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[Scott7m]

Here is the dilemma.  I have a customer with a 2 story old log home probably near 200 years old.  It has a built on addition that has probably 15" of crawl space.  It is the height of a five gallon bucket because thats what the new part is sitting on, 5 gallon buckets full of concrete.  Under the log portion of the home there is no crawlspace.  the boards/logs are practically touching the earth. 

With such limited crawl space how could one possibly do any type of system in this home?  I thought about putting two shop/style hanging heaters.  One in the new portion of the house and another in the old part.

They currently heat with an open wood fireplace and a wondercoal wood stove in the new portion.  I'd like to make this work but I have concerns over how loud the shop style heaters would be in a home.

[mober]

maybe baseboard heaters or run ductwork in the ceiling and either drywall it which means you lower the ceiling or leave exposed (you can run spiral duct and paint it)makes it look nice painted.

[Scott7m]

Ive considered baseboards in this house...  There is really not enough room to get them into most of the house..  it is a 2 story house and they always just let the heat to raise up the stairwell to heat the up stairs... 

with such minimal room under the house I'm thinking that the shop style heaters may be there only option.  But I'd appreciate any ideas people can give me!

[juddspaintballs]

Why couldn't you do hydronic baseboard?  Or, if not that, what about radiators? 

[bruey]

not enough information, if you want to leave it just the way it is , their isent much you can do, but if you are goinging to fix it up, then there are options. also your climate would be nice to know

[willieG]

i agree witht he fixing u p part also..if the floorboards are near touching the earth there is no insulating value there (and what about the rest of the house) 

if there is not enough wall space for fin tube baseboards perhaps larger (old styled rads) and these may fit the decor of the home

You need to perform a heat loss on this old home to determine the number of btu you are looking at to keep it comfy and then decide on what type of heat you need to look at. perhaps you could take up the  floor and use insulated duct and run between the floor joise from a central blower room somewhere in the home.  perhaps you could pull up the floor and put radiant betweent he floor joist (you can staple in insulation in the bottom of the joist)

i dont think you will be able to do your retro-fit without some home mods or some sort. I do believe there is hollw trim made to run wires and pipes in. it may be a little large but sometimes can fit the home quite well
good luck

[Scott7m]

I'm in northern ky, winter highs avg 30 or so and most nights are 10-15.  We do have quite a bit of days below or at 0 though.

As far as fixing up anything.  Most people around here are low income and can only afford so much. Also I'm also guessing as to how much space is under the floor, there is no way to get under it unless I dig it out with a backhoe.  The owner assume it was
sitting on 5 gallon buckets, but half the house has no space at all.  It's on the dirt!  Also they want none of the log part touched as far as drilling or cutting the old logs.  There are ajoining rooms and each room has a different floor height, the ceiling is just as up as down as the floor and already rather low.  They are looking to heat there home safely and with as little cost as possible.

[Scott7m]

As far as what it takes to heat it, they currently have a wood stove that can crank out 60000 btu max and the original fireplace, and you know how ineffective those are.. The man has problems with o2, and is looking for heat without open fire. 

[juddspaintballs]

It would be a fairly simple retrofit to use radiators (either old cast iron ones or new, high efficiency ones) and run the lines to/from them inside of a small wooden box that follows the floor/wall. 

[Scott7m]

i'm looking right now at some of these new design aluminum radiators...  those could be an option.

[TheCrier]

Could a forced air unit with ductwork run up both floors on the outside of the home like a typical chimney chase? Having the heat exchangers and fans installed in a well insulated chase would cut down the sound and still be cost effective renovation wise.

Building the chase to blend into the homes exterior 200 year decor could also be a good selling feature.....