Bathtub in the Wall - March 15, 2018

Past the third Nor'easter storm in 11 days and March 1-day snowfall record in Boston, I stood looking out my window, admiring the clarity of my gas-filled triple-pane glass, so clear, I actually I felt like I was outside with the loud traffic and breeze on my face. But I was inside, experiencing a wicked draft!

It wasn’t the windows or my well-insulated walls, it was the space in between. At first, I thought a little draft isn’t so bad, then, I remembered what happens in a bathtub. The water is fluid, like the air in my living room; it doesn’t matter how contained it is, eventually, it will all flow down the drain.

In other words, a small gap in the wall is where all the heat will escape. This effect feels small because my heater is continuously replacing that loss. But beware – it is like having a drain hole in the wall.