Surviving A Chicago Winter
Christmas has come and gone and there are only 90 plus warming days until the springtime warmth and festivities that we are all eagerly awaiting. In the mean time, let’s be safe and stay warm despite the low temperatures. In our continued efforts to relate building science to anatomy and physiology, we offer the following tips for the winter months:
• When you go out in the cold weather you wear a scarf, jacket, boots, and maybe thermal underwear and wool socks. Your home would appreciate the same concern for its health and well being. It’s never too late to insulate the pipes or the attic in order to keep the home warm and the pipes from freezing. The good news is that the President of the United States is willing to help pay for the extra layers of clothing that your house wants. Go For It!
• Over working and becoming stressed out is bad for the body and its an experience that many people are familiar with during the holiday season and winter months. Over extending your electrical circuits with portable space heaters that can overheat the wiring, stresses out your building and can lead to fire. I know Chicagoans have the best firemen in the world, but why go there? Avoid the use of multiple extension cords and don’t place them under carpets where they will generate more heat or possibly spark. If you have to use electric space heaters, avoid long extension cords and plug them into outlets that don’t get hot or cause the lights to dim when the space heater is turned on.
• Keep doors and windows locked and tightly closed and consider rope caulk along the inside of the windows and other drafty areas. It is too cold for regular caulk. Rope caulk is purchased in a big wheel and looks a little like clay. This can be used to effectively stop the drafts.
• Never use your oven to heat the home! My first case as an expert witness involved a family that was heating their home with the oven to full tilt with all of the burners on and a pot of water on the stove to maintain the humidity. When the six year old daughter stepped on the open oven door to see what was going on with the water, the pot and its boiling contents fell on her and created burns that she will have to deal with for the rest of her life. The City of Chicago remains interested and committed to helping tenets make their landlords turn on the heat. Simply call 311 for the service and tell them what’s going on. Finally, the produced Carbon Monoxide from the stove could be enough to kill a family.