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heating and cooling your old house
ACORN is pleased to offer a new “Fix-It-Up” workshop: Heating and Cooling Your Old House. There are many different ways to heat and cool historic homes but what is the best way to keep the integrity of your home and still accomplish this goal? Justin Nelson, with Dominion Heating & Air Conditioning will provide some direction for homeowners on how to improve upon an existing system or how to successfully install a new, energy efficient system for your house while maintaining the historic integrity of your home.
Date: Tuesday, March 25th
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Where: St. John’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall 2401 East Broad Street.
Reservations required; $5 for A.C.O.R.N. Members, $10 for general admission
For more information or to reserve a space, call (804) 422-2148 or send an e-mail to info@richmondneighborhoods.org.
If you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please contact:
David Herring
Phone: 804-422-2148
email: dherring@richmondneighborhoods.org
TAGGED: ACORN
I have a 110 year old farmhouse I want to preserve. Had to take out the old (huge) room oil heaters.
What is a reasonable way to heat/cool this old balloon built house?
Mike
I would recommend getting it tightened up by adding insulation to the wall cavities and ceiling (attic floor). That alone will help retain the heat inside. IMHO, there is no more even heat in these older (somewhat inefficient) spaces than cast iron radiators powered by a hot water boiler. Do you have access to natural gas? If so, I would go for it… Older, inefficient structures just never are very comfortable with forced warm air. My experience is that the temperature is never quite right…it’s either too hot and dry or it’s drafty. Heat pumps seem to only function well in a pretty tight space which I doubt is the case with an unrennovated 110 year old farmhouse.
When I bought my big old drafty house, it had no heat at all. I installed 2 Zone HVAC, since I don’t have natural gas on my block, and didn’t want to go with dinosaur fossils.
In the wintertime, I rely most heavily on my large Torrid wood stove, because Kelly is right – HVAC alone doesn’t blow hot enough to keep me from freezing, unless I want to spend 5 or 6 hundred a month on electric. I had to get the flue relined first, though. Sometimes I find myself seriously considering solar panels.
The stove functions well for me, but it kind of depends on how hard you want to work for warmth. I work from home a lot, so I am often here to stoke it. It’s usually about 55-60 degrees when I wake up, though, even when I slow burn at night. And that’s not for everyone.
I blew new attic insulation a couple years ago. That was helpful. So is the under-floor insulation. I have pretty thin floors, though, and no subfloor, so I use lots of throw rugs to keep some cool down below. I also weatherstrip as heavily as possible, and throw blankets up against the doors to the outside that I don’t use often.
I just pulled down the depressing gray vinyl siding that was, in my opinion, a previous owner’s poor design choice for this old farmhouse. I’m sure that makes it draftier now, especially since there is still some repair that needs to be done here and there to the old scalloped wood siding that was there. It’s much more authentic, though. Sometimes I think about gutting the exterior walls, and re-insulating them like crazy. If I end up staying here much longer, I probably will. All of this stuff is definitely a process.
This is a good topic. I would be interested in reading what others use for heat solutions in some of these old homes. I think it’s a pretty common challenge.
Kelly, I agree with you completely about the importance of insulation. We’re assuming he has either an attic, or at least a crawl space up there. I’d add that insulation should also be put underneath the structure, hopefully there is a crawl space under the house to enable someone to, literally, crawl under there and staple up insulation. Walls can either have it blown into the cavity, or, if you have plaster walls that absolutely need to be replaced, take the plaster down to the lathe, add insulation, and box out over that then add sheet rock, if there is room to do that without adding so much bulk to the wall that you are beyond the woodwork.
As to heating systems, though, while I do agree with you about cast iron radiators being nice (and they now make baseboards with water in them like the old radiators), I strongly believe in heat pumps now. The newer ones are very efficient. Obviously, the ductwork needs to be well thought out, possibly with an HVAC firm and/or an engineer, and I realize that can take some planning. There are even heat pumps with humidifiers attached. Just my two cents worth.
I’d also suggest that Mike call David Herring at the phone number listed for the seminar that was held last spring; David can possibly add a quite a few suggestions and/or references.
I have a small house that was built in 1939 that I bought last summer. The existing gas furnace needed alot of repair, including the chimney needing relining. It did not have any AC. I decided to put in a heatpump for heat and AC and close up the furnace chimney. Electric heat pumps are very efficient except on the coldest of days. It’s a 13 SEER, which is fine for a small house. My electric bill for December is $100 total, which is pretty good in my book.
I need to add insulation for the attic and basement. I also would like to get some sort of non-ugly storm windows.
I am getting a coal/wood stove this winter that will help reduce my electric bill even more. Shannon–would you share the name of your chimney person, or if not, just come by and tell me!
Wood stoves need ventilation. You don’t want to have a really tight house if you have a wood stove. If your house is really tight, crack a window in the room where your wood stove is. Sounds counter-productive, but it’s important to keep enough fresh air around.
RE: insulation. If your house is very old, you may want to have an electrician check to see if:
* the electrical insulation on your wiring is degraded
* the wires are overloaded,
* or knob and tube wiring was used (often found in homes built before 1940).
If any of these wiring situations exists in your house, it may be hazardous to add thermal insulation within a closed cavity around the wires because that could cause the wires to overheat. THIS IS FOR FIRE SAFETY.
That said, don’t skimp on insulation – the higher the # the better the R value. R-30 in the attic and crawl space – R 15 in the walls.
You may want to take a look at Electric fireplace inserts. Here is a link to the victorian fireplace shop on w Broad – Karen and Mike – GREAT people
http://www.gascoals.net/Accessories/ElectricFires/ElectricInserts/tabid/650/Default.aspx
i’ve found that they give off a good amount of heat, dress up an old fireplace and make it usable again and is an inexpensive alternative to relining.
Juliellen – I used Ken Simons at Advanced Chimney Solutions. Sandston – 328 2049. Lifetime warranty. He has also come out to help me with my stove, like when my chimney cap was clogged up with creosote and wouldn’t vent right, and has not charged me. Please be sure that you mention that I recommended him because he has given other folks that I have sent to him a discounted rate.
For firewood, I use another old Sandston-ite. His name is Junior, and he is a sweet old country man. His prices are the best – beating anyone else by at least $40/cord, and I am never bored with out conversations as we stack the wood from his trailer together. He will also do a half cord if you ask. I did a few half cords last winter because I was traveling a lot, so I was burning less. He’s fine with either. His number is 737 9861. Like with Ken, tell him I sent you.
Any more questions, just bring your dog to play in the back yard with mine, and we can chat more over a cup of coffee.