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Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

lowtechmagazine.com

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Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#301

Post by ganafagol »

triceratops wrote: post #213
Kluny wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe go a step further and wear long underwear and maybe even a hat; why not? Some reasons why not: you may live with other people who have different basal temperatures from yours, aren't comfortable at 16 degrees or whatever you settle on, and didn't consent to participating in your wacky experiment; other people may come over to visit your house without realizing in advance that they need to wear long underwear;…

> other people may come over to visit your house without realizing in advance that they need to wear long underwear; Not a problem in Covid times. But it's possible to turn the heat up when you have guests, no? Or run a space heater in the living room when they're around? > and low indoor temperatures promote mold growth. I'm mystified by this. I thought moisture promoted mold growth. The solution to that is good ven…

Low temp leads to higher relative humidity and slower drying of surfaces, that's why it's increasing the risk for mold.

There is a related problem when insulating your house more. If it's badly insulated, walls are cold and any dampness happens on the inside surface of the wall. You turn up your heater and ventilation and it evaporates.

Now you add more insulation. Your walls on the inside are warmer. But the absolute humidity in the air is still the same, so it goes into the wall too. There is a temperature gradient inside the wall. When it's cold outside, there is a point in the wall where the relative humidity hits saturation, so the wall gets moist there. The better insulation, the deeper this is in the wall. No level of ventilation will save you here and if you don't do anything about it, you get mold inside the wall. Which you would not get without this extra insulation.

The solution is vapour barriers. They need to be close to the inside of your walls to work. This is a tricky subject and part of the reason why adding insulation after the fact is hard.

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#302

Post by cedex12 »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #296
cedex12 wrote: post #190

Related question: What's the best way to ventilate an old european house during winter? I've taken up the habit of letting my bedroom windows (slightly) open at nighttime to have fresh air while sleeping. I'm unsure this is really wise ecologically since outside air == cold air, but at the same time, there is no other way to get fresh air… Any tip, or, better, professional opinion?

Low tech method: air out heavily for 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times per day, ie. when you get up, when you eat lunch and just before going to bed. Open all windows and all internal doors, really get the air moving. Because you're airing out so intensely for a short period of time, the furniture and walls don't cool down, so the air warms up quickly afterwards.

Good idea, thanks!

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#303

Post by johnchristopher »

amingilani wrote: post #222
1996 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That said, I recently moved to North America and have lived in Pakistan most of my life. Welcome here! I hope you'll like it! Is it your first winter? It's a special experience! My favorite thing in the winter is a hot Tim Hortons drink - I rotate them, because they are all quite good! > And yet, winter feels infinitely colder in Pakistan than it does in Canada. Until you go outside and try to walk in the street :)

Hello, and thank you! It is :) I've been trying out Tim Hortons as well, it's quite nice. > Until you go outside and try to walk in the street :) I feel like I lucked out and bought the right winter coat early on. Or maybe just stepping from one heated building to another doesn't feel that bad. Maybe it's a combination of the two. Either way, I haven't felt cold on the street yet. And It's already colder than my cold…

Is Pakistan winter humid and windy ? That does play a role on perceived cold. Variations in temperature as well I believe.

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#304

Post by totetsu »

war1025 wrote: post #218
totetsu wrote: post #14

sleeping in my delicate merino thermals is how the all got holes and ladders in them.

Buy quality wool blankets and you won't need to worry about delicate underlayers. A thick wool blanket below you and one above you, along with standard cotton sheets will keep you quite cozy.

actually I picked up a scratchy old British army surplus wool blanket and it is indeed quite cozy.

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#305

Post by Aachen »

throwaway2245 wrote: post #192
wolverine876 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> None of this keeps my hands warm. > Or makes me feel comfortable. I wrote, 'Keep the thermostat at the lowest comfortable temperature', not an uncomfortable one. Don't lump me in with strawpeople who tell you to be uncomfortable. > for an extra ~$50 a month during the winter I get to keep my house at a nice toasty 74-76 degrees F I agree that you can do what you want with your $50. But there are other costs too: Ou…

> But there are other costs too: Our choices creates climate change for others. Optimising your personal heating choices has a maximum benefit of $50 per month of fuel saved in the fight against climate change, then. That rounds to zero compared to industrial-level decisions, and requires perhaps similar mental thinking time. I don't see climate change being fought this way, not even if engaged people make themselves…

I don't see it being fought any other way, either. You think we can tell the big polluters to take it down to zero and just continue by ourselves? Not only is that incongruous, we wouldn't be reaching 1.5°C either. Unless perhaps you pay for scrubbing of your CO2, which would be fine by me (I currently pay for Climeworks, not because I can reach net zero that way (yet) but because it helps them fund the way there, they just need enough customers; something tells me we'll need scrubbing tech and capacity in addition to cutting emissions, seeing as the person above... let me just stop there).

