Chapter XXXV

, Heating).

THINGS THEY OBVIATE

Do you care to heat the great outdoors? This is the first important question. If you do, how dare you with the shortage of coal to-day? Have you sufficient coal to waste it? Is your home hard to heat? Why? Do you like the gales and little hurricanes racing over your floors, chasing the little snow flakes? Do you like to cultivate colds and other draught diseases?

These are pertinent questions even if they seem impertinent. They suggest the graphic pictures that we do not want inhabiting our homes.

These conditions can be obviated.

If you inquire from your friends who know intelligently the value of the furnishings they use, you will get concrete figures before investing. One conspicuous friend, Uncle Sam, says that in 1918 he saved two million dollars’ worth of coal by the use of weather strips. And this led the director of conservation to make the extravagant statement that weather strips are 100% fuel conservation.

WHAT THEY ARE

In the past when the telephone had just become a household staple and before horse cars evaporated you used to paste the weather strips on the outside of your windows. Then they were made of cloth, or rubber or heavy paper, and they made life slightly fair and warmer; but most of the heat accrued by them was that which was fired in trying to raise the windows which stuck due to the adherence of the weather strip.

To-day the weather strip is gentler and not only keeps the cold air at bay, but keeps out the dust and noise and permits the window to go up and down more easily because it runs on a metal track; really the weather strip allows it to glide like magic. To move a window with the weather stripping affixed is a pleasure which the weakest reed can enjoy.

The dictionary says “the weather strip is a narrow strip, as wood edged with rubber prepared to be placed over crevices, as at doors and windows to exclude wind, rain, etc.”

This is the old weather strip. To-day they are in general metallic tubular strips fitting into complementary depressions in metal linings or window sashes that are designed and shaped to seal the cracks that naturally occur between and around doors and windows and their frames, sealing up these openings so that the elements are turned back before they get even their noses into the house. They are made of non-corroding, non-rustable metals such as zinc, bronze and copper, and they keep their elasticity plus non-leakage qualities as long as, and sometimes longer than, the building itself.

Every type of door and every type of window present different problems, and every window or door of each type has again different problems, so to each there must be different applications. The following will explain more particularly than the foregoing.

THE SLIDING WINDOW

The sliding window is the most general type to be treated.

Here the top and bottom, sides and meeting rail must be considered. How to stop leakage and seal against unwelcome callers are the problems.

At the top of the window, as in the illustration, two strips are used; the tubular protuberance in the head of the frame nestles cosily in the depressed concavity of the window sash. Some brands line the depression with metal--others do not.

When the window is closed, there is a complementary interlocking device at the rail where the upper and lower sash meet, often in the upper sash of S shaped bronze and in the lower sash a hook-shaped copper strip.

The side of the frame upon which the window is raised and lowered is a real problem. The weather stripping makes the window weather-proof, yet it makes it open and shut easier than it could before the application of the strip.

[Illustration:

_Courtesy of Monarch Metal Weatherstrip Co._

DOUBLE HUNG OR ORDINARY SLIDING WINDOW TREATMENT WITH WEATHERSTRIPS OBVIATES DRAUGHTS, DUST AND NOISE--SAVES COAL!]

In some brands the frame lining and sash lining are of metal. In some only the frame is metal lined. In some the frame is corrugated and the window sash slides up and down easily as the protuberance slides into the depression in the unlined sash furrow. In another brand two metal tubular strips are used, the metal protuberance fitted into a metal lined depression. Here the window slides easily and no amount of warping can disturb the nice adjustment. In such weather strips are created conditions which absolutely prevent the side action of windows, so hard to cure with carpentry or cheap types of weather strips.

The lower sash is managed as is the upper, only the strips are reversed.

OTHER CASES

The casement window has its peculiarities of treatment, as have doors and windows which open in the center.

In the casement which opens in, for example, a brass triangle is provided with “weep holes” to drain out any water which may accumulate on the sill and follow through into the room. The meeting rail is sealed in a way approximately as in the sliding window.

The sill strip is peculiarly shaped to spring into its sealing power; sometimes it is called a Z-shaped plate, each manufacturer having his own name and pet plan.

DOORS

The door sills are made with metal, and metal strips forming a sealed joint against warping, settling air, etc. There is a very nice device used to prevent the cold air let into the bedroom at night from escaping into the halls and cooling them off. On the lower edge of the door is fitted a spring which when the door is closed by contact with the hinged side of the frame releases a felted pad which fits tightly against the sill of the door. This makes one’s winter immersions a pleasure, for the bathroom, if you have one connecting with your room, as well as the hall will be warm for your morning use.

APPLICATION

Weather strips can be applied after as well as when the house is built.

“My house is so well built,” said a friend of mine, “that it does not need weather stripping.” If that could have been so, it was a unique house. There is hardly a house where the wood around the doors and the windows does not warp or shrink or do something equally obnoxious. Whether seasoned by long processes of actual weathering or rapidly kiln dried, wood in captivity becomes restless, and seems to strain and struggle in its fury. Nothing can be said against the builder--it is the nature of wood. The builder is always glad to install the strips because then the owner does not get a chance to feel antagonistic on account of recalcitrant windows, difficult heating, etc., and is therefore relieved from grumbling.

