The Weather And Our Homes

( Originally Published Early 1900's )

HOW often have we heard the comment that man's primary requisites are food, clothing, and shelter, and that his progress may be measured in proportion to his success in acquiring them! Probably no one would hesitate to accept the doctrine that the clothing which primitive or modern peoples wear reflects the climatic conditions of the regions which they inhabit. From naked Hottentots in the humid tropics to fur-clad Eskimos of the frozen north, man adjusts himself to the climatic elements of the environment in which he earns his living. As with clothing, so with shelter, the type of man's dwelling bears witness to both the resources at hand and the climatic factor. Tribes in hot humid Central Africa build houses of reed or straw with conical roofs to shed the copious rains, while in the Arctic the Eskimo constructs a domed hut, shaped out of blocks of ice, to afford protection from strong winds and heavy falls of snow. In Mediterranean regions like Italy or Spain, or our own Florida districts, where a distinct dry season is accompanied by a penetrating sun, the flat-topped roof and squarish-shaped house set among the broad-leaved palms is the style of architecture we seem naturally to expect. In northern European countries where wood has been abundant through the ages the timber structure with spires and steep-pitched roof to shed the heavy winter snows harmonizes well with the spired evergreens of that northern territory. In recent years, however, with wood, becoming more costly and stone structures more practicable, the use of native granites, basalts, and other igneous rocks has suggested massiveness and straight-line designs.

Perhaps at no other time have we in the United States been so impressed with varying types of architecture as at present because of the importation of foreign styles into areas in which they are entirely out of harmony with the landscape. For example, it is not uncommon to find in the upper Mississippi Valley residential structures whose outline as well as materials are those characteristic of the desert regions, or a Swiss chalet isolated upon the low plains far away from its mountain setting, where it normally overlooks the green waters of a glacial lake or is nestled at the foot of towering snow-capped mountains.

Radicalism at times may be desirable, but when it assumes the form of architectural bolshevism, a counter-revolution seemes justifiable.

The mixture of architectural designs in the United States has come about no doubt through the assortment of peoples who settled this country and the development in engineering technique which has introduced types of construction equally effective in contrasting climatic environments. Most of the architecture of our homes is of the transplanted variety. We are just beginning to evolve a type of architecture characteristically American in the designs of office buildings. We have not yet become wholly independent of our climates in either exterior or interior designs and construction associated with the public building or the home. Since more of us may exert an influence in home-building than in office structures or other public edifices, we shall con-fine most of our attention to the relation of the weather to our well-being in the home.

The heating and cooling of a structure, varying with the amount and intensity of insolation, as well as the atmospheric humidity and the strength of the wind, requires a plan which al-lows for the exposure of rooms in accordance with the variability of these elements. While most of us favor all possible sunshine within our rooms, yet in regions where extremely high temperatures accompany the sun's rays consideration must be given to the hours of the day when the particular rooms are to be occupied. If, for example, they are used mostly in the afternoon, then an eastern or southeastern exposure may be preferable to a southern or western exposure. On the other hand, a northwestern or northeastern exposure might well meet a given situation. Some builders of office sky-scrapers take these items into consideration and, in renting office space, base part of the value upon exposure.

In the case of residential construction the orientation of the buildings with respect to intensity and duration of sunshine is equally important. In fact, it may be said in many respects to have a greater significance than the public building, because we spend so large a part of our time in the home. In those latitudes where summers are especially hot and winters are quite cold, the problem involves one of so adjusting the exposure of the various rooms that, while they may receive a fair amount of sunshine the year round, the amount of summer sun will not be excessive. On the other hand, they should be so located that in the winter season a maximum number of hours of sunshine are possible. A room with an east-west axis, and windows at both ends of the axis, probably approaches most nearly the condition which will provide for both the receipt of sunlight and coolness in the summer period and a considerable amount of sun in the winter period. It must be remembered that the maximum altitude of the sun above the horizon in winter is lower than in the summer, and consequently those rays entering our windows do so at an angle low enough to penetrate farther into the room than they do in the summer time. This variation, of course, is desirable in view of the differences in temperature at these two seasons.

Engineers and social workers interested in model cities and the general scheme of city planning are directing much of their attention to the proper spacing of homes and to sufficient street widths to provide ample sunshine and air circulation between the rows of houses and public buildings. The set-back plan in our newer sky-scrapers represents a response to the urge for more direct sunlight and a freer air movement in the offices. At first, when the setback was suggested, great opposition arose because of the loss of floor space and consequent necessary reduction in number of offices. But the apparent monetary loss which was feared has been more than offset by the higher rentals which may be demanded for lighter and healthier offices and the willingness which the public shows in paying more for a better product.

