Anyone still burning??

Nothing but rain in our forecast for the near future:

86 today Yikes 84 yesterday. Cooler next week 60s-70 . this is tornado (for some)and thunderstorm weather.

Frost warnings for the next four nights with a few nights going down into the high 20's. I'm bringing more wood in to burn.

Joful said:

Just found this depressing photo sis' took of my house about three months ago. Glad that's over.

View attachment 132931

Looking a lot greener today.

View attachment 132933

Click to expand...

When you said that your house was old and drafty I pictured something else than what I see for your place! Nice home and front yard! Drafts can be sealed. Is the garage to the right?

WiscWoody said:

Drafts can be sealed. Is the garage to the right?

Click to expand...

Yep... been working on sealing a lot of those drafts, although with 26 windows and 3 doors ca.1773, there's a limit to how good it can get.

Not the first time the garage question has come up... so I saved this. There is a two-car attached garage, shown as the red outline shown on the 1990's addition, roughly 680 sq.ft. according to the tax man although I measure it at only 625 sq.ft. interior.

Just fired up a few minutes ago. As I walked across the wood deck, the moisture on top of it had frozen and was nothing but ice.
Was up in the Houghton Michigan area this past weekend and was surprised to see snow cover was still in some parts of the woods...to the tune of near two feet! And of course you cold still see ice on the big Lake Superior. The shore line was clear of ice, but you could see ice a few miles out.
So-not done burning yet.

Thought I needed a fire last night to take the chill off. 40 outside, 53 inside. Worked great for a couple hours.

Woke up just after midnight threw windows open and turned the ceiling fan up a speed, way too warm.

Guess I'll just grab a blanket next time.

Warm_in_NH said:

Thought I needed a fire last night to take the chill off. 40 outside, 53 inside.

Click to expand...

Did you mean to say 63 inside? If it was 53 in and 40 out I could build a pretty big fire and not overheat the house unless maybe the outside temp shot up fast with the sunrise. I got up this morning and it was 59 in and 35 out and 500 on the stove top, lol

Joful said:

Yep... been working on sealing a lot of those drafts, although with 26 windows and 3 doors ca.1773, there's a limit to how good it can get.

View attachment 133027

Click to expand...

So for historical sake you wouldn't put better performing windows in the 18th and 19th century sections? They must make something that has the period look to them?

WiscWoody said:

Did you mean to say 63 inside? If it was 53 in and 40 out I could build a pretty big fire and not overheat the house unless maybe the outside temp shot up fast with the sunrise. I got up this morning and it was 59 in and 35 out and 500 on the stove top, lol

Click to expand...

Nope. 53 in. Warmed to 70 in the stove room in a couple hours. Then just kept going even with a small fire. Not like the winter when the house is cold to the core, heats up really quick this time of year.
It did also warm up to 53 outside over night so that definitely played a part in the rapid warm up.
And there was a bear in the yard driving my dog crazy so that got my blood pumping too at one in the morning. Lol.
70 in the stove room this morning. Stove is cold.

WiscWoody said:

So for historical sake you wouldn't put better performing windows in the 18th and 19th century sections? They must make something that has the period look to them?

Click to expand...

This is a historic house, and anyone willing to tear out original windows of this age and replace with new crap should not be allowed to own such a house, IMO. We have very good new windows and doors in the new addition, and even those in the 1890's addition were replaced with top end windows ca.1986. Only the 26 windows in the 1773 wing are original, and we're painstakingly restoring each at enormous expense. We have 84 windows and 9 doors in this house, not counting the detached shop / garage.

45 overnight low. Put a 4 cedar split fire on this morning to take the chill off. Looking at the extended forecast, this might be it.

Joful said:

This is a historic house. Only the 26 windows in the 1773 wing are original, and we're painstakingly restoring each at enormous expense. We have 84 windows and 9 doors in this house, not counting the detached shop / garage.

Click to expand...

Ok, I don't know old houses very well and in fact I flunked history in school but have been brushing up on the original colonies and the dates they were settled. I've also been reading about the Louisiana purchase too. Maybe we will see you on This Old House someday.

Joful said:

Only the 26 windows in the 1773 wing are original, and we're painstakingly restoring each at enormous expense. We have 84 windows and 9 doors in this house, not counting the detached shop / garage.

Click to expand...

House must be a nightmare to heat. Im thinking of buying one of the old mansions in my town. Seems they change hands often. I told the wife i would not try to heat the entire structure to 70 in winter,just the main lived in parts.

He has 84 windows now so I'm guessing that he will have over 100 windows when the addition is done. That's enough to keep a handyman busy just maintains them alone!

