Canada wants to know too. About 5 years ago where I live we had an ice storm in the middle of winter, was around 20F average temps outside and no power for 3-4 days. Hardly anyone's pipes froze, and no one was freezing to death, it took 4 days for my inside temps to hit 45F or so. I guess R40 insulation and having a basement that's over half below the frost line helps a lot.
Agreed. It’s the full basements IMO. Below frost line the earth remains a fairly steady 50 degrees (or so I’ve read) Insulation, tightness of house and wind also plays a factor.
That one guy that got the nearly $17,000 electricity charge, was NOT a bill. It was a charge, and already taken out of his account. Griddy was the electric company he uses(d)
No basements down south, water lines are run in the attics for easy routing. Sub freezing temps are not normally long duration events & attic spaces normally stay well north of freezing. Sub zero temps are almost unheard of, especially during long term power outages. Homes are built to climate norms, not for the extremes that happen once every hundred years.
I'll admit when it started I was , but once the pipes froze, people started dying, and it started going down hill quickly, I . We were -25, but it was merely an inconvenience. Glad your getting by and hope everything gets a whole lot better soon!
Running a water line in the attic is the worst place in the whole house to run it. It's going to save the builder maybe 1 -2 hours of time vs running the water lines through the walls. Most homes in the north are built for extremes, not norms. I've built a few of my own and any building code in the past 25+ years could handle -20F for almost a week if your furnace is working or you have a woodstove and fans or even a couple 1500 watt space heaters. I get -40F every few years and my only bother is that I'm going to be burning a little more wood during that time.
I presume you are not advocating running the lines inside exterior walls. Otherwise the attic would seem to be preferable, if it is insulated. Heat does rise, so the attic would generally be warmest.. once again.. if insulated. Now, I'm not a contractor nor inspector, so there may well be many variables I am not aware of.
TacMed my hat's off to you for being prepared. My generator is probably my weakest link. I need to convert it to dual fuel (gas/propane) so that I can ensure an adequate fuel supply for up to several days.
As you suggest there are many variables. Two different climates use two different sets of “norms” as amateur cutter stated. I’m not an expert in national construction but have been in the trades for 40 years. I see a lot of construction in the south that wouldn’t fly in the north. Many of the things we do in the north would be wrong in the south. We tend not to insulate attics in the north. The trend is to insulate the ceiling and leave the attic uninsulated, if possible. Keeps ice dams from forming on the roof and allows the attic to breathe better. Many modern home designs can’t do that anyway. I can imagine in the south with the intense prolonged heat they may want to insulate the attic rafters. Keep that heat out of the house altogether. Not sure, just guessing, Many extreme southern homes are built on concrete slabs. Not even a crawl space. Running water lines through the concrete would be a better alternative but more costly and after making a few mistakes,,,,I can see why they’d find an alternative I’m still concerned with an OAK that travels up into the attic. Just seems wrong on so many levels.
Also realize many homes in south are not built with wood on outside due to insects so drilling holes in cinder block for water lines is difficult here mostly all heat runs are in exterior walls for baseboard hot water
I bet there will be a big run on Pex water lines in Texas this year. Congrats on having fun while weathering the storm .! Your recent weather would be similar to us having 60 to 70 below up here @ Lat 64. It happens sometimes. But not that common. For those thinking everything would be straight forward for burning wood in extreme cold weather. That is NOT the case in Fairbanks. They have a city and Borough. Governments . When the temps dip to 40-50 below they MAKE PEOPLE EXTINGUISH THE FIRE IN THEIR WOOD STOVES/FURNACES. We do Not have a local government where my place is. Would be fireworks if some one tried to shut down my woodstove when it got cold !
When the temps dip that cold they make you extinguish the fire??? That’d be the day, especially if power was out. The government could kiss my azz at that point. Good luck coming into my house and physically making me do that.
There are boat loads of liberal environmental wack jobs in Fairbanks. And soccer moms. They are going to protect the earth . They care not 1 lick about people. Of course they're all college educates so they have office jobs and too much money. The ice fog does get pretty thick when it gets real cold . ANYTHING that makes heat and expels warm air makes Ice fog. Mammals , vehicles, wood stoves+ furnaces, power plants. Ect. The ice fog just lays like a blanket over the whole city with the densest places wherever its the lowest elevation. Which is also the coldest places. If Air Quality Enforcement sees someone's chimney rollin coal. They get fined and all kinds of trouble.
And I always dreamed about living in Fairbanks...., guess maybe not. Does the same apply to North Pole?
So plumbers are in high demand in Texas (duh), one place quit answering the phone due to the high number of calls. One person fell through the ceiling trying to fix it himself, broke some ribs.
