Last week, I started an explanation of the crisis that we had at our house last week. This is the second and final part.
An addition was built onto our house by the previous owner, making our kitchen huge, and adding some other 1st floor rooms. It was probably the main reason we decided to buy this house in the first place. During the recent sledgehammering, I discovered that air from outside is somehow getting into area above the ceiling in the addition. After some investigation, I found out that there is a small gap between the floor joists in the original house, and the joists in the addition, allowing cold air (above the kitchen ceiling) to go from the addition into the original part of the house (see below diagram).

Below is a picture of the corresponding area, after I jammed a whole bunch of insulation into the gap between the joists.

Of course, there is still the question of how cold air is getting into the area above the ceiling in the addition. But at least we have hopefully taken enough action to prevent the pipes from freezing again in the future.
Labels: homeowning











