Old house thermal imaging
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I would NOT want to heat this drafty old joint up in Alaska, Nate!
Any thoughts on putting a shield behind the stove? One of my concerns with a shield is my thermocouple probe (cat temp) in the rear, but I think I may have a work around for that.
Any thoughts on putting a shield behind the stove? One of my concerns with a shield is my thermocouple probe (cat temp) in the rear, but I think I may have a work around for that.
Wow, cool pictures and absolutly beautiful house. We often rent those cameras at work to do thermal images of the freezers we design and build, company is talking about buying one since were doing it more and more, hopefully ill get to borrow it and take it home when we get it and do my house. Im very surprised about the storm windows making that much of a difference, I knew they helped but didnt realize they helped that much. Last weekend i noticed two of our storms were never shut and i felt a noticable draft coming through them.
That shot of the stove location is very impressive. I wonder if insulating the wall behind the stove would help to retain the heat in the house?
That shot of the stove location is very impressive. I wonder if insulating the wall behind the stove would help to retain the heat in the house?
bryan
Member
No. I may consider adding traditional glazed wood storms on two of the doors, if my plan to weather strip does not entirely satisfy, but I really hate to do that. Storm doors take away the character of deep-set doors, with nicely paneled jambs.
This post would seem to go better in the DIY or Green forums.
Why don't posts like this get moved by Mods?
I only gripe because I find the subject really interesting (thanks OP) and I don't frequent the Hearth Room that often anymore.
Why don't posts like this get moved by Mods?
I only gripe because I find the subject really interesting (thanks OP) and I don't frequent the Hearth Room that often anymore.
I think they'd boo me out of that Green forum in a millisecond. I'm not sure how one measures their "carbon footprint", but I can assure the footprint of this property is obscene. Nothing "DIY" about this post, either... it's about heating with wood stoves, and the associated losses.
Sounds like you need to join our party in the Hearth Room!
Sounds like you need to join our party in the Hearth Room!
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
These are the two photos of most interest to me:
![[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/90949/ "[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging")
![[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/90951/ "[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging")
The stove which is much closer (3") to the stone wall reads only 38F on the outside of the wall, whereas the stove that's much further (12") from the stone wall reads 49F on the outside. I guess the big wall is a decent heat sink, on a night when it's 16F outside.
I'm wondering if it's worth playing with some shielding between the stove and wall. Not much room there on the new install, and I fear a user-designed shield placed that close to the rear of the stove may inadvertently cause damage to the stove, by trapping and reflecting more heat at the back than the designer ever intended. Sure would be nice to limit what heat I'm contributing to the great outdoors, though.
If you were so inclined and it would not impact the style of the home, you could put some rigid insulation and sheathing on the exterior masonry and reface it. Would create a nice thermal mass to heat the interior of the home rather than the outside. Heat radiates from hot to cold. Difficult for me to really gauge what the exterior actually looks like from the non thermal pictures.
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
FYI, you can also rent these cameras at HD. When I asked my energy assessment officer about it, he went off about how he was opposed to it because it takes training to actually know what you're looking at blah blah blah. I'm sure there is some merit in that, but for my case I was considering renting one again strictly to determine the integrity of the insulation in the walls (shape, compacted,etc) before remodeling projects.
Naw, the folks in the Green Room love a challenge.
Hah, I already spend too much time here.
Cool post though. It really got the energy nerd in me stirred up. Thanks.
What are you gong to use for weatherstrip? I did a real spring bronze job on mine with the stuff from Killian Hardware. Its a bit of work but very effective and will outlast me.
http://www.kilianhardware.com/sprinbronwea.html
![[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/91/91488-635457644a38c77c8d5d9e3abc3fbbc7.jpg?hash=gku4WaIObn "[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging")
A lot of the 1700 and early 1800 vintage houses here in town have board and batten doors hung on strap hinges to outswing as storm doors, protecting the main entrance door. Looks age appropriate and is historically correct. Ive though about doing it here but havent got around to it yet, our front door opens into a very small cape front hall that we keep closed most of the time anyway.
Awww c'mon.. you should come on over and join my carbon footprint game thread. 3 months on I'm still the winner for worst footprint. You could dethrone me for the prize
I had considered, but I really hate messing with one of the few remaining historic aspects of an old house, like this. The exterior of the smaller/hotter fireplace is all stone, while the exterior of the larger wall is stucco over stone. Even though I know I'm giving up that performance advantage, I think I want to keep any and insulation shielding inside, between the stove and wall.