Many real-estate companies have committed serious errors in some of their subdivision plans since the war ended. The war created a temporary shortage of homes, and the automobile developed an enthusiasm for suburban life. This furnished the basis for the opening of new land to settlement along the margins of city boundaries. In place of allotting broad frontages along the newly platted streets, real-estate men frequently left them small because they sold property at so much a lot rather than on a front foot basis. They worked on the sound theory that the narrower the lot the more lots in the subdivision and the greater the monetary returns. While this type of subdividing brings immediate lucrative returns to a few, the community pays a high bill in the long run. For better health, for beauty of landscape, and for better citizenship, light and air are fundamental. These should have first consideration in every city plan.

A kitchen, whether in private dwelling or public restaurant, should enjoy some sunshine, but needs also to be kept as cool as possible to off-set the heat developed by the cook-stove. A northerly exposure, generally northeast, is most effective. In middle latitudes this arrangement provides for a few hours of early morning sun-shine in the summer, while for the rest of the day protection is afforded from the outdoor rapid rise in temperature. Some direct rays may enter the room at sunset, depending upon the window exposure on the north side of the kitchen.

The rising cost of fuel has stimulated research into methods for insulating buildings against the loss of heat. Wall board of various kinds, some made from sugar-cane, some from corn-stalks, and from still other materials, are used either in place of wood storm sheathing on residence walls or in addition to the normal wall structural materials. Felting is emphasized as a lining, and powdered insulating materials are poured between attic floor joists. These devices are not merely plays upon the imagination but prevent considerable losses of heat by radiation. They serve in still another capacity namely, as coolers. All of these substances are poor heat conductors and therefore, when the rays of the hot summer sun attempt to penetrate the building walls, they are slowed up and the heating of the interior of the building checked. Accordingly a home or office building properly insulated may be made more comfortable both in winter and in summer than one not insulated, and at the same time the increased joy in living contrary to the usual procedure is accomplished through economy, the initial investment in insulating being a relatively small item. The United States Bureau of Standards has devised an instrument for determining the rate of conduction of various kinds of wall construction. We need no longer guess ; a communication sent to this bureau will bring forth much valuable information for those interested in the relative resistance to heat of various wall types.

Precipitation is another important climatic and weather element which ought to receive careful consideration. The pitch of the roof should be proportional to the frequency and amount of rainfall in the region; it should also bear a relationship to the amount of snowfall. The roof supports should be proportioned to the amount of snow which is likely to accumulate upon the roof. It is hardly necessary to cite the many in-stances of roofs which have collapsed after heavy falls of snow. The pitch of the roof should not be so steep that wet snow, which has a tendency to accumulate, will slide in such large quantities as to endanger the lives of passing pedestrians. Many roofs are equipped with wire hooks to check snow-slides. The only disadvantage of a device of this sort lies in the fact that it encourages the accumulation of snow, which in turn places an extra strain upon the roof's carrying capacity and consequently necessitates stouter supports than might be otherwise utilized if snow-catchers were not employed.

The pitch of the roof needs to be considered in relation to the amount of rainfall quite as well as snowfall. Roofs should not be so flat as to invite standing water. The gutters need to be sufficiently large to take care of the maximum flowoff which is likely to occur in an excessive down-pour. Downspouts should have a diameter large enough to care for excessive rains, even where they occur only occasionally.

A discussion of precipitation suggests the consideration of the run-off of water from the surface around a structure. If the soil is sandy to a depth below that of the foundation of the building, more than likely drainage will be satisfactory and will not result in seepage of water into the basement floor. However, should the rock or soil structure consist of heavy shale or clay, the drainage is likely to be very slow, if not rather obstinate, and to create a considerable amount of trouble, unless drain tile is placed around the base of the foundation. In some instances tile should be laid both inside and outside the foundation, in order to insure against seepage into the building. The cost of this extra installation is small in proportion to the benefit derived, for once the foundation of a building is laid and the dirt packed around it, the introduction of tile at a later time is often quite costly and frequently unsatisfactory.

Adjustment to the strength of the wind is fundamental to all building design. Structures, whether residential or for publie purposes, must withstand the pressure exerted against their walls by the maximum wind velocity likely to occur in the region. The thickness and kinds of supports depend, of course, upon the proposed height as well as the likely maximum wind velocity. The strength of glass in the windows will be conditioned by probable strength of wind. Most sky-scrapers are built to resist winds of seventy-five to one hundred miles an hour. In the recent Florida hurricanes the Weather Bureau anemometer at Miami recorded 128 miles an hour for a five-minute period, while at Pensacola 152 miles an hour for a single minute was reported. At the latter city the wind was reported by the Weather Bureau to have blown "about 100 miles an hour most of the time for four hours." Yet most buildings remained standing. Just how much these structures were weakened no avail-able data indicate, but there can be no doubt that many of them needed reinforcement immediately after the storm and others will reveal weaknesses at a later time.

