It’s a cruel, cruel summer

[brigid]

Mirrored from brigidkeely.com/wordpress.

When Nesko and I had a baby, it solved a very grave problem that we didn’t know existed. Apparently, the one thing the world needed to be a perfect place was for Nesko’s father to have a grandson. And now we have solved this issue, and Nesko’s father is free to dote upon Nikola and adjust the world to Nikola’s preferences.

Part of “making the world an ideal place for Nikola” was an offer to provide us with central air if Nesko would get some quotes for material and labor. See, we live in Chicago. It gets hot and humid in Chicago. So Nesko and I have been talking about the pros and cons of air conditioning.

Pros:

Air Conditioning! My God! You need a list of pros for this?

Cons:

We had central air once before, and have a bad habit of turning it on at the very first almost-warm day and leaving it on until it snows. OH AIR CONDITIONING I LOVE YOU SO.
This leads to a huge energy bill which we can’t really afford.
AC is really bad for the environment.
AC is sometimes helpful because it aids in filtering out tree pollen, which causes allergies, but then the filters and shit clog and my dust allergies are all “FUCK YOU” and my head is all “I WANT TO DIIIIIEEEEEEEE.”
Sooner or later it breaks down and we have no idea how to cope. It’s hot! With no AC! What do we dooooooo?
Did I mention the enormous energy bill? Because seriously.
We’d already been talking about getting rid of the heater and removing the weird, intrusive duct work in the apartment and using the radiators for heat. Installing AC would force our hand, and we’d have no pantry (it currently contains the heater) and intrusive ductwork FOREVER.

We’ve decided to forgo the central air. Apparently the universe heard us and cackled with glee, rubbing its hands together. The abominable heat we’ve had recently? Our fault. Sorry, Midwest.

If you are not from the midwest, let me describe the recent heat to you:