Looking at these photos some more, I actually think there may be something wrong with the liner or block-off plate on that fireplace, which was just installed in October. I find it a little concerning that I'm measuring 49.8F on the outside of the masonry there, on a night of 16F. Why would the chimney at the block-off plate measure much hotter than the firebox? Doesn't make sense.
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
I'd insulate the stucco one and redo it in a heartbeat. You can still preserve the look and there are stucco products that can go directly over the rigid insulation without sheathing. Completely understand the desire to preserve the stone one.
Did you do the block off plate yourself? I had one put in on a recent install. While the Travis tech was here replacing the blower control, I realized while there is an insulated block off plate, he did not seal it off. Cheap enough to do myself, though the insert is pretty tight in there. My own fault for not specifying it.
I'm planning on refacing the exterior of my foundation and chimney so I've been researching insulating from the outside.
Did you do the block off plate yourself? I had one put in on a recent install. While the Travis tech was here replacing the blower control, I realized while there is an insulated block off plate, he did not seal it off. Cheap enough to do myself, though the insert is pretty tight in there. My own fault for not specifying it.
I'm planning on refacing the exterior of my foundation and chimney so I've been researching insulating from the outside.
Nice weatherstripping, jharkin! A house I grew up in had the same number on the original front door, and I had completely forgotten, until I just saw your post. The stripping between the sashes on the double-hung windows were also interlocking brass, in that house.
I had been considering routing a groove in the door stop moulding, and pressing in a neoprene seal, at least on the one with enough gap to tolerate that without modification. I had not really looked as closely at the other, yet. Our basement door already has one of those tack-on aluminum strips with a neoprene seal down one edge, which is not my first choice, but will stay there until I have to repaint.
I'll have to check out your carbon footprint page!
I had been considering routing a groove in the door stop moulding, and pressing in a neoprene seal, at least on the one with enough gap to tolerate that without modification. I had not really looked as closely at the other, yet. Our basement door already has one of those tack-on aluminum strips with a neoprene seal down one edge, which is not my first choice, but will stay there until I have to repaint.
I'll have to check out your carbon footprint page!
I forgot to mention... the stucco will be coming down in the next year or two. It's not original, and was added by some previous owner in the last 100 years. Right now, it's painted well and looking good, but as I already see the paint starting to fail in a few places, I'm making my plans to strip that stucco.
No, but I'm thinking I should've. I had to bring in a pro to install a liner in the big chimney (50 feet above ground outside, on a 12/12 pitch raised-seam metal roof), so I just had him do that shorter chimney while he was here. Afterward, I looked at it and couldn't figure out how he made the stovepipe/chimney junction, as all I see when I look up is the 6" stovepipe running into an 8" collar, with gasket rope stuffed around it to fill the gap. He said he reused the old block-off plate, which was the interface between the stovepipe and the old 8" ID clay liner, so I think I need to get in there and see exactly what he did. Perhaps the warm day tomorrow should be my opportunity, but it may have to wait for the weekend.
Definitely a good way to go. I did that on one previous house, all below grade. In this case, I'm willing to lose some heat and money to maintain the cosmetics, but that's a personal choice.
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
Yeah. I'm kinda disappointed I wasn't a little more involved during the install of mine. I work from home and got caught up in a teleconference and by the time it was over, the liner/insert was installed. I wish there was some sort of high heat spray foam one could use. Cementous foam like air krete would probably work, but I haven't seen it as a consumer product.
Cosmetics on older homes is key. Can't speak for your area, but you can't pee off your deck in my town without getting approval from the historic committee.
Sounds like my front door, here is some inspiration. actualy you can see two different storm doors in this picture.
![[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/91/91525-0c04f9abe2506c46ea5d89cc33af7ff3.jpg?hash=_TNh1Avq1J "[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging")
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![[Hearth.com] Old house thermal imaging](/talk/data/attachments/91/91524-e2fe5b72b045007773281830e4d05a36.jpg?hash=-2y06T9JI2)
Awww c'mon.. you should come on over and join my carbon footprint game thread. 3 months on I'm still the winner for worst footprint. You could dethrone me for the prize
Psst... Jeremy, I dethroned you.
I only filled out our household electric and oil usage, and the site crashed! Maybe the server exploded.
Nice! Maybe I'll have to consider this. Love those old New Englanders.
+1 When we were thinking about exterior colors last year we gave serious thought to doing a red like that... But where afraid of making our small house look downright tiny! Very nice place ColdNH.
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
Yeah. I like that quite a bit. One of the few things I like about New England is that most homes have a bit of character and history to them. This one definitely has character....maybe history, but I can't presume on that one. Much better than the cookie cutter housing I grew around in the south.
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