In the tornado areas, largely confined to the Mississippi Basin, complete protection against high winds is a difficult matter, because the tornado cloud, as we have already noted, respects no structure. Experience to date tells us that a building enveloped by a tornado cloud cannot survive.

Now that we have surveyed the relationship of home construction to the weather, we may with equal profit step into the kitchen, where the art of cookery is practised to the end that we may be nourished sufficiently to enjoy life within and without the home. Cooking and baking experiences are often described as having been associated with "good luck" or "bad luck," when as a matter of fact luck played no part; the weather perhaps was to blame. Baking and cooking need no longer follow the haphazard methods of long ago. Scientists, home-economics experts, manufacturers of utensils, have all contributed to take these vital processes out of the realm of guess-work and have placed them among the list of the exact sciences. The reactions in the preparation of foods are either chemical, physical, or a combination of both. Which of these two is the more critical it is impossible to say, their relative importance frequently depending upon the preparation itself. Perhaps it is not necessary that we should say which supersedes the other, but one element we are convinced stands out significantly —the weather.

Two elements in the weather share in the success or failure of cookery humidity and air-pressure. The amount of moisture in the out-door air varies from day to day or even from hour to hour. When we have no furnace going or other artificial source of heat in the house, the humidity indoors is essentially the same as outside. When, however, the stove or furnace fire is going, as in winter, then the moisture content of the rooms is generally quite low, always lower than out-of-doors. Now such changes in the water vapor content of the kitchen air often determine the success or failure of our cooking for the day. A high moisture content that is, a muggy atmosphere slows up most cooking processes, checks evaporation of moisture from foods, and consequently requires longer periods than usual to cook them done. Pastry may be less crisp than normally and bread dough. may refuse to rise according to schedule. Some foods which according to formula ought to bake "lightly" may take a decided slump and consolidate ground, as it were. Such are the strange phenomena that test the mental balance of many a housewife. It is unfortunate that not as much can be done to offset these effects in the home as in large bakeries or general commissaries. In such institutions humidity controls may be introduced which make it possible to increase or decrease the moisture content of the air at will. Great bread manufacturing establishments can hardly afford to gamble on thousands of loaves daily. They must be right. We can, however, help ourselves some-what in the home by cooking with the aid of hygrometers and thermometers. At a normal room temperature of 70° F. the relative humidity 'should read between 60 per cent and 70 per cent. If the hygrometer shows a relative humidity well above 70 per cent, then it will be necessary to cook or bake foods longer than usual.

The question quite naturally arises as to how much additional time is necessary. Here is where our friend the thermometer enters. Most foods are cooked done at a given temperature when the relative humidity is normal that is, from 60 percent to 70 per cent. To insure cooking success in air having higher or lower per cents of moisture it is only necessary to let the food cook accordingly to a higher or lower temperature. Herein may occur just a little difficulty, since no schedule based on the relative humidity has yet been worked out. However, a little observation by the housewife will produce the desired schedule and thereafter remove much of the guesswork.

The pressure of the air, too, plays a part in our cookery, and while not so far-reaching as that of the temperature and relative humidity combination, yet we can hardly consider it unimportant. On days when the pressure is normal or above, the cook is in a splendid mood and friend wife greets the husband with smiles; but when the pressure is below thirty inches, then be-ware, for things do not seem to go just right. The cake falls, the eggs boil softer than they should, although they have been in the water the same length of time as usual, and the day generally goes wrong.

Many expert housekeepers may flaunt at the suggestion of introducing these aids into the kitchen in addition to other mechanical helps now used in the home. Their long years of experience, we dare say costly at times, now enables them to prepare the most elaborate and exacting dinner with reassuring skill. Nevertheless, it is safe to assert that many a pound of food still goes the way of the refuse can, or not infrequent is the occurrence of a little family difference, both of which might be avoided with the assistance of the faithful thermometer and hygrometer.

