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Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
41–50 of 314 posts
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#42Overdo this and you will get mouldy walls.
Most people just install A/C and call it a day. If you live in a humid area, then a separate whole-house dehumidifier is useful:
* https://www.santa-fe-products.com/product-category/dehumidif...
You can have a comfortable temperature 21C/72F, but a too-high RH, and since the temperature is correct, the AC won't kick in. Having an hygrometer helps with this.
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#43My wife and I just moved from LA (my birthplace) to Detroit (my wifes birthplace, I have lived here previously) and it sure has been a struggle to keep my office environment 'good'. I have a hyperhidrosis issue (excessively sweaty hands) that compounds the situation. I feel like homes and offices do not breath. My anecdotal napkin math would say like 10% of buildings are designed with proper ventilation, blending of…
I recall reading a blog post in which a heat lamp was used to warm the hands while working at a desk.
I like to work outdoors even when it is fairly cold, and cold hands are the main limitation. It is difficult to type with gloves.
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#44This is all cool ideas but sadly keeping home cool is not that easy due to problems with humidity and consequently mold. Old houses were much less airtight than modern ones. So sadly I think it’s a trade off: either modern energy efficient house with mechanical ventilation or older, rather windy and cold house. Modernising older Homes to be energy effective appears to be a lost cause. If you make them airtight there…
Even old draughty homes suffer really badly from damp and mold due to condensation once you get down below a certain temperature for sustained periods. I grew up without central heating (Im 40 and this isn't that unusual for a lot of the UK) and later lived in older unheated houses a couple of times and damp was always a huge issue despite their draughtiness. 13° sounds about right for average indoor temp in unheated parts of the home in winter in the house I grew up in, but it's worth noting that a) you spend most of your time in the bit of your home that you do heat, be that the kitchen or the living room, and b) when you wake up in an unheated bedroom in the middle of winter your walls are damp and if it's got below zero you will have ice on the inside of the windows because the temperature will have dropped a lot lower than 13°. This is, not to put too fine a point on it, miserable and if you want to control the damp you then have to open the windows to air out your room, so it never gets warm. Having said that 18° which is the temperature I keep my house at in winter is perfectly pleasant as long as you wear a jumper and is warm enough that I've never had issues with damp or mold.
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any specific suggestions on brand/tech/material?
High quality merino wool doesn't itch (at least not for most people), is naturally odor-resistant and can be super comfortable. I mostly use Icebreaker, but Smartwool and Aclima make good stuff too.
+1 for Icebreaker. Their fabrics are a blend of wool with synthetic materials, and they are the best shirts I've ever had. Unlike other wool fabrics they are very easy to take care of. I wash them just like cotton, no special detergents needed. Not even high spin cycles seem to harm them. (But I've never put them in the dryer, so I don't know if they would survive that).
They may be odor resistant, but for me they still get smelly after two or three days. A lot better than cotton, but not odor free.
The downsides are that even their lightest fabrics are too warm for summer, and the fabric is a lot less mechanically sturdy as cotton. It seems to tear easily. Most of my older icebreaker shirts have a few holes, even though the fabric still looks like new.
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#46Study that measured cold resistance among Finnish population found out that city dwellers in the south (Helsinki) had better cold resistance than people living in the north (Lappi). People in the cities wear thin city clothes even during winters, and freeze their ass off, while people living in much colder rural regions dress sensibly and stay warm.
I found the same when I worked in UK. I'm from Poland and in the winter everybody wear winter clothes even if it's 5C. Homes are well insulated and heated. People in UK by default wear much colder clothes so they are more used to cold. The end effect was that me and my friend were going everywhere in coats while everybody else was in their shirts :) What's funny is that people that moved to Poland from Siberia had si…
It’s a long-standing joke in the North East.
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally disagree with the layers philosophy. Way too much fuss. In mid-winter London I wear a t-shirt and a jacket. Perfectly warm. Just get a good jacket. Easy on, off, no ceremony.
er,London is not cold.
Berlin neither, all you need is a tshirt and a down sweater/light jacket like this: https://www.rei.com/product/871413/patagonia-down-sweater-me... (or 4 time cheaper at other brands).
I know because that's what I use regularly for long walks and even bike trips
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#48From the comments: > Sorry, I am not buying it. Not because you haven't done good work on the article: you have. Also not because N.American homes are overheated, and the residents under-dressed: they are. I do not buy it because the Japanese live the way you suggest in the winter, and it is miserable I have a mother in Scotland and I have a mother-in-law in Canada. Worst it ever gets near my mother seems to be -5C,…
Had to laugh at your comment about Scotland because people in Maine do the same thing.
Heat is either blasting or turned off. Very poor insulation.
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#49This is all cool ideas but sadly keeping home cool is not that easy due to problems with humidity and consequently mold. Old houses were much less airtight than modern ones. So sadly I think it’s a trade off: either modern energy efficient house with mechanical ventilation or older, rather windy and cold house. Modernising older Homes to be energy effective appears to be a lost cause. If you make them airtight there…
It doesn't need to be at the dew point inside, if it's a few degrees lower we already win a ton. The 21°C is really just comfort, buildings will be fine at 15°C just as well.
We recently got a dehumidifier for a room that we aren't using most of the time. Better put some greenwashed kWh into taking moisture out of there than burning gas with the conventional heating system to keep the room hot (and it would still be too wet).
Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)
#50Talking about warm clothing.. recently I've seen battery powered heated jackets. And then carbon fiber sticker that can act as resistive heating elements.. but I'm not sure of the safety side (betting on the 'not safe at all' right now). Anybody ever made their own usb gloves ?