With appropriate microbes, minerals and organic matter, there is no need for pesticides or herbicides.
Pearl Sutton wrote:When he started getting cold at night because there wasn't much in the clean bag above him, it was time to do his wash.
He was an odd one
Very smart, not glued down to the world at all. The laundry bit was probably the only rational thing that he did.
Pearl Sutton wrote:A memory bubbled up today while thinking about this thread...
I college I knew a guy who lived in an unheated house. He did something he called "sleeping with the laundry" He had four big sheets, safety pinned together two and two, into giant pillowcases, and his clean laundry was in one (the top one) and his dirty clothes were put in the bottom one. He slept between them. When he started getting cold at night because there wasn't much in the clean bag above him, it was time to do his wash.
Definitely using what was at hand, and the things at hand did not include a closet or dresser. So he killed a lot of birds with one rock here, kept his room neater as all his clothes were in one bag or the other, warmed up at night, plus had storage space for his clothes. In summer he slept on top of both bags.
SAHM has always meant “too busy taking care of family business to Stay At Home (Mother)”.
Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!
Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.
Whathever you are, be a good one.
___________________________________
Michael Cox wrote:One up on your tent idea, which is still essentially heating a whole room but with extra inconvenience for moving around.
This is a traditional style of heated table in Japan. The rooms were typically cold, but the heated table makes for a comfortable space for meals, sitting and socialising, or napping. You can buy (expensive!) electric heater kits to install on a low table. I imagine there would be all sorts of issues of temperature regulation, fire safety, and not burning kids legs to get right.
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed
Michael Cox wrote:One up on your tent idea, which is still essentially heating a whole room but with extra inconvenience for moving around.
This is a traditional style of heated table in Japan. The rooms were typically cold, but the heated table makes for a comfortable space for meals, sitting and socialising, or napping. You can buy (expensive!) electric heater kits to install on a low table. I imagine there would be all sorts of issues of temperature regulation, fire safety, and not burning kids legs to get right.
Pearl Sutton wrote:This idea is related to the thread Adding Heating Zones to the House where I talked of making it so rooms in the house can be curtained off for heating issues, I have been checking my tents for set up in the house if needed. Cutting the amount of space you need to heat can be VERY useful, and curtains and tents can partition space nicely.
I'm living in a rental, a cheap tract house that the heating involves electricity, in an area that's known for losing power (especially in ice storms,) and they have been predicting rolling blackouts for the winter. It's a cheap tract house, with insulation issues at best, I fixed a bunch of them last year, but the structure of this house is just badly built, there's a limit to what I can do. So I'm making sure that I have a plan ready to implement if I need it in the winter.
Tents can be a great size for sleeping in, and tend to stay warm with body heat. Mylar sheets or light blankets or can be tossed over them (watch the weight!) to insulate them further. Mylar can be the cheap little space blankets (taped together if needed) or it can be bought in rolls (I recommend buying them NOW if you are likely to need them.) Type "mylar rolls" into any search engine, lots of hits. Lightweight blankets are probably available second hand, make sure to wash them, and if you are sure you will be using them, you might drape them over the tent now when you are testing it (see below) and use safety pins to take pleats in it to make it fit well. Then if you need it, it will drop into place easily.
It's currently late July, and tents are easily available, and on sale for the season ending. They are also showing up in thrift stores as people buy new ones, check the poles carefully after buying it if you buy used. Bad fiberglass poles are not a deal breaker for used tents, they are easy to replace. Tent pole repair kits are worth buying for any tent. Make sure the pole diameter matches if you have to buy a repair kit.
If you want to consider this, I suggest:
>>> Measure your spaces, if you move what you can, what are the biggest dimensions you can use in each direction? Take good notes!
>>> Look for tents that will fit into your space. Ideally you want space left to walk around it. Putting it up WILL be trickier without walking space. Tents with a hexagon footprint fit square spaces weird, make sure you leave extra room if you have a hexagon tent.
