It's COLD

We had our first really cold days here and we can feel the cold through out the house. When built, the Hydrostones were not insulated. They just have the hydrostone blocks on the outside with an airspace and plaster on the inside. They painted on a water barrier on the inside of the blocks which keeps the walls dry but the cold comes right through.

I found an original article at the local library published in Canadian Architect in 1919, written by the Architects and they stated that there were no heating systems designed into the buildings since housewives would have their kitchen stoves going and this would supply heat. Most of the hydrostones were retrofitted with heating systems in the 1920s and ours has an oil fired, forced hot air system. Also, the cavity between the hydrostone blocks and the plaster walls has been filled with cellulose insulation. This probably helps somewhat but there is no easy fix to really insulate these walls with out removing the plaster inside which is too big a job to contemplate now. We know that the utility bills were quite high for this size house since we got the previous years energy costs prior to buying. I had hoped that we could make the house a little more energy efficient and that we could reduce the energy costs. But we just were not feeling that much hot air come from the vents, especially the kitchen which was miserably cold. With a long dark winter ahead, this was depressing.

Luckily, my trips into the attic to start the washer and dryer relocation allowed me to discover that a few of the heating ducts were disconnected and none were insulated. So fixing the ducts became my new first project. Typically, from what I've seen, ducts are screwed together and mastic is painted on all of the seems to seal in the air. No one here has heard about the mastic and everyone suggested using foil tape. They had one that was UL tested so I put that on the joints and wrapped and taped reflextex insulation around all of the ducts. I also used some great stuff spray insulation around the ceiling connections to make this also air tight. This has made a huge difference. The attic space where the ducts are is now much cooler and the vents are supplying hot air. There is hope for the long winter.