Coal Stoves and Tiny House

Nice N!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep the pix comin.

They may have been short runs from left over pieces as the old timers wasted nothing. There was a building in Machias called the hotel behind the congo church that they decided to tear down. They brought in a large crane with a wrecking ball and the ball bounced off.......the entire building was 2x4's laid sideways, like a log cabin.....they were all short pieces from the lumbering days of Machias and Whitneyville. Waste not want not and the building stood for more years then modern buildings.

Kevin

KLook wrote: ↑

Tue. Sep. 18, 2018 9:13 pm

They may have been short runs from left over pieces as the old timers wasted nothing. There was a building in Machias called the hotel behind the congo church that they decided to tear down. They brought in a large crane with a wrecking ball and the ball bounced off.......the entire building was 2x4's laid sideways, like a log cabin.....they were all short pieces from the lumbering days of Machias and Whitneyville. Waste not want not and the building stood for more years then modern buildings.

Kevin

I think stout building is what allowed this building to stay upright.

The outside walls were planked with a double layer of boards. Even though the studs were not continuous, it would take an awful lot to crumple two layers of boards laid on end and nailed with 2 tons of nails. What house today is sheathed with 2 inch thick plywood? That is basically what this house has, with another 3/4 of an inch of clapboards.

BTW: We have a house here that was built that way. It was not 2x4's but 1 inch thick boards laid on top of each other and built by a sea captain. I guess even on land he was paranoid of drowning!

No Smoke - what happened to that New Yorker boiler you had in your collection?

NoSmoke wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 6:24 am

The outside walls were planked with a double layer of boards. Even though the studs were not continuous, it would take an awful lot to crumple two layers of boards laid on end and nailed with 2 tons of nails. What house today is sheathed with 2 inch thick plywood? That is basically what this house has, with another 3/4 of an inch of clapboards.

My house is built that way, with two 1" layers of board over full 2x4's, built about 1874. Its about the only house that old still standing close by. I replaced 16' of sill at the same time (with part of foundation damaged and gone before I fixed that) and it just hung in mid air its so stiff. I had to replace one side that was rotten 4 feet up and replaced it with 1.5" of plywood to keep it stiff. A big plus is how quiet it is to road traffic. Houses dont last as long here as they do, generally, in many other areas of the country. 100-120 years is long. Im betting new ones half as long the way they do it with waferboard now.

You betcha W--pushin 200 yrs here. Post & Beam.

House next door is plank wall construction, no studs. It's the oldest surviving in town - built about 1806. There are a few others here with that type of early 1800's construction, too.

Only complaints I've heard about it is, not much insulating value as studded walls and wiring has to be run in chaises on wall surfaces.

Paul

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 8:46 am

You betcha W--pushin 200 yrs here. Post & Beam.

Hey Fred how is your board and batten wall insulated? Curious.

The only post and beam buildings Ive seen here were barns. There were probably some homes that way but I dont know of any. Im thinking that method was mostly gone by the time this area was settled, or not used because of expense, which was about 1870 here, and 1855 north of here. Except for local sawmills lumber was floated down the Mississippi from Wisconsin and hauled to the area by wagon trains or later by trains, mostly pine and douglas fir. Some of the oldest buildings here were made of limestone.

Pink foil face Q--2X4 studs--it's rated something or other--I just know it fit nicely & works--lotsa staples--LOL--Yep, tough insulatin post & beam but ya do the best with what ya got.

Qtown1835 wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 9:09 am

Hey Fred how is your board and batten wall insulated? Curious.

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 9:46 am

Pink foil face Q--2X4 studs--it's rated something or other--I just know it fit nicely & works--lotsa staples--LOL--Yep, tough insulatin post & beam but ya do the best with what ya got.

Ok we are doing a Reno on an old Post and beam with B&B siding. Converting to conference room and office. Trying to figure out best way to insulate. Think we are going to balloon frame and use roxul with vapor retarder on new wall framing.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 6:39 am

No Smoke - what happened to that New Yorker boiler you had in your collection?

I still have it. It is not hooked up to anything , but is rather in storage, and still in my possession.

I thought about using it, but I am not sure how it would work in this house. I cannot go with baseboard radiators as there is not enough wall space, and what little there is, we want to keep free.

That does not mean we could not go 100% radiant floor heat by stapling the radiant tubes to the first and second floor, but that seems expensive and overkill for a Tiny House.

But those were my quick thoughts, if you have some ideas on how to incorporate that boiler in heating this house, I am definitely listening, and not counting anything out.

I understand you don't have a lot of space to deal with, but I don't think the space required for baseboards or panel radiators would not be much different than the footprint of a stove. I know the stove is nice looking, etc etc - but hear me out.

Take a walk through the house and decide what areas you could sacrifice for radiation. High output baseboard does not require a lot of linear feet to crank out the heat. Let's assume you can find enough wall space for the radiators. That New Yorker would keep your basement cozy warm, provide all the domestic hot water your family can use, and heat the first floor. The second floor will get a lot of heat from the first, and your gas heater can provide a boost on the nasty days.

Even if you decide radiators are a no go, you could still use the boiler to heat the basement and all of your hot water. Considering the size of your family, hot water is not a small load.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 7:37 pm

Even if you decide radiators are a no go, you could still use the boiler to heat the basement and all of your hot water. Considering the size of your family, hot water is not a small load.

You have got that right! Heating water is my biggest expense in my current house, whether used for radiant floor heating, or domestic hot water. I do have (4) girls and a wife!

I do have a lot of baseboard kicking around, but I am not sure I have enough; a few hundred feet for sure, but pex for radiant floor heating is inexpensive as well. Really it is the controls that cost money, and I do not have much money for that at the moment, two years of cancer have taken a bite out of them. I am not whining, just explaining...copays, medication, endless trips to the Dr's, and of course no income for the last year...it all has taken a bite out of my retirement savings. When they told me my cancer returned, I went into a deep depression...another winter of all that again.

I think that might be the final answer though, just because I really love the idea of using wood/coal to heat my home, but have amazing control over the heat output, and where it goes via the New Yorker WC 90/130 Boiler.

You have probably been in many houses that have baseboard radiators installed wall-to-wall. That is usually because the installer was too lazy to see how much was actually required, so they just install as much as they can.

There is software to calculate how much baseboard you need, but a very rough calculation would be 35 btus per sq. ft of floor space, and 550 btu's per foot of baseboard radiator. Using those figures, your 10x18 living room would require 12 feet of radiator. If you use high output baseboard, (800 btus/ft), you could get away with only 8 feet.