>>> When you get one, I REALLY recommend learning how to work it over the summer, before you are in need of it and learning things the hard way. Put it up outside, where you have lots of room. Look at how it goes up, where it can flex or not. When using a pop up style tent, the joints can NOT be flexed in odd angles, they WILL break. Fiberglass poles are more forgiving, but it's still worth having a repair kit on hand.
>>> When using a tent with fiberglass poles that hook together, you can open joints up, feed the poles through, and hook them back up in order to have space to thread it in the house. If you will need to do that, practice it out in the yard. In the house is a lousy place to learn to do something tricky. I'm a big fan of practicing skills when it's easy, so you are already competent when you need them. In the dark, when it's cold, with crying kids is a bad time to learn anything.
>>> A pop up type tent is great in that you don't have the pole problem and they set up in their own footprint. They do not flex, and you cannot change their size though. They go up quickly and easily. Buying them second hand is iffy, they tend to be there due to broken joints, and the joints are not easy to fix. The twist up kid tents might be worth looking at!
>>> If you have fiberglass poles you can make the space smaller by folding one or two joints of each pole out of the way and hooking it there. It will make the tent baggy, and the excess fabric will need tucking and adjusting, but it will make the ceiling lower so less space needs heating.
>>> Open flame can NOT be used to heat a tent, they catch fire AMAZINGLY FAST! What CAN be done for heat includes:
~~~ Insulate. See above about blankets or mylar. The advantage to having a tent indoors is rain and wind are not a problem, so you can get away with things you would not be able to if you were camping. Watch weight on the top, if you need to, consider running stabilizing lines from the tent to furniture or unused doorknobs. I keep a roll each of mason's twine and clothesline with my tents, as well as things like spring type clothespins, safety pins of all sizes, and small C clamps. Gives me lots of options for doing what I need to. Also consider insulating under it, having extra blankets or a rug ready to use saves a lot of heat if your floors are cold. Ideally you'd sleep up off the floor, this is why beds were invented, but that may be problematic to design. Consider it if you can. If it's going to be a long bad storm, hauling mattresses off the beds might be worth your time. Blow-up beds have air in them and never heat up well, if you plan to use one, have lots of extra padding between you and it, as they will pull the heat out of you all night. If things are bad enough and it goes on long enough, dump all the clothes you own in the tent and sleep on/under them.
~~~ Warm bedding. Seems obvious, but I am amazed by how many people own only one or two blankets, assuming the house heat will always be there. Second hand stores are full of blankets this time of year, wash them well, and if you need storage space for them right now, put them under mattress on your bed. Flannel sheets are really nice too! Those tend to show up second hand also, and they also can fold flat and store under your mattress.
~~~ Body heat. It's amazing how much heat your body gives off. The more people in the tent, the higher the heat goes. If you are doing something like putting little kids in a tent of their own, it might be a good idea to have the adults hang out in the tent with the kids for a while to warm it up before going to their own tent. Better yet is to have everyone sleep in one tent so body heat is shared. Dogs and cats are warm, as are all livestock but sharing a tent with goats might not be pleasant!
~~~ Bring in warm items. If you cook dinner on a fire or cooker of some sort, or at a neighbor's or even in the kitchen if you are doing this just to cut your bills, heat an extra pan or kettle of water to bring into the tent, if not, bring your food into the tent to add it's warmth as you eat it. If for any reason there is something warm that can be brought in, do it. If you have to drive anywhere, put something that will hold heat near a heater vent of the car and warm it up, put it in the tent immediately upon arrival.
~~~ Catalytic heaters Wikipedia about them: Catalytic_heater It's a chemical reaction, not a fire, they are safe for tents and trailers. Look for them online under camping equipment. Hand warmers are a type of catalytic heater. Make sure if you are going to use one of these you have the fuel it needs, and me being me, I'd say buy it now. I have two catalytic heaters from camping, and have the fuel I need stocked. If you have one that needs flame lighting, do it OUTSIDE, not in the house at ALL, then bring it in when it's running. Having a carbon monoxide alarm (sold by the smoke alarms) is wise, as is having a smoke alarm. Being too safe is better than not safe enough.
What did I forget to mention? Please tell us! I am getting all of this straight right now,and would LOVE to know if I'm missing something.
