help! our house is freezing.... where to start?

And I might add in reference to ventless LP gas stoves, it is a good idea to blow out the manifolds at least once a month. Use a running shop vac with the tube at your work to catch as much of the dust, etc. as possible, when blowing out the manifolds with an air tank. If one of these heaters ever starts sooting, shut it down immediately and blow it out! Otherwise, you will give your place a patina that admiring friends and family will swear it took years of coal-burning to achieve.

Also, don't burn candles in the same house as a ventless stove. You will be amazed at the results, if you do.

Briefly: In a Victorian house we rented the first floor of: We cailked the heck out of the outside, and inside around windows and doors. Several applications, done in fall months. We had 2 big beautiful 6'x6' arched single paine windoows. We bought bed quilts from walmart(yuk), those with double layers. I cut each quilt to the size of the window, and put gromets in each corner of the quilt. I then used those little right angle screw in ("shoulder hooks) hooks, and hung the quilt on these. Stretched tight, these effectively kept cold from falling off the windows. Additional hooks can be used. Gromets are easy to install, all you need is a hole punch, and a hammer.

We also found some soapstone, from an old sink. I bought a stonecutting disk for my circular saw, cut the stones to a rectangular shape, say 13" by 6". The stones were left in the oven or on/near woodstove. Wrap them in old towel and keep bed warm. Handle with oven mits though!
HBN

no, not frozen - it's actually been warmer here - reading and thinking and discussing with dh and learning.

Sometimes in threads the threads take a life of their own and I've got a feeling that this one does, too. Not needing a lot of response from me as everyone chimes in.

But - more info on our house. The original part of the house dates to 1890, the newer part to 1940. We had extensive foundation repairs done to the older stone/rock foundation in November and I wish I would have known about the sill issue then to ask....

We have a wood stove chimney cleaning scheduled - that was good advice we immediately took. Planning some major work on the house to start mid-january to repair interior structural stuff - will ask the contractor a ton of questions while he is here. Going to put insulation on the bottom of the first floor/basement ceiling while that work is happening.

The upstairs is probably 25 degrees cooler than the downstairs - averages 50 degrees most days. WHich doesnt make the entire downstairs 75 - just the circle of heat around the wood stove gets that toasty. Sitting next to an exterior wall brings the temp to 60 degrees at best.

The basement gets below freezing even with the furnace running. Pretty good clue that the foundation is the place to really focus - though probably not this winter. The pipes are kept functional with heated plumbing tape - and we're going to replace the exterior basement door (only exterior entrance) next week with something insulated to help keep it warmer. Did have a pipe burst last month before we got the plug in tape.

All in all this thread has been a really great help as we try to figure out different ideas and strategies of how to start. TY! Cathy

True. With a propane heater you want to avoid yellow flames, keeping them all blue. With kerosene you want yellow tips on the flames, since an all blue flame will evaporate a lot of unburned kerosene. I've found that burning the kerosene flame too small consumes at least as much fuel as having it turned all the way up, and unburned kerosene fumes really stink up the place.

I haven't tried burning candles.

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I am betting that the old part of the house is a "balloon frame" as well, meaning that the vertical 2x4's run the height of the house from sill to rafter. Look at the field stone foundation and you'll very likely see a slanted concrete run up to a sill plate and that 8-10" of the wall will be completely exposed... that is, no stone or insulation. Warmth tends to RUN out of there. The base of the wall must be insulated down to the stone with a vapor barrier installed on the stone. Then you can think about basement ceiling insulation if the foundation change isn't enough. (on our list for this coming year)

R

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