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#306

Post by Aachen »

bobbiechen wrote: post #63

> It may sound strange to promote the use of synthetic clothing on a blog like Low-tech Magazine. However, both natural and synthetic materials have their advantages and drawbacks, and both can be a sustainable choice - even though synthetic clothes are made from fossil fuels. This is especially true when the clothing is used as a substitute for a heating system; the energy saved by lowering the thermostat is much la…

What's the problem with "fossil fuel clothing" though? They don't burn the fuel to make the clothing, rather the opposite: this can now no longer be burned and turned into CO2 because it's on your body.

Is it somehow pollutive to make oil products even if you don't burn them? And I mean more so than the alternative of course, because I get that so much as pumping up the oil costs energy.

If it's just about the irony of wearing the biggest problem we're facing as a garment and not a real question then I see the point.

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#307

Post by Aachen »

caeril wrote: post #185
gbronner wrote: post #35

Living in cold home isn't particularly hard. Doing precision work with your hands (such as writing or typing) is decidedly harder in colder homes. You can wear certain kinds of gloves, but it just isn't as pleasant.

The muscles that actuate your fingers are largely located in your forearms. Keep your core out to your wrists properly bundled, and you'll be fine without gloves.

Playing games, I can't say that I've found this to be true. I notice I lose from people that I otherwise wouldn't lose from when I:

- am tired,

- have very cold hands,

- or just used gross motor skills (cycling for example).

The effect of each of these is similar to not playing for a few months. You don't unlearn it so you're not like a newb, but your playing is hampered in some way. If my hands were unaffected by cold then this shouldn't have an effect.

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#308

Post by Aachen »

scythe wrote: post #24

Ah, yes, because winter isn't miserable enough. >The relationship between thermal comfort and clothing weight explains why we tend to prefer a higher air temperature to adding more clothing. [...] This clothing layer (which is actually worn in combination with briefs) has the largest potential to substitute a heating system. [...] Because it fits tightly around the body, long underwear has an optimal "pumping coeffic…

> because winter isn't miserable enough.

I'm sorry you feel that way. Some friends of mine get winter depression and it's a real shit thing. I can't understand, I love winter much more than summer (you can dress for it and turn on lights; try turning off the sun or take off your underwear when you're still too warm and need to go to work in summer...), but I know it is a thing :/

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#309

Post by Aachen »

snow_mac wrote: post #191

Smart and very true. But honestly, I'm lazy. I don't leave my house much. I like to keep it no lower then 72 or 73 in the day and 75 at night. I have my heating setup such that after 9 am it drops the house to 72 (naturally) then at 4 pm kicks it up to 73. 6 pm 74, and 8 at 75. Hold all night until 6 am when I have it kick down to 74. I don't care about the cost. Sure I could spend less and yes, I use more then all o…

It's not about the cost for you. It's about the millions of premature deaths and impact on global warming due to pollution from gas heaters. I'm happy for you that you earn enough not to care about the money, same here, but please consider that there are also consequences for strangers as well as loved ones.

Re: Insulation: First the body, then the home (2011)

#310

Post by Aachen »

sgt wrote: post #160

I live in South Africa which can get pretty chilly in the winters, but people generally don't understand insulation, so they just tend to put more clothes on, or just wear a kortbroek in the summer. Even if they did, a lot of people can't afford it. It's catching on slowly though, for example things like double glazed windows. Also, building regulations have improved and insulation is now a mandatory for normal resid…

FYI kortbroek is shorts in English :) Afrikaans is 'n grappige taal als Nederlander! :D Fun fact: you have an easier time understanding Dutch than vice versa, I always felt weird that you guys seemed to be fine with Dutch but I couldn't understand sentences in Afrikaans but it seems that it's not just me. Let me know if you care about the reasoning, I didn't fully get it but can probably find the original video where I learned this.

Also sorry for the off topic but I figured two days after the thread mostly died (everything's so ephemeral here) it doesn't really matter.

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