Gemma Boyd
https://gemmaboyd.space/
https://www.instagram.com/gemmaboyd407/?hl=en
Creighton Samuels wrote:
Pearl Sutton wrote:A memory bubbled up today while thinking about this thread...
I college I knew a guy who lived in an unheated house. He did something he called "sleeping with the laundry" He had four big sheets, safety pinned together two and two, into giant pillowcases, and his clean laundry was in one (the top one) and his dirty clothes were put in the bottom one. He slept between them. When he started getting cold at night because there wasn't much in the clean bag above him, it was time to do his wash.
Definitely using what was at hand, and the things at hand did not include a closet or dresser. So he killed a lot of birds with one rock here, kept his room neater as all his clothes were in one bag or the other, warmed up at night, plus had storage space for his clothes. In summer he slept on top of both bags.
It occured to me just now, that this thread, and this idea in particular, should be translated into German and spread around the German speaking internet. There's going to be a lot of Germans who can use these tips this coming winter.
Gemma Boyd
https://gemmaboyd.space/
https://www.instagram.com/gemmaboyd407/?hl=en
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed
Thekla McDaniels wrote:You know, I love this thread, and I wonder how everyone is doing now that we are well into the cold season in the northern hemisphere.
This idea is about reducing heating needs: I have been painting, and when I am up the ladder, I am a lot warmer. A LOT warmer. It might be too late for this year, but I built loft beds for my kids so they could have desks or toys underneath…. Or if you could put a few tables together, and put your tent on top, or, a friend as a teenager somehow decided she wanted a hanging bed, and her father located the structural members in the ceiling and attached chains down to a platform with a mattress. If the idea appeals, the platform could be just far enough from the ceiling to have headroom when sitting up, and entering/exiting the suspended space.
I guess my idea is if possible, get up off the floor.
Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed
Thekla McDaniels wrote:That sounds wonderful Pearl!
I was thinking that if designed for it, the bed suspended from the ceiling could possibly be raised for winter and lowered for summer, but the clerestory and moon moths bats sounds lovely.
How did it happen you didn’t have mosquitoes?
Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!
Trace Oswald wrote:It may be worth mentioning for people that aren't Pearl and don't have all their ducks in a row and so, get caught off guard and aren't ready ahead of time. It's very easy to makeshift a tent. Cold isn't so much an issue when you are up moving around and busy, you can simply dress warm and you'll be fine in all but the coldest weather. When you are tired or trying to sleep, you get cold much more quickly. A very simple makeshift bed is your kitchen table in an emergency, if you have a table 6' or so long. If not, you can put the chairs out from the table ends and extend it. Insulating a table is super easy. Pile on your mattress and couch cushions, extra pillows, extra blankets, towels, or clothes on top. Take several blankets, put them down to lie on, some to lie under, and drape more over the table and down to the floor to make a cozy nest. Lots of ways to use other furniture if your family won't fit under the table. Four chairs will hold up your box spring, and you can insulate just as you did your table. Once you start thinking that direction, you'll notice all sorts of ways to make a nest.
"How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.“ — Dorothy L. Sayers
Steve Zoma wrote:.... just insulate the inside walls.
“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”― Albert Einstein
John Weiland wrote:
Steve Zoma wrote:.... just insulate the inside walls.
Interesting!..... Steve, do you have any links where this is described in greater detail? What kind of insulation is used and how is it finished? Thanks!....
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed
With appropriate microbes, minerals and organic matter, there is no need for pesticides or herbicides.
Thekla McDaniels wrote:.... Personally, I like a warm bath room, .....
“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”― Albert Einstein
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed
Thekla McDaniels wrote:Both my current bath rooms are very cold… sitting down on the toilet seat BRRRR!
Douglas Alpenstock wrote:
Thekla McDaniels wrote:Both my current bath rooms are very cold… sitting down on the toilet seat BRRRR!
When I built an outhouse at my old property, I installed a wooden seat instead of plastic. Instantly warm when you sit on it!
“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”― Albert Einstein
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