Has anyone discovered any odd or unexpected airflow patterns in their home? I discovered a new one last night. It's nothing earth shattering, but it's very surprising. We have one of those old trailers where the front half is somewhat taller than the rear, and about 30 feet back it drops down (inside and outside). So the higher ceiling in the living room/kitchen area is about 7 1/2 feet, and then abruptly drops straight down at the hallway entrance, to 7 feet. I'd always wondered how that hinders airflow going to the back of the trailer, but never tried anything. So last night I put a heavy duty cardboard piece there with about a 40 degree sweep (tastefully shaped with a utility knife) with a few finishing nails, and wow, what a difference.! I kid you not, the airflow running back is equal to running a fan at the back of the trailer and pushing cold air to the stove room. I never measured (cigarette smoke in the convection flow) air speed, but visually it seems to have almost doubled. Is it possible for that smoothing out the drop could affect it this much? I obviously haven't been able to observe the temps compared to normal, but the back is warmer. Anyways, just amazed that a piece of cardboard and finishing nails made such a difference. Anyone else with some neat airflow stories?
Taping long strips of TP up anywhere you want to check airflow can be very interesting (in more ways than one ) A full length piece in a door way moves a lot as you walk around the house...more than you'd think! I like Scot 1000 for the best accuracy
Well timed post. I'm in the process of stopping an air leak I found in our kitchen ceiling. Not as severe air movement as what you have but still aggravating. A while back I did some work on the exterior wall after I found out there was no wall insulation. While doing the work I felt a steady stream of cold outside air. Come to find out that hidden under the wood carsiding ceiling the drywall was gapped at the ceiling to wall joint. All along the perimeter of the kitchen there was about a 1/4" gap that wasn't even taped. Further none of the joints between the drywall sheets were taped or mudded. You know it's bad when there are cobwebs along the corners after the carsiding ceiling is removed, and old vermiculite insulation falls through the joints. I'm sealing the joint with caulking before I tape and mud the corner. Got to love old houses.
After pulling down the pantry structure in the laundry room, I noticed a slight gap just like that on the outside wall, but didn't think too much about it. We got a little snow and I noticed a patch on the roof above that where the snow was almost gone. Checked that gap with my pinky finger today and it went right up into the attic. Lets just say....Great Stuff is great stuff. Waiting for another snow to see how it helped, or if it did.
Yes, not neat though, but cold pia instead. 2/3 of house buttoned up, budget spent, will have to burn hotter for another year or two til the budget allows for fixing those two ells.
Every room in my main floor has a 7/8" gap between the ceiling tiles and wallboard. No mud, no nothing. And, the ceiling tiles are just nailed to strapping so it goes straight to attic. I've filled most with foam weatherstripping then caulked on top of it. Still trying to figure out if I should pay someone to come in and sheetrock the ceilings or just try painting over the tiles and hope it seals enough to help keep cold from infiltrating. Course some of the tiles in the office and kitchen are so warped that there are small gaps so I'll have to do some replacing in those rooms anyway. House built in 1960 - hopefully they don't still build them like the "old days".
That's exactly what our ceiling began like. The previous owner pulled the tiles and threw up some drywall. No taping of joints, etc. My bride (pre marriage) and her dad put up carsiding to cover the mess. The wood looked almost as bad and makes the room look small. I have most of it removed, in fact just now taking a break from it to get groceries. The people who installed the sheetrock used galvanized nails mixed in with drywall screws. Got to love it. I'm in the process of sealing the wall/ceiling joint and taping all the joints. Weeeeeee?!
In addition to the swept down piece mentioned in the first post, I put another piece half way down the hall (at an angle) to divert some warm air to a bedroom. Basically looking at a 4.5-5 F degree warmer temp down the hall with no fan now. It looks ugly but works way better than a fan. The temp in the stove room is obviously cooler (still plenty warm) so I'm pretty happy. Why didn't I try this years ago...
not fond memories of trailer, kitchen living area toasty furthest bedroom, across the the back, deep freeze. which was the one my bed fit in
I second the spray foam. Spray, let dry, if needed trim with razor knife and done. Larger blow outs can be trimmed with a drywall saw. Everyone needs a couple cans sitting on a shelf unless their home was already a retrofit with air sealing and insulation. I'm fairly sure the regular Great Stuff is not UV resistant and have seen it breakdown if used where there is sun and or weather exposure. Loctite makes a white UV resistant foam. It seems to have a tighter bubble matrix than the other brands which makes it more durable and easier to paint. It is about 25% more a can but worth it.
Back in my home performance retrofits days we used the 2 part foam tanks. there are the size of gas grill tanks. Those were fun to lug around a 90 degree attic...
My place is pretty ugly, but here's a cropped pic. It's nothing fancy, just cardboard at an angle, lets air above and below, but slows and diverts a fair amount of air.
Here's the transition from kitchen to hall. Again, I just put it up for a test and it worked so I left it there.
Makes sense once I think about it. when the hot air hits a wall, it bounces back and interferes with other air coming at it. Those angled pieces keep the air from doing that and smoothly guides it around the obstacle. Even with my main floor of all even ceilings (relatively speaking), the air would get trapped by the header drop at the hallway entrance. I took the sheetrock on the header out when I was redoing sheetrock and found the air flowed much, much better - and my stove faces the hallway so I never thought that would be an issue.
saskwoodburner I put a piece up to test in my hallway too cause I like your idea, not sure yet if it's working but am going to make it shallower and fit better tomorrow and will see, lol my piece isn't quite big enough right now...
Never know until you try things. I might run a fan when it gets colder to see if it helps even more, but I think I'm there. I don't want to steal too much heat from the stove room.
