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#1
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Heating a vacation home in winter
Hi -- I purchased a small ski house in Canada last year so it's my
second winter. When I bought the house there were a fair number of cracks in the walls, which my neighbor said was a result of rapid heating - i.e. the previous owners would leave the house unheated when they weren't there then crank it when they were, resulting in the cracks. When I got the cracks fixed/the interior painted this summer, though, the contractor who did the job said that absolutely wasn't the issue, it was a bad taping job that caused the cracks and I didn't need to worry about heating the place when I wasn't there. It does get cold up, up to -20F at times last winter. So what's the truth? I don't want to ruin the new walls, but at the same time if there's no reason to heat it I'd rather not. It's electric heat and can be quite expensive. If I should keep it on, how high should it be? The neighbor says 60 degrees. Thanks for any guidance (I'm a female, first time homeowner with fairly limited domestic knowledge at this point!). |
#2
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Christine wrote:
Hi -- I purchased a small ski house in Canada last year so it's my second winter. When I bought the house there were a fair number of cracks in the walls, which my neighbor said was a result of rapid heating - i.e. the previous owners would leave the house unheated when they weren't there then crank it when they were, resulting in the cracks. When I got the cracks fixed/the interior painted this summer, though, the contractor who did the job said that absolutely wasn't the issue, it was a bad taping job that caused the cracks and I didn't need to worry about heating the place when I wasn't there. It does get cold up, up to -20F at times last winter. So what's the truth? I don't want to ruin the new walls, but at the same time if there's no reason to heat it I'd rather not. It's electric heat and can be quite expensive. If I should keep it on, how high should it be? The neighbor says 60 degrees. Thanks for any guidance (I'm a female, first time homeowner with fairly limited domestic knowledge at this point!). Hi, I have a cottage out in the woods here in Alberta. It is for 4 season use and built for that. Has NG furnace and fire place. When not in use year round, I set the thermostat at 10 deg. C. Of course in summer furnace never kicks in at that setting. In winter, it does a few times when weather gets real cold. The building is of 2X6 walls with R20 insulation. When I go out there in winter I turn on fire place and set the thermostat to 20 deg. C or so. Never had wall cracking problem. If you don't heat, what about plumbing? It may freeze. My winter temp. is upto -50 deg. F with wind chill. Tony |
#3
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Tony Hwang wrote in message news:%XAcd.765815$gE.282393@pd7tw3no...
Christine wrote: Hi -- I purchased a small ski house in Canada last year so it's my second winter. When I bought the house there were a fair number of cracks in the walls, which my neighbor said was a result of rapid heating - i.e. the previous owners would leave the house unheated when they weren't there then crank it when they were, resulting in the cracks. When I got the cracks fixed/the interior painted this summer, though, the contractor who did the job said that absolutely wasn't the issue, it was a bad taping job that caused the cracks and I didn't need to worry about heating the place when I wasn't there. It does get cold up, up to -20F at times last winter. So what's the truth? I don't want to ruin the new walls, but at the same time if there's no reason to heat it I'd rather not. It's electric heat and can be quite expensive. If I should keep it on, how high should it be? The neighbor says 60 degrees. Thanks for any guidance (I'm a female, first time homeowner with fairly limited domestic knowledge at this point!). Hi, I have a cottage out in the woods here in Alberta. It is for 4 season use and built for that. Has NG furnace and fire place. When not in use year round, I set the thermostat at 10 deg. C. Of course in summer furnace never kicks in at that setting. In winter, it does a few times when weather gets real cold. The building is of 2X6 walls with R20 insulation. When I go out there in winter I turn on fire place and set the thermostat to 20 deg. C or so. Never had wall cracking problem. If you don't heat, what about plumbing? It may freeze. My winter temp. is upto -50 deg. F with wind chill. Tony Plumbing may freeze? It surely will with outside temps of -20F. The house either has to have the heat left on or else the water system needs to be winterized. Since it's a ski house, it doesn't sound practical to go through winterizing it and renewing it for each visit. I'd set the thermostat for 50 degrees. Any lower than that, with -20 outside, you still might have freezing problems. It really depends on how well the heat system is balanced and how well insulation was done in exterior walls around water pipes. Also, leave cabinet doors under sinks by outside walls open to let more warm air in. |
#4
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#5
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In alt.home.repair on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 20:52:11 GMT Tony Hwang
posted: Christine wrote: Hi -- I purchased a small ski house in Canada last year so it's my second winter. When I bought the house there were a fair number of cracks in the walls, which my neighbor said was a result of rapid heating - i.e. the previous owners would leave the house unheated when they weren't there then crank it when they were, resulting in the cracks. When I got the cracks fixed/the interior painted this summer, though, the contractor who did the job said that absolutely wasn't the issue, it was a bad taping job that caused the cracks and I didn't need to worry about heating the place when I wasn't there. It does get cold up, up to -20F at times last winter. So what's the truth? I don't want to ruin the new walls, but at the same time if there's no reason to heat it I'd rather not. It's electric heat and can be quite expensive. If I should keep it on, how high should it be? The neighbor says 60 degrees. Thanks for any guidance (I'm a female, first time homeowner with fairly limited domestic knowledge at this point!). Hi, I have a cottage out in the woods here in Alberta. It is for 4 season use and built for that. Has NG furnace and fire place. When not in use year round, I set the thermostat at 10 deg. C. Of course in summer furnace never kicks in at that setting. In winter, it does a few times when weather gets real cold. The building is of 2X6 walls with R20 insulation. When I go out there in winter I turn on fire place and set the thermostat to 20 deg. C or so. Never had wall cracking problem. If you don't heat, what about plumbing? It may freeze. My winter temp. is upto -50 deg. F with wind chill. Wind chill doesn't count with regard to houses and pipes, unless it is or was recently raining. Pipes don't perspire, so indoor pipes don't get wind chill. Tony Meirman If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter. Change domain to erols.com, if necessary. |
#6
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#7
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Turn off heat , pour RV antifreeze in all traps , washing machine ,sump
pump etc. Drain pipes and water heater. Shut off water at street. Heating systems break down when you need them , dont rely on them or you may freeze. |
#8
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meirman wrote in message . ..