Joful said:

This is a historic house, and anyone willing to tear out original windows of this age and replace with new crap should not be allowed to own such a house, IMO. We have very good new windows and doors in the new addition, and even those in the 1890's addition were replaced with top end windows ca.1986. Only the 26 windows in the 1773 wing are original, and we're painstakingly restoring each at enormous expense. We have 84 windows and 9 doors in this house, not counting the detached shop / garage.

Click to expand...

That is a true labour of love. I think you might have at one time posted some interior pics of your place? It's probably a thing of beauty.

Seasoned Oak said:

House must be a nightmare to heat.

Click to expand...

Hello, I'm Joful. Have we met?

Seasoned Oak said:

Im thinking of buying one of the old mansions in my town. Seems they change hands often. I told the wife i would not try to heat the entire structure to 70 in winter,just the main lived in parts.

Click to expand...

I really enjoy living in and working on old houses. Like families who are boat people, or camping people, we're old house people. We always have at least one major project going on, more often 2 or 3. It's a way to fill up a lot of time and spend a lot of money, which can be good or bad, depending on whether you enjoy that sort of thing. On heating just part of the structure, do keep in mind that wood and plaster have very different CTE's, and this is complicated by the addition of modern materials (impervious latex paint on old porous stone and plaster, drywall & joint compound repairs, ceramic tile, etc.). Letting the house temperature cycle might accelerate paint, grout, and plaster failures.

WiscWoody said:

He has 84 windows now so I'm guessing that he will have over 100 windows when the addition is done. That's enough to keep a handyman busy just maintains them alone!

Click to expand...

26 double-hung windows = 1773, wood sash in wood frames
1 fixed transom = 1773, wood sash in wood frame
8 double-hung windows = 1986, wood sash in wood and aluminum frames
12 double-hung windows = 1994, wood sash in vinyl clad wood frames
17 fixed transoms = 1994, wood sash in vinyl clad wood frame
==
64 windows. I actually mis-typed when I said 84. We also have 9 doors, and then a whole separate barn, all wood plank siding with plank wood doors, and an all wood wrap-around porch, with painted mahogany decking. I have officially given up on painting, with the purchase of this house. I just hire it out now, and I have a painter here a couple weeks of every year.

On window maintenance / rebuilding, many of the sills are completely rotten, thanks to some previous owner wrapping them in aluminum. I've been going thru the process of pulling the sash, stripping, repainting, and then re-building the timber frames. Sometimes involves pulling stonework around the frame. Not a small job, and I was doing it all myself, until we finally found a carpenter who specializes in 18th century houses last fall. He did the last window of last year's work season, and will be doing several more for me this year.

bag of hammers said:

That is a true labour of love. I think you might have at one time posted some interior pics of your place? It's probably a thing of beauty.

Click to expand...

I've been bad about taking photos of the interior, as we rework each room. Tons of "before" photos, not much "after." I think I've posted a few photos, probably all "before," though.

We had a fire yesterday morn. it was a bit cold, like 64degrees in the house.

valley ranch said:

We had a fire yesterday morn. it was a bit cold, like 64degrees in the house.

Click to expand...

What? Is this thread about wood stove burning? Lol, I'm glad nobody gets too upset when we go off track a little!

Warm_in_NH said:

53 inside

Click to expand...

Oh, hell no! Maybe that's "warm in NH" but it's been in the 80s here for a while, my blood is already thinned out. It's 70 in here but it's 55, damp and raining out...feels like mid-60s did in the winter. I just had to put on pants. I hate that. I'll be torching a load early this evening. Main challenge is going to be finding some wood that today's rain hasn't blown in on...top-covered stacks, no shed yet.

Joful said:

I really enjoy living in and working on old houses. Like families who are boat people, or camping people, we're old house people. We always have at least one major project going on, more often 2 or 3. I

Click to expand...

Im putting together a 3000SF apartment in my hometown right now for myself and my family out of an old 12000 apt bldg in rehabbing. Not sure yet how much of the BLdg i will use for personal use and how much i will rent out, Dont think i need 12000 SF. I do have a lot of stuff . Plus im looking into a log home kit for some land in the woods , and renovating another 3000SF house at the same time to sell. Yup always something going on

Weather network calling for mix of rain and snow to end off the week, a low of -2 C on Saturday. I'm looking forward to a nice fire in the stove, as well as some long overdue outside fire pit time this weekend.

"Someone" needs to set aside the yacht interiors and get busy with the zip on screens for the porch we added last summer (the one I was able to enclose with plastic curtains last fall). The one that will require I "fit" every screen panel so there is minimal "slack" and they look nice/square/"fitted"... . Memorial Day in the rearview mirror is my goal!

Well snowed here today, got home from work built a fire, that's all I have to say about that.