On 12/15/2010 7:04 PM, Colbyt wrote:
"Jeff wrote in message
...
After making an emergency run to fix a friend's broken pipes, I'm
thinking what can be done so this won't cost me much more time and money.

What broke were bathroom sink lines, just below the cutoff valves. It's
an old house, with little insulation. Full unfinished basements, mostly
concrete floors. Copper plumbing.

Pipe insulation. I'm not sure this has any impact. Does it?

Water dripping. Seems like a good idea, but these were dripping until
they turned to icicles.

So that leads me to thinking stopping basement drafts. The door to this
part of the basement was very badly sealed. How much tempering can we get
just by sealing basement air leaks? Is it worth the effort? The house is
huge. Should I even not worry about leaving some basement ventilation in
cold weather?

Jeff


Just correct me if I assume something wrong.

Old house, furnace with non-insulated ducts in the basement; never had a
pipe freeze in one of those 7 hours north of you.

Old house, furnace currently not working. Series of electric space
heaters. Not a real old furnace. Just one that no one can figure out.


Must be the draftiest basement in the south.

Pipes freezing in the bathroom? Do they have the heat turned on?

Yes. So to speak. But it was in the low teens.

To be honest if you were not a regular, I would think this was a TROLL post.

I'm just trying to make the best of a really bad situation. They have no
money. So I'm going to throw some of my money and time at it. Lucky me.

I think I'll tackle basement(s) drafts and add some pipe insulation.
I've tried for years to get them to blow some insulation in the walls...
In fact I've never talked anyone into that.

Right now, I just want to make the biggest difference with the least
amount of my time and money.

My rental house has no insulation under floor, but it is fairly air
tight in the crawl space. The lost heat from the furnace heats the crawl
space and heats the floor also. Very comfortable. Minimal insulation in
the walls and ceiling. But it is very tight and very easy to heat. I'm
thinking where and how, is more important than how much. At least here.
And since how much costs...

Jeff