The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

First Aid For The Ailing Houses

On cold days a draft will also be caused by an open fireplace, with or without a fire. Drafts can be prevented only by checking all avenues for the escape of heat: for the escape of heated air, for loss of heat through window glass, and for the entrance of cold outdoor air through window joints and other openings. The frames of windows and outside doors should be so tight in the walls that air cannot enter between them. This is not generally the case, and only the most careful builders pay attention to this point (see section on Windows).

A thin roof can be made tight only by added construction, that is, by lining the roof with heatproof and airtight material.

The escape of heat through window glass by conduction cannot be prevented but can be greatly checked by storm sash, which provides a layer of dead air between the inside windows and outdoors. To be effective, a storm window should be tightly fitted and preferably weather-stripped. A special type of weather-stripping is made for this use.

Many houses are so lightly built that the walls do not resist the passage of either heat or air. A simple test will show when this is the case. The bare hand is laid on the inside of an exterior wall and the temperature noted; it is then laid on an interior wall. Should the exterior wall feel cooler than the other, it is evidence that heat is being extracted from it by the cold air outdoors and that fuel must be burned to make up the loss. A wall should be not only proof against loss of heat by conduction, but airtight as well, so that a wind will not blow cold air into the spaces within the walls (see section on Leaking Wall).

A wall can be made airtight and heatproof with an overcoat, that is, an outside shell (see section on Overcoating).

In an average house, a large part of the heat loss will be through the roof, due to the rise of warm air to the upstairs ceilings, through to the attic, and so outdoors. This can be checked or prevented by insulation (see section on Roof Insulation).

CHIMNEYS

To be satisfactory, a chimney flue should be of sufficient area to provide ample draft; for a small-house heater, the flue area should not be less than 8 by 12 inches, or 100 square inches in another shape. The flue should be tight for its entire length, and preferably lined with a fire-clay flue lining. That the draft may be free, the top of the chimney should not be less than 4 feet above a flat roof or 2 feet above the highest point of a gable roof. The flue should be the same size to the very top; it is not unusual for a flue to be made smaller at the top or to be capped with a pipe extension that is smaller than the flue. Both of these will check the draft by choking it.