The weather strip must be put on by the experts from the manufacturers of the brand of weather strips that you buy. _Do not call in your favorite carpenter or plumber, for he cannot do it right._ The putting on of weather strips is a science in itself. They must be put on so as to insure a uniform efficiency during the inevitable warpings, shrinkings and swellings of the window. The windows have to be conditioned carefully because the stripping must be so fixed that it cannot be removed, if necessary to do anything to the window itself afterwards, such as fitting new pulley cords, etc. Every window and door offers different problems, so an expert must apply the strips to your window and door. This is not a commodity that a baby can affix--it’s a man sized job.

PURCHASING

Remember the weather stripping that you buy should last as long as the life of your house. For this reason the all metal kind is the best to buy. The metal and cloth are efficient as long as they last, and so are other combinations; but they do not last long enough. You must get a longevity insurance. They must be made of non-rusting, non-corroding materials such as bronze, copper, zinc or brass manufactured to a high degree of dependability, and subjected to the most rigid inspection and tests for accuracy, thereby awarding the buyer a rich guarantee.

Find out from users of the brand you think you will buy, before you buy, and see what they say and what their experience has been.

Weather strips can be put on any opening, and should the purveyor you speak to say this or that opening cannot be properly stripped, that is your cue for seeking elsewhere. Buy only from established makers, who will be in business for years--because in twenty or thirty years you might want a window adjusted.

Early in this article mention was made of the saving in fuel by Uncle Sam. Professor Allen, of the Research Laboratory of The American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, in a letter to the writer said:

“Roughly with ordinary good house conditions we can say that the air in a room changes every hour due to leakage around windows. With good weather strips you reduce the leakage very considerably. Of course, this depends upon the type of construction in the house. Some years ago I installed a complete system of weather stripping in an entire institution and we roughly estimated that the saving of fuel was about 15%.” Since then other tests have been made to bring the percentage of saving of fuel from 15% to 40%.

When you think that a window shade keeps in 19.2% of warm air, think what the fitted metal and interlocking strips can do.

The weather strip not only keeps the cold air out but actually by not admitting the cold air allows the heated air inside to maintain the moisture necessary for comfort. With the admission of cold air the moisture is precipitated from the air and we have not got the proper humidity necessary to be happy. The moisture in the home comes from water evaporation in kitchen lavatories, air itself which comes in, etc.

The warm air can carry the humidity, but the cold air does not do it as well, and when it strikes the warm air the latter is forced to condense.

Comfort is the main thing in the home, even more sometimes than saving fuel bills.

“Comfort,” says Professor Allen in an address, “is the prime consideration, more than maintaining a definite temperature. Getting the temperature right brings comfort. We should aim at 40% to 50% of moisture in the winter with 68 to 70 degrees.”

The fact is that the heating engineer to-day allows for about ¹⁄₃ more heating area when the house is not weather stripped. And then, sad to relate, at this consequent extra expense the house will be probably unevenly heated, because some rooms will have big window and door leaks and other rooms little leaks, so there will be overheating in some rooms and underheating in others.

Another engineer said, “I have caught snow in my hand at a distance of two feet from a tightly locked window in a house supposed to have better than ordinary construction.

“What ... can better this condition? Weather strips, metal weather strips....”

He also said in the same address on heating the home that the builder did all he could do, with the materials he had. So there is the dilemma!

The storm window can often be obviated by weather strips. The storm window is much more of a nuisance than the appliquéd weather strips. Who wants to add another set of windows to be cleaned? And who enjoys the manipulation of them in rush moments of storm and wind?

FOR WIND, DUST AND NOISE

The weather strip is the solution of the gale exposed home, of the noise, dust and weather exposed home, of any home with windows at all. It is not subject to depreciation but increases in value, and as the house depreciates the weather stripping takes on the burdens of the ever increasing depreciation and prevents any more rapid fuel consumption, keeps down the dust infiltrations and lessens the cleaning bills. If, by chance, the woodwork is still obstreperous the defect can always be corrected, if a good brand of stripping has been used.

In other words, weather strips are a good investment. Good weather strips, like any good material, are a good investment.

Much of our trouble with the heat in our homes comes from the impossibility of even heating. Do what he will, the furnace man cannot seem to heat the house. Often you say: “Why do you burn so much coal and give us so little heat?” There may be other causes, but the lack of weather stripping is very prone to be one.

QUIET AND CLEANLINESS

The charm of the house is quiet. Don’t you unconsciously gage the dignity of the homes that you visit by the quiet of them?

The weather strip keeps much of the street noises out. It dulls and reduces the raucousness of the clang and clatter.

Every housewife knows that the hangings next to the windows get very dirty. She also knows that the room gets full of dust whether the windows are closed or not. A certain amount of dust will get into the room no matter what precautions are taken, but there will be less of it when weather stripping is applied to the windows. This is a consideration worthy of notice, as the servant problem to-day makes all effort in the home more arduous and the less cleaning there is to be done the better for all concerned.

Weather strips are not a luxury. They save money and give comfort by maintaining an equal temperature and humidity, and by permitting more quiet, less drafts and a minimum of dust. Finally, the weather strip is a good investment and, although not intrinsically a thing of beauty, is a thing of duty and lasts forever.

But remember weather strips are easy to make--cheap ones. There are many mushroomic dealers--born to-day and dead to-morrow. Beware of them and buy the best.

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