Hello. I live in the bottom unit of a flat (two unit building) in San
Francisco, about a mile from the ocean. The top flat is kept unoccupied
most of the time so the owner, who lives in another nearby city, can make
use of it when he or one of his grown kids needs / wants to stay in SF. The
weather in the coldest parts of winter is typically in the upper 40's /
lower 50's during the day and in the upper 30's / lower 40's at night. This
winter has not been typical as it's been warmer this winter than I can ever
remember it being (except for the last couple days).

To save money, I don't turn on the heat in the flat, and will instead put on
additional clothing to stay warm which is fine with me. Thus the house for
the most part is never heated.

Somebody mentioned to me that perhaps this is not good for the house to
never be heated during the winter. There's no mold anywhere in the house
except for a little scattering of it on the two most bottom 1" aluminum
slats of the blinds at the three west-facing windows in the front of the
house (which I intend to clean off real soon) and a bit on the window sills
that those aluminum slats rest on. There's no mold on the walls or anywhere
else.

Am I damaging the house to not turn on the heat in the winter weather
conditions of San Francisco that I described? Is there any code or
standards or discussion that I could read online that covers the necessity
(or non-necessity) of heating a house in various climates to prevent damage
from mold? I do not want to do any damage to the house and will heat the
house if I am damaging it.

Thanks for any help.

Chris.

Chris wrote:

Hello. I live in the bottom unit of a flat (two unit building) in San
Francisco, about a mile from the ocean. The top flat is kept unoccupied
most of the time so the owner, who lives in another nearby city, can make
use of it when he or one of his grown kids needs / wants to stay in SF. The
weather in the coldest parts of winter is typically in the upper 40's /
lower 50's during the day and in the upper 30's / lower 40's at night. This
winter has not been typical as it's been warmer this winter than I can ever
remember it being (except for the last couple days).

To save money, I don't turn on the heat in the flat, and will instead put on
additional clothing to stay warm which is fine with me. Thus the house for
the most part is never heated.

Somebody mentioned to me that perhaps this is not good for the house to
never be heated during the winter. There's no mold anywhere in the house
except for a little scattering of it on the two most bottom 1" aluminum
slats of the blinds at the three west-facing windows in the front of the
house (which I intend to clean off real soon) and a bit on the window sills
that those aluminum slats rest on. There's no mold on the walls or anywhere
else.

Am I damaging the house to not turn on the heat in the winter weather
conditions of San Francisco that I described? Is there any code or
standards or discussion that I could read online that covers the necessity
(or non-necessity) of heating a house in various climates to prevent damage
from mold? I do not want to do any damage to the house and will heat the
house if I am damaging it.

Thanks for any help.

Chris.


Hmmm,
In your case freeze damage is not an issue. Maybe humidity concern? Then

heat is needed to control it. Don't be the case of penny wise pound foolish.

Chris wrote:
Hello. I live in the bottom unit of a flat (two unit building) in San
Francisco, about a mile from the ocean. The top flat is kept
unoccupied most of the time so the owner, who lives in another nearby
city, can make use of it when he or one of his grown kids needs /
wants to stay in SF. The weather in the coldest parts of winter is
typically in the upper 40's / lower 50's during the day and in the
upper 30's / lower 40's at night. This winter has not been typical
as it's been warmer this winter than I can ever remember it being
(except for the last couple days).

To save money, I don't turn on the heat in the flat, and will instead
put on additional clothing to stay warm which is fine with me. Thus
the house for the most part is never heated.

Somebody mentioned to me that perhaps this is not good for the house
to never be heated during the winter. There's no mold anywhere in
the house except for a little scattering of it on the two most bottom
1" aluminum slats of the blinds at the three west-facing windows in
the front of the house (which I intend to clean off real soon) and a
bit on the window sills that those aluminum slats rest on. There's no
mold on the walls or anywhere else.

Am I damaging the house to not turn on the heat in the winter weather
conditions of San Francisco that I described? Is there any code or
standards or discussion that I could read online that covers the
necessity (or non-necessity) of heating a house in various climates
to prevent damage from mold? I do not want to do any damage to the
house and will heat the house if I am damaging it.

Thanks for any help.

Chris.

From my experience in your area, it should not be a problem as long as
you don't get cold or you don't feel like it is damp. SF from my experience
is not very damp. If you air it out from time to time on dry warmer days, I
doubt if there will ever be a problem. Heating and then cooling and
repeating that cycle is likely to cause more damage.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Chris" wrote in message

Somebody mentioned to me that perhaps this is not good for the house to
never be heated during the winter. There's no mold anywhere in the house
except for a little scattering of it on the two most bottom 1" aluminum
slats of the blinds at the three west-facing windows in the front of the
house (which I intend to clean off real soon) and a bit on the window
sills
that those aluminum slats rest on. There's no mold on the walls or
anywhere
else.

I'd be more concerned about the mod than anything else. There are millions
of barns and sheds and warehouses around the country, around the world, that
have no heat. Constant up and down would be more damaging than no heat.

