Maybe she's coming around...

[bag of hammers]

My wife is great with stuff like getting a new wood stove. All I had to do last year was mention that I was thinking of replacing our old smoke dragon slammer install insert with a new one and she was all for it. A few years ago when I said I was thinking of getting a motorcycle she said, "Go for it, you only live once!" Then when I got tired of the motorcycle and said, "I'm thinking of trading my car in for a 350 Z sports car she said, "If you think you'd enjoy a car like that you should do it." I've been retired since I was 36 and my wife, who is a few years younger than me, still works 30 hours a week. However, she works because she enjoys her job and isn't a home body like I am. She was all for the new 7 ton electric wood splitter I bought a few weeks ago.

Pretty much same for me, except the part about the car, bike, splitter, working wife, etc. - and I'll be retiring somewhere @ 80 most likely .

I think we better delete this thread before our wives find this site. I'll be sleeping in the woodshed!

2nd that - especially since I don't even have a woodshed.

 

[rowerwet]

My house is framed with vinyl siding. I have always wondered if I should put the floor fans far away in the bedrooms or in the entry ways of the living room blowing back towards the stove

in the bedroom doorways would be the best for each room, you can vary the temp by fan speed once it gets good and cold ( I like a cold room to sleep)
my house is a big old colonial with the bedrooms upstairs, we get roasted if we leave the bedroom doors open all the way. I think that is the reason two story homes are more common in new England.

 

[Bster13]

Perhaps. We went with one floor living for when we get older. Hopefully we can still get the heat around the joint!

 

[rowerwet]

Perhaps. We went with one floor living for when we get older. Hopefully we can still get the heat around the joint!

the other old time trick was transom windows over the doors that tilted open, great for privacy and cooling in the summer, and heat flow in the winter. a large grating or heat register would do the same trick.

 

[jharkin]

my house is a big old colonial with the bedrooms upstairs, we get roasted if we leave the bedroom doors open all the way. I think that is the reason two story homes are more common in new England.

Yup, multistory construction is more efficient from a heating (and cooling) perspective because it minimizes the ratio of exterior surface area relative to livable floor area. It also minimised the amount of lumber needed. Likewise center chimneys maximized the amount of heat kept in the building ( which is why you see them in New England old houses, but see end wall chimneys in southern houses, for example Williamsburg). It was probably also easier to build up than dig larger foundation when it was all hand labor.

Single story construction really boomed after WWII when energy was cheap. New England already was already well built out by then so the old styles held on better.