Posted by John B. Slocomb on April 25, 2010, 1:16 am
On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:15:35 -0700 (PDT), Jim Wilkins
>> On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 05:26:09 -0700 (PDT), Jim Wilkins
>> ...
>> >Gotta go cut more wood now...
>> >jsw
>>
>> Out of curiosity where do you live. My grandfather heated his house,
>> in up-state New Hampshire, with wood for most of his life. Granted
>> that he cut all his wood by hand, but it took him basically the entire
>> month of October to do it and the "wood shed" was a building about 30"
>> long and probably 15 or 50' wide and he sawed the cordwood up in stove
>> lengths before he stowed it in the woodshed. this was a two story New
>> England house built, probably sometime in the 1800's.
>>
>> My other grandfather, 60 miles south of the first one, simply closed
>> off all the rooms and they lived in the kitchen for the winter. That
>> grandmother cooked on a wood stove so they didn't need any extra wood
>> :-)
>>
>> John B. Slocomb
>> (johnbslocombatgmaildotcom)
>I'm in southern NH. The house had electric heat when I bought it,
>meaning it was relatively well insulated, and I've tracked down the
>losses and improved it enough that around two cords a year is enough,
>with warm clothing and some rooms closed off. At that level of use
>I've never needed to buy wood, just collect the dead and fallen trees
>from friends' properties, land clearing, storm damage, etc.
In other words, you do what the old folks did. Close off the other
rooms and live in the kitchen :-)
But having said that, when I was a young fellow I doubt that many
folks, even in town, heated the up-stairs bedrooms. Most of the older
places I have seen had simple "registers" in the floor to let a bit of
hot air from downstairs in to take the chill off.
It was all right going up to bed, but the first step out of bed in the
morning, with frost on the inside of the windows, was hard to make :-)
>My wood sheds are framed with tree trunks and recycled lumber and
>roofed with corrugated steel. The floor is old pallets blocked up on
>scrap pressure-treated. The roofing and lag screws are the only
>expenses and they can be reused.
>jsw
Yup. Burn down the building and pick over the ashes to retrieve the
nails :-)
John B. Slocomb
(johnbslocombatgmaildotcom)
Posted by Jim Wilkins on April 25, 2010, 1:23 pm
> On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:15:35 -0700 (PDT), Jim Wilkins
> ...
> In other words, you do what the old folks did. Close off the other
> rooms and live in the kitchen :-)
> But having said that, when I was a young fellow I doubt that many
> folks, even in town, heated the up-stairs bedrooms. Most of the older
> places I have seen had simple "registers" in the floor to let a bit of
> hot air from downstairs in to take the chill off.
> It was all right going up to bed, but the first step out of bed in the
> morning, with frost on the inside of the windows, was hard to make :-)
> ...
> John B. Slocomb
We lived like that when I was little. In my family the females
tolerate the cold as well as the men, so the heat stayed down.
Actually it's easier now, with better fire-proof wall insulation than
they had, so the temperatures around the house vary much less, and a
great selection of warm and comfortable clothing instead of scratchy
wool. I have a down comforter on the bed, sweat suits and pile-lined
slippers to wear after getting up, and if I it gets really cold soft,
flexible insulated bib overalls meant for hunting and on sale cheap
after the season. However they don't withstand abuse from handling
firewood or working on vehicles as well as stiffer work coveralls.
I do appreciate having an electric water heater instead of having to
get up at 3AM to stoke the furnace so there would be hot water for
showers. I had coal-fired hot water as recently as 1972.
jsw
Posted by John B. Slocomb on April 26, 2010, 6:14 am
On Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:23:52 -0700 (PDT), Jim Wilkins
>> On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:15:35 -0700 (PDT), Jim Wilkins
>> ...
>> In other words, you do what the old folks did. Close off the other
>> rooms and live in the kitchen :-)
>>
>> But having said that, when I was a young fellow I doubt that many
>> folks, even in town, heated the up-stairs bedrooms. Most of the older
>> places I have seen had simple "registers" in the floor to let a bit of
>> hot air from downstairs in to take the chill off.
>>
>> It was all right going up to bed, but the first step out of bed in the
>> morning, with frost on the inside of the windows, was hard to make :-)
>> ...
>> John B. Slocomb
>We lived like that when I was little. In my family the females
>tolerate the cold as well as the men, so the heat stayed down.
>Actually it's easier now, with better fire-proof wall insulation than
>they had, so the temperatures around the house vary much less, and a
>great selection of warm and comfortable clothing instead of scratchy
>wool. I have a down comforter on the bed, sweat suits and pile-lined
>slippers to wear after getting up, and if I it gets really cold soft,
>flexible insulated bib overalls meant for hunting and on sale cheap
>after the season. However they don't withstand abuse from handling
>firewood or working on vehicles as well as stiffer work coveralls.
>I do appreciate having an electric water heater instead of having to
>get up at 3AM to stoke the furnace so there would be hot water for
>showers. I had coal-fired hot water as recently as 1972.
>jsw
What's this? Showers every morning? I seem to remember Saturday baths
in a wash Tub in front of the kitchen stove :-) In warm weather, of
course, baths weren't required as one went swimming every day.
John B. Slocomb
(johnbslocombatgmaildotcom)
Posted by Jim Wilkins on April 26, 2010, 3:09 pm
> ...
> What's this? Showers every morning? I seem to remember Saturday baths
> in a wash Tub in front of the kitchen stove :-) In warm weather, of
> course, baths weren't required as one went swimming every day.
> John B. Slocomb
Good thing we are communicating long distance over the Internet.
jsw
covered with sawdust and bar oil
Posted by John B. Slocomb on April 27, 2010, 12:51 am
On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:09:49 -0700 (PDT), Jim Wilkins
>> ...
>> What's this? Showers every morning? I seem to remember Saturday baths
>> in a wash Tub in front of the kitchen stove :-) In warm weather, of
>> course, baths weren't required as one went swimming every day.
>>
>> John B. Slocomb
>Good thing we are communicating long distance over the Internet.
>jsw
>covered with sawdust and bar oil
As in "d boon kiled a bar on this tree" :-)
But, another viewpoint would be if you were using a crosscut saw and
an axe, not only would you have worked up a "healthy sweat" and
"opened up" your pores, but if you did it every day you'd never have
a weight problem :-)
John B. Slocomb
(johnbslocombatgmaildotcom)
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>> ...
>> >Gotta go cut more wood now...
>> >jsw
>>
>> Out of curiosity where do you live. My grandfather heated his house,
>> in up-state New Hampshire, with wood for most of his life. Granted
>> that he cut all his wood by hand, but it took him basically the entire
>> month of October to do it and the "wood shed" was a building about 30"
>> long and probably 15 or 50' wide and he sawed the cordwood up in stove
>> lengths before he stowed it in the woodshed. this was a two story New
>> England house built, probably sometime in the 1800's.
>>
>> My other grandfather, 60 miles south of the first one, simply closed
>> off all the rooms and they lived in the kitchen for the winter. That
>> grandmother cooked on a wood stove so they didn't need any extra wood
>> :-)
>>
>> John B. Slocomb
>> (johnbslocombatgmaildotcom)
>I'm in southern NH. The house had electric heat when I bought it,
>meaning it was relatively well insulated, and I've tracked down the
>losses and improved it enough that around two cords a year is enough,
>with warm clothing and some rooms closed off. At that level of use
>I've never needed to buy wood, just collect the dead and fallen trees
>from friends' properties, land clearing, storm damage, etc.