Assured of good things to eat, we still have weather problems in the home to solve. Some days we feel fine, and then again on other days, for no apparent reason, we are irritable, a burden to ourselves, and generally out of sorts with the whole world. If no organic disarrangement can be discovered, if no financial reverses have occurred, if no disappointments have arisen to disturb our normal equilibrium, then the chances are our troubles may be due to the weather. The weather trio, consisting of the barometer, hygrometer, and thermometer, can help us discover what's wrong. If the barometer reads below thirty inches and the hygrometer shows a relative humidity of over 70 per cent, with the air temperature between 75° F. and 90° F., then the blood circulation is likely to be sluggish, and that frequently induces restlessness and a generally out-of-sorts feeling not easily counteracted un-, less we are possessed with a superabundance of good humor. If the air-pressure, humidity, and temperature are normal but the wind has been howling for twelve or eighteen hours, or longer, we are likely to display a bit of irritability. On the other hand, when we arise in the early morning feeling "up and doing," "full of pep," ready to go through with a great day's work, then we may be certain that the barometer is at thirty inches or over, the relative humidity ranges from 50 per cent to 70 per cent, and the temperature is neither too low nor too high for the particular season of the year.

We have observed what manufacturers and retailers are accomplishing by way of "making" their own indoor weather. To install equipment to accomplish similar results in the home would cost considerably more than the average family can bear. However, this need not prevent us from adopting a few simple measures to maintain as nearly ideal atmospheric conditions in the home as possible.

Particularly in those parts of the country where winters are cold enough to require furnaces or stoves in the home, the moisture content of the air in our rooms is low. Not infrequently the relative humidity hovers between 10 per cent and 20 per cent, a characteristic of arid and semi-arid regions. Probably no weather element, unless it be continuously high winds, makes us so irritable and restless as a dry atmosphere. We can relieve this condition to a Iarge extent through the use of shallow pans of water placed upon the heat registers, radiators, or other heating apparatus. Shallow pans of Iarge surface area are preferable to deep pans of small surface area, because evaporation takes place from the surface only, and naturally the larger the surface area, the more water which may be evaporated at a given moment. Evaporation is hastened by the heat under the pan, hence the less the depth of water, the more quickly all of the water can be heated and the more rapidly it will be evaporated. Plants in the room help to supply moisture to the air, since their total leaf surface offers a notably large area from which water is evaporated. Plants give up moisture by the process called transpiration, and the transpired droplets of water upon the leaves readily evaporate into the air. Where steam heat is in use, steam may be permitted to escape from the radiators. However, care must be taken not to allow the steam to issue too rapidly. It must escape so slowly that the water vapor has time to scatter through the air before condensation can occur. Experience will show that a continuously rapid flow of steam into the room will soon result in a heavy deposit of water on the walls, which of course should be avoided.

The importance of the right amount of moisture in our homes cannot be overestimated. An experience in a school-room where the relative humidity was equivalent to that of the desert will serve to indicate the profound influence of atmospheric moisture upon us mortals. The restlessness and sleepiness of the students had become quite noticeable. The instructor was willing to assume responsibility for the lack of interest in his class and therefore tried numerous measures to alleviate the situation but to no avail. It then occurred to him that the :humidity in the air might be low. Observations proved his suspicions to be correct. The relative humidity aver-aged about 19 per cent, when it should have been no less than 50 per cent and perhaps 60 per cent. Steps were taken to introduce water vapor into the air as it was fanned into the room. The immediate results were almost startling. The students took on new life; even the instructor gained in vigor and enthusiasm. The trouble had been that the cold outdoor air, at temperatures well below freezing, was raised to a temperature of nearly 70° F. in three minutes' time by passing it over hot coils, but not one drop of moisture had been introduced. The relative amount, therefore, in the warmed air was only 19 per cent.

Relative humidity alone does not play so important a part in our home comfort as it does in association with the temperature. As we have al-ready indicated, the percentage of moisture in the air is dependent upon the temperature. We can sometimes relieve a low relative humidity by reducing the temperature. Often when we feel "chilly" we shovel more fuel into the stove or furnace, or open the drafts to force more rapid combustion. We raise the temperature to 75° F. or 80° F., and then if we succeed in dispelling chilliness we probably find ourselves growing sleepy, and if we are comfortably set, reading the evening paper or a good book, shortly fall fast asleep. What we should have done when we felt the first chills was to have noted the relative humidity, which in all probability we would have found low. Then, had we reduced the temperature of the room to 70 ° F. or 68° F., we would have automatically raised the relative amount of moisture in the air and relieved our discomfort.

It is far better for our general health to keep temperatures moderate, even bordering upon coolness, than to maintain them continuously high. An added wrap is preferable to less clothing if thereby we can enjoy the proper relative humidity. We are likely to be free from colds and other respiratory diseases when we prevent the sensitive membranes of the nose and throat from drying. When these organs are exposed to a normally moist atmosphere they can make better adjustments to rapid temperature changes than when parched. The medical world has made tremendous contributions toward increasing the span of life, and by affording effective cures have enabled us to enjoy the span with greater comforts. However, it remains for the engineer to work out economical means for controlling the weather in our homes, to the end that many of the causes of our ills may be eliminated and life made still more secure and worth while.