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Many turn of the century homes have large “sleeper porches” as the science of the day thought there were health benefits to sleeping outside. TB was an issue ba

Many turn of the century homes have large “sleeper porches” as the science of the day thought there were health benefits to sleeping outside. TB was an issue back then.

hotnfresh 3y ago
They also get so fucking hot in the summer that, If there’s no breeze to drive air up-and-out through the attic and give you good cross-breezes through various important airways in the house, it’s cooler to sleep outside. Source: have owned a 1910s-construction house on the national historic registry that didn’t have any insulation or central AC. We weren’t in a hot part of the country but still slept on the front porch about two weeks a year, when window AC in the bedrooms couldn’t keep up with the heat.
- nemo44x 3y ago
  Does your home have working windows and are they double hung sash windows? The intent was the bottom sash would be opened on the cool side of the house and the upper sash on the hot side. This would create an airflow of cooler air entering and warmer air exiting. Well placed fans would help create airflow. But you’re right, people also used them for the hottest nights too.
  - hotnfresh 3y ago
    Yeah, the layout of the house and lots of huge, openable windows could get you pretty far in terms of keeping it comfortable (most modern houses cannot do that, and are horrible even in moderate temps without AC) but if the breeze was weak and temps got past 90F nothing would help much. You could run a window AC non-stop all night and keep it close to 80, maybe, but that was still too uncomfortable to make it worth the insane electric bill that would follow (no insulation, original single-pane windows, no modern mostly-airtight envelope in the walls—I do mean the AC unit would run all night). Without that option we’d probably have had more like 5-6 patio-sleeping weeks per year, instead of 1-2.

Many turn of the century homes have large “sleeper porches” as the science of the day thought there were health benefits to sleeping outside. TB was an issue back then.

hotnfresh 3y ago

They also get so fucking hot in the summer that, If there’s no breeze to drive air up-and-out through the attic and give you good cross-breezes through various important airways in the house, it’s cooler to sleep outside. Source: have owned a 1910s-construction house on the national historic registry that didn’t have any insulation or central AC. We weren’t in a hot part of the country but still slept on the front porch about two weeks a year, when window AC in the bedrooms couldn’t keep up with the heat.

nemo44x 3y ago
Does your home have working windows and are they double hung sash windows? The intent was the bottom sash would be opened on the cool side of the house and the upper sash on the hot side. This would create an airflow of cooler air entering and warmer air exiting. Well placed fans would help create airflow. But you’re right, people also used them for the hottest nights too.
- hotnfresh 3y ago
  Yeah, the layout of the house and lots of huge, openable windows could get you pretty far in terms of keeping it comfortable (most modern houses cannot do that, and are horrible even in moderate temps without AC) but if the breeze was weak and temps got past 90F nothing would help much. You could run a window AC non-stop all night and keep it close to 80, maybe, but that was still too uncomfortable to make it worth the insane electric bill that would follow (no insulation, original single-pane windows, no modern mostly-airtight envelope in the walls—I do mean the AC unit would run all night). Without that option we’d probably have had more like 5-6 patio-sleeping weeks per year, instead of 1-2.