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The exhaust gases that have been going up the chimney may now be spilling back into the room; with a tester, check the carbon monoxide fumes near pipes going to the chimney. For those superâ€"sealed houses with too much humidity, the solution is a heat recovery ventilator unit that will exhaust some hot moist air from the house. By a system of baffles, it will heat up the drier fresh air that it draws in to replace the but the comtort level rises (no drafts) and you will save energy (money!) If you cannot get the house effectively sealed you will have to rely on humidifiers, either in the furnace plenum or small ones in a few rooms. One word of caution. If you are sucâ€" cessful in making the house relatively airtight you might create a hazard with the furnace and gasâ€"fired water heater. They have been operating with a plentiful supply of fresh air and may now be starved. Humidifiers give you some problems, too. Those for the furnace cannot be set and forgotten because as the outside air gets very cold you have to content yourâ€" self with slightly drier air to prevent conâ€" densation on windows. Room humidifiers that produce mist can leave a fine white dust on everything depending on the hardness of your water. The dissolved minerals in the water are left floating about as the water evapoâ€" rates. The reason leaky houses get so dry is that the outside air at, say 0°C, can regisâ€" ter 50 per cent relative humidity, but when you bring that same air inside and heat it up 20 degrees, its relative humidiâ€" ty drops below 10 per cent. The solution? Weatherproofing. Caulk around all doors and window frames, around all pipes, vents and chimâ€" neys as they pass through walls and ceilâ€" ings. There are even kits you can buy to seal electric outlets that are located on exterior walls so they don‘t leak air. This will not only cut the loss of air, but the comfort level rises (no drafts) and vyou will save energy (money!) If vou Hard to believe? Not really when you consider the small cracks around a few windows and doors can add up to an area the six of a small window. Think of it as staying wide open in the winter. Since houses cannot be left to their own devices, we have to intervene and adjust the moisture to a comfortable 40â€" 60 per cent relative humidity. In older houses we can do that a numâ€" ber of ways. The cheapest and most obviâ€" ous is to seal up the cracks and crevices to retain more of the inside air. It is not unusual in an older house for there to be two or three complete changes of air through leakage every hour. And the new homes? They are sealed so efficiently they are airtight and the moisture level in the winter rises dramatiâ€" cally if it is not attended to. People breathe out moisture and they perspire, plants transpire, kitchens and bathrooms put great quantities of moisâ€" ture into the air. It can condense on any surface that is cooler than the air, such as windows and doors. Older houses that have tiny cracks and crevices all over the exterior become so dry during winter heating season that wooden furniture cracks, pianos go out of tune, people get electric shocks just walkâ€" ing over carpeted areas, their skin itches and flakes, and noses and throats get parched. It‘s a bad scene. Nature has the same problem and even our houses cannot comply. Consider the matter of humidity. Left to their own devices, houses produce too much or too little of it. Over 2,000 years ago the Greeks came up with the concept "Nothing in excess; Everything in moderation." We still have trouble applying this simple dictum, but we are not alone. Comtofrtable humidity level & 5ee. Call LILIANA GONIN 338â€"2000 GUONIN 336â€"FO00.â€"©.:â€"=~~ .4. 90 ce s 2 ; 0 0 6 o 0 0 06 6 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 06 0o o0 0 0 0 0 o 6 o o The window sill (technically called ; stool when it is on the inside of a win dow) is a likely candidate for some atten Humidity is a constant in bathroom and it is moisture that gives rise to most of the maintenance problems. So listen up, all you folks who are not compulsive housekeepers, and learn how to do some maintenance in areas you may have overlooked. expelled air. If excessive humidity occurs only occasionally, make more use of kitchen and bathroom fans and take shower showers. But remember you are wasting energy when you exhaust a lot of your heated air through fans. Maintain Bathroom We spend a good part of our waking hours in the bathroom and we are inclined to take its appearance for grantâ€" ed. Things change so slightly from day to day we are not aware. GONIN 338â€"92000 GONIN 338â€"2000 ) i you â€" d ate (BRHN; .=» $ + * esmmz V * Te NCE â€" H "MATTAMY TOWNKOME LUXURIOUS UPGRADES OVER 1 /4 ACRE LOMN SINGLE DETACHEDâ€"GLEN ABBEY nally langscaped. A Around Call LILIANA Call LIUANA broadioom. To view GONIN 338â€"2000. GONIN 338â€"2000 WALK TO LAKE & GAIRLOCH On the container there will be instrucâ€" tions as to how long you have until the epoxy starts to harden up (sometimes as soon as five minutes, but usually much longer) so keep that in mind as you work. When it has cured you can sand the stool with sandpaper on a block to keep the surface level. Clean off the dust and paint the stool, which is now stronger than the original. Repair consists of mixing a twoâ€"part epoxy wood filler and spreading it with a putty knife so it is forced into the holes and then the surface built up to its origiâ€" nal level. If you find any sponginess in the wood, scrape away any that comes up easily and drill oneâ€"eighth inch holes into the sound wood every oneâ€"quarter inch or so. Protect it so it dries out thoroughly. If it is not religiously mopped up it will find its way through breaks in the protective enamel and start to rot the wood. Replacing the stool is no small task; so take some preventive mainteâ€" nance. tion for possible rotting. The windows and walls that fairly run with water as a result of long hot showers will leave pudâ€" dles on the window stool. IMMACULATE! rlk, lakeviews from er buy. Call LILIANA w Kif olari call LLIANA Call LILIANA hen with 2 200Q *J