Chris wrote:
Hello. I live in the bottom unit of a flat (two unit building) in San
Francisco, about a mile from the ocean. The top flat is kept unoccupied
most of the time so the owner, who lives in another nearby city, can make
use of it when he or one of his grown kids needs / wants to stay in SF. The
weather in the coldest parts of winter is typically in the upper 40's /
lower 50's during the day and in the upper 30's / lower 40's at night. This
winter has not been typical as it's been warmer this winter than I can ever
remember it being (except for the last couple days).

To save money, I don't turn on the heat in the flat, and will instead put on
additional clothing to stay warm which is fine with me. Thus the house for
the most part is never heated.

Somebody mentioned to me that perhaps this is not good for the house to
never be heated during the winter. There's no mold anywhere in the house
except for a little scattering of it on the two most bottom 1" aluminum
slats of the blinds at the three west-facing windows in the front of the
house (which I intend to clean off real soon) and a bit on the window sills
that those aluminum slats rest on. There's no mold on the walls or anywhere
else.

Am I damaging the house to not turn on the heat in the winter weather
conditions of San Francisco that I described? Is there any code or
standards or discussion that I could read online that covers the necessity
(or non-necessity) of heating a house in various climates to prevent damage
from mold? I do not want to do any damage to the house and will heat the
house if I am damaging it.

Thanks for any help.

Chris.



If you can live in the house without heat, then
the lack of heat won't hurt anything in the house.
Might be a little hard on some plants, but then
the lack of heat will also slow the growth of any
mold. If the thought of mold bothers you, just
keep everything clean.

It should be fine provided plaster etc isnt cracking.

the one issuer might be mold in unseen areas. if it were me I would
heat the home for a few days perodically thru the year, just to
minimize mold growth./

a few years ago mold wasnt considered a health hazard, today its the
end of the world.

you wouldnt want to hrt future resale value y running a mold farem

Thanks for all the replies everybody (my original post is at the bottom of
this post). I guess the main thing I'm concerned about is possible mold in
unseen areas behind the walls. Also it's not cold year round. It
eventually does heat up to typically 60 - 70 degree (F) during the day and
sometimes in the 80s and 90s during the hottest parts of the year. Here's a
few questions that I'd appreciate any info on:

* Would the heating that occurs when the weather warms up during non-Winter
times of the year take care of any mold that appears due to any condensation
behind the walls due to cold weather?

* Aren't there areas in a heated home behind the walls that would still be
as cold as a nonheated home such as near the exterior walls?

* Is sheetrock inside walls vulnerable to cold wet weather?

* What organization would have rules or other info on this that I could find
online or in a library?

Thanks again for the answers given to my previous post and thanks in advance
to those who provide info related to any of my questions above.

Chris




"Chris" wrote

Hello. I live in the bottom unit of a flat (two unit building) in San
Francisco, about a mile from the ocean. The top flat is kept unoccupied
most of the time so the owner, who lives in another nearby city, can make
use of it when he or one of his grown kids needs / wants to stay in SF.
The
weather in the coldest parts of winter is typically in the upper 40's /
lower 50's during the day and in the upper 30's / lower 40's at night.
This
winter has not been typical as it's been warmer this winter than I can
ever
remember it being (except for the last couple days).

To save money, I don't turn on the heat in the flat, and will instead put
on
additional clothing to stay warm which is fine with me. Thus the house
for
the most part is never heated.

Somebody mentioned to me that perhaps this is not good for the house to
never be heated during the winter. There's no mold anywhere in the house
except for a little scattering of it on the two most bottom 1" aluminum
slats of the blinds at the three west-facing windows in the front of the
house (which I intend to clean off real soon) and a bit on the window
sills
that those aluminum slats rest on. There's no mold on the walls or
anywhere
else.

Am I damaging the house to not turn on the heat in the winter weather
conditions of San Francisco that I described? Is there any code or
standards or discussion that I could read online that covers the necessity
(or non-necessity) of heating a house in various climates to prevent
damage
from mold? I do not want to do any damage to the house and will heat the
house if I am damaging it.

Thanks for any help.

Chris.

On 18 Feb 2006 20:25:09 -0800, "marson" wrote:

I worked at a remote mountain resort where several guest buildings were
left unheated during the winter. There were no mold problems that I
knew of, but there were sheetrock nail pops and cracks that I believe
were due to contraction of the drywall from the cold (especially in the
long hallways). The cold also ruined the seams of the vinyl in the
bathrooms--they couldn't handle the shrinkage. Mind you there were no
people in these buildings, thus no added moisture.

And in the mountanins it would have been colder than the numbers he
gave, right?

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

track the temperature and humidity indoors and outdoors to have some
relative humidity numbers to compare to the construction information at
the relative humidity link that says 70 percent surface humidity causes
damage. the black mold is a red flag for action.
for your best answers read what the experts say at:
http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/homeowner.htm

also, what does the owner's lease require?
what minimum temperature does he keep his upper flat at?