In alt.home.repair on 17 Oct 2004 13:38:43 -0700 (Christine) posted: snip I don't know, but there is a new bio out about Millicent Fenwick, a US Congressman from New Jersey iirc. After she left the House, she was the ambassador to some country in Europe for a few years. snip When she got back iirc 3 years later, the house looked good on the outside iirc, but when they went inside, the ceiling in a room or more had collapsed, and the repairs were about 10000 dollars. It might help to hear what the actual cause of the interior damage was, but I'll wager a bunch that it wasn't the absence of heat. Ice-dams maybe. Or roof leaks that went unnoticed for years. Or any combination of many possible sources. (She really should have had someone visit the house regularly.) Interestingly, no discussion yet of keeping internal relative humidity stable, or at least within reasonable range. The pulling apart of the wallboard joints mentioned by OP probably resulted from use of relatively wet lumber, shrinking on drying- across grain. And maybe from sub-optimum taping. Nothing much anyone could have done after the fact with that, except what OP had done. John |
#9
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It might help to hear what the actual cause of the interior damage was, but I'll wager a bunch that it wasn't the absence of heat. Ice-dams maybe. Or roof leaks that went unnoticed for years. Or any combination of many possible sources. (She really should have had someone visit the house regularly.) Interestingly, no discussion yet of keeping internal relative humidity stable, or at least within reasonable range. The pulling apart of the wallboard joints mentioned by OP probably resulted from use of relatively wet lumber, shrinking on drying- across grain. And maybe from sub-optimum taping. Nothing much anyone could have done after the fact with that, except what OP had done. John Thanks to all for your guidance ... I'm still not clear on what would cause the cracks but it sounds like I should keep it at 40-50 degrees inside just to be safe? Re the plumbing, I know this sounds kind of bizarre but the guy who built the house installed some kind of mechanism that heats the pipes when the temperature goes below a certain temperature so you never have to worry about freezing pipes (the neighbor told me this; his house is built by the same guy). I know it sounds weird -- because I don't understand why every house in a cold climate wouldn't have it -- but it's the truth because last winter was brutal and I would leave the house unattended for up to 6 weeks at a time and I never had a pipe problem. |
#10
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Meirman is an idiot, certified........
Drain your house and freeze protect it with a local . Use antifreeze in traps and washers- - clothes.washers anything that holds water, even pumps |
#11
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Everything breaks down, even "HEAT TAPE " So do utiltiy wires and
companies. So Now go figure miss uninformed. Keep powered, or do a saftey shut down. You really cant be that dumb, can you ? |
#12
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#13
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#14
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"Christine" wrote i've answered you privately, something you denied me the courtesy of (what a surprise!). no i'm not dumb, i'm doing what most other people who use chatboards do by asking for help. christ - go kick some small animals why don't you. spare the rest of us your misanthropic bent. Look at the big brain on Christine!!! I LIKE you! You're Spunky!!!!!! Anytime you have a question, just ask me! I'll give it to you straight! |
#15
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Red Neckerson wrote:
"Christine" wrote i've answered you privately, something you denied me the courtesy of (what a surprise!). no i'm not dumb, i'm doing what most other people who use chatboards do by asking for help. christ - go kick some small animals why don't you. spare the rest of us your misanthropic bent. Look at the big brain on Christine!!! I LIKE you! You're Spunky!!!!!! Anytime you have a question, just ask me! I'll give it to you straight! Hi, I don't like the part "kicking some small animals". Maybe that's what she does? Not nice. SPCA is watching you. Tony |
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