Mary,

In order of your questions....not my knowledge.

I'm a big fan of inside storms. They don't disturb the look of the building.
Older buildings have texture provided in part by the depth of the sash. New
buildings are flat with shiny spots. Inside storms are also easier to
install and remove. 

I like radiant heat, but it's tough to retrofit without some intrusion. When
it's possible to install as a subfloor, Warmboard is a pretty magical
product. It works extremely well with wood floors and is very easy to
install PEX tubing in.

I've never worked on a spring board floor but I have seen one in a building
which is unfortunately gone now. It was an inn with a spring board floor
dance hall upstairs. From what I understand they were popular in the late
19th century. Other than that, don't know a thing about them.

Rudy

-----Original Message-----
From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mary Tegel
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 1:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BP] To the congress of adepts

Maybe this could be the beginning of an ode-- to x and etc. But it's  
not.

It's a few questions with the last one
being the most interesting.

Background: I was talking with a member of the Machias, Maine Grange  
who's also a member of the Beehive Collective. I have to given them a  
lot of credit for bringing
back into service a moribund building and doing it right and in a  
manner that has been respectful of the community.

Anyway, she said they were thinking about weatherizing the windows. I  
hope she is now a member of the religion that keeps the old and thinks  
about a good way to make storm windows. That's the first question.

The second has to do with her idea to install radiant heat in the  
floors ( it's a bear to heat in downeast winters-- they usually close  
it for the coldest months). I gave her the lowdown as
much as I could re: the maintenance
requirements for a hit water system in that climate and the need for  
more thermal mass than the wood material provides.

The third and most interesting question has to do with the spring  
floor. It's not quite floating. It's somehow loosenable/tightenable  
via a couple of sets of turnbuckles. I recommended she not crank on  
them at all until they find someone who really knows about such  
things. I suggested there might be an oldtimer around there and that  
I'd fly this by you folks.

I suppose the answers to rise questions are multi-faceted (and  
probably have nothing to do with ducks --- oh. How about "duckworks"  
for that glossary?

I am hoping to get some wisdom from you that I can pass on to the  
Grangers. Maybe there's work there for anybody bullamanka-pinheaded on  
any of these questions. They don't have much money (of course, that's  
what they all say). Anyway -- if interested, I can put you in touch  
with each other. Let's hope they check all these out thoroughly first.

And, please, post what you know about spring floors (this one's old).  
I am curious and am guessing that the knowledge is in this group.

---Mary

Tegel  Design +  Planning

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