Interesting thread, I also moved 60 km out of a large city by Swedish standards (Gothenburg) to an old house. I therefore recognize some of the problems you mention about heating and insulation of the house. Here it is now 10 cm of snow and has been -20 degrees C. Small cars do not work, I have a VW Amarok four-wheel drive pick-up, my wife a Skoda. In the winter we change to good winter tires with studs.
Our house was also heated with oil but we have switched to our own wood. I therefore installed a wood boiler myself with a 1500 liter accumulator tank. When it is cold I fire once a day, in the summer it is enough once a week for hot water. With an oil boiler, it is also easy to install a pellet burner. Pellets are cheaper than oil here in Sweden. It is also much more environmentally friendly, most people here have gone from oil.
As for insulation of the basement, it is tricky to do. The air in the house has higher humidity than the cold air outside in winter. As the air moves through the walls with insulation, the temperature is lowered and the moisture in the air condenses in the wall. You get moisture damage and mold in the wall.
It is therefore critical that the air is not allowed to move freely and penetrate the wall and the insulation. You must have a condensation barrier, a plastic wrap closest to the inside. What is recommended in Sweden is to insulate on the outside of the basement wall. You then dig up around the house and insulate and set up a moisture barrier with drainage to prevent moisture damage from water along the foundation. Temperature is now raised on the dry outdoor air in the insulation in the wall, there is no risk of moist indoor air condensing in the winter in the wall.
We use polystyrene (cellular plastic) with great care in insulation, some varieties burn very easily. Mineral wool is usually fireproof.
Best wishes!
B,
Condensation leads to mold.
I intend on insulating the basement ceiling. Sealing up mucho leaks both big and small is the first imperative.
I was trying to avoid building in moisture traps by centralizing a modest 6x9 "free-standing" darkroom. This might still be the best way to go.
What I love about this old Baby-Victorian is that it still has mucho original detail from 1912 when it was built. Here in the U.S. so many houses have been "gut-renovated" where a house gets reduced to a shell and is rebuilt in a modern manner.
My house is a bit funky. Advertised as a 4 bedroom 2 full baths is an exaggeration, especially since it is under 1500 square feet of living space.
Really the house is only a two bedroom with an office space and the smallest "bedroom" or third bedroom to me is perhaps sized for a baby's crib.
So call me romantic, or perhaps stubborn, but I love the retro charm and the challenge. I would not want another house because this is the one for me, warts and all.
Really my house is about the size of a big two bedroom apartment in NYC. Kinda ideal and the right size for just two people. The 2 car garage, having a yard, having a second back-backyard, and the location of being close to a 1500 acre preserve are all a bonus. My neighborhood is a maze of dead-ended streets where I see cars turn around before they get really-really lost and can't get find their way out.
Also I believe my house might likely be the oldest house on my street, or perhaps the small isolated tucked away neighborhood right on the edge of the "city." I can think that I am so remote that I can consider my neighborhood as being a suburb of Peekskill, the city.
Because my house stands out as the old lady in the area, it suggests that artists likely live there. There seems to be some element of timelessness, something interesting and enchanting.
I am finding old decomposed newspapers from the 1950's used to fill leaks and cracks. I'm using extruded Poly Styrene and mucho cans of Great Stuff spray foam. I buy a dozen cans at a time to save over a dollar a can.
Over a century ago there was The Hudson River School of landscape painting. I see a great opportunity to photograph during and after storms. The geography is spectacular and rugged. I can see me getting into an 8x10 and contact printing.
Peekskill at one time was an industrial city of iron works and steel mills known for its plows and stoves. A cheaper source of iron ore out west caused rapid decay and urban blight. It was a city you avoided.
The arts and artists moved in to gentrify a run down city. When you take the Metro North train which hugs the river, across the river on the western side you see either stone cliffs or mountains and a widening of the Majestic Hudson to its widest point.
Just north of Peekskill is West Point, a natural fortification where the Hudson River narrows. Beacon got its name for being a lookout and forward military post. A neighboring town is named Garrison. Today a Camp Smith is just north of Peekskill.
Peekskill in its early days made many guns and cannons.
Neopolian once said, "Geography is destiny." I find Peekskill to be a special place and being an hour and 5 minutes from NYC's Grand Central.
Calvin-August
Sinar Norma 18x24 Lisco Holders XRAY by Nokton48, on Flickr
