber gasket strips applied around the edges and the difference in heating/AC bills is remarkable. I don't get that frost bloom between the panes anymore except the upper 4 foot diameter half-moon round front windows as I have yet to rebuild those missing storms. When I bought the house all the windows had those 1970a paste & screw-on aluminum storms not even silicon- sealed to the wood surround molds and of course the sliding pane seams did not compliment the 1894 windows underneath - I was lucky to find all the original storms saved in the attic and garage. Yes, there are still leaks but they are minor coming from the basement and I consider that normal air exchange airflow no hermetic sealing for me, thanks. It's really cut back on the dust accumulation, too, but there's still plenty for vacuuming fun. 
So now I get to stand inside and clearly see what the snow and hapless pedestrians are coping with outside. I get a small anticipatory thrill when I have reason to get out the car and go snow-tripping on minor errands. This is what it has been like in town Thursday and Friday - at the city limits the landscape is lost in whiteouts and sideways flurries as the cold powder snows are blown off the tops of the drifts and surrounding fields. Roads in and out of Stratford were closed for two days; this is typical for January & March winter weather east of Pete's Sarnia. I love it and while many are sliding around grazing poles each other, sliding through intersections and landing in ditches, my low-slung Subaru Legacy is a joy to navigate in a secure straight line or flick about to avoid all those challenged nutballs who seem to think "I've got a big heavy manly truck/SUV, I don't need no stinkin' snow tires". Hey Bonehead, there ain't no collision damage showing on my car and I'm the guy who can chain-pull you out of that ditch...
Purty, ain't it?
Dave
So now I get to stand inside and clearly see what the snow and hapless pedestrians are coping with outside. I get a small anticipatory thrill when I have reason to get out the car and go snow-tripping on minor errands. This is what it has been like in town Thursday and Friday - at the city limits the landscape is lost in whiteouts and sideways flurries as the cold powder snows are blown off the tops of the drifts and surrounding fields. Roads in and out of Stratford were closed for two days; this is typical for January & March winter weather east of Pete's Sarnia. I love it and while many are sliding around grazing poles each other, sliding through intersections and landing in ditches, my low-slung Subaru Legacy is a joy to navigate in a secure straight line or flick about to avoid all those challenged nutballs who seem to think "I've got a big heavy manly truck/SUV, I don't need no stinkin' snow tires". Hey Bonehead, there ain't no collision damage showing on my car and I'm the guy who can chain-pull you out of that ditch...
Purty, ain't it?
Dave
This morning the winds have died down and the temp is still 17 F (-8 C). Supposed to warm up to 20 F with sun the rest of the week but no more snow.
Oh boy, I'm gonna go to the Zellers' Restaurant out at the Mall for lunch, then do pinwheels in the parking lot...just to test the ABS braking, of course. Then home to run films through the two 8mm projectors (Bell&Howell and a Keystone) I found yesterday for $8 & $2, cleaned and re-lubed last night. I drove a 6 hour roundtrip over to Niagara On The Lake Saturday to retrieve ~200 free piano rolls.
Dave
Oh boy, I'm gonna go to the Zellers' Restaurant out at the Mall for lunch, then do pinwheels in the parking lot...just to test the ABS braking, of course. Then home to run films through the two 8mm projectors (Bell&Howell and a Keystone) I found yesterday for $8 & $2, cleaned and re-lubed last night. I drove a 6 hour roundtrip over to Niagara On The Lake Saturday to retrieve ~200 free piano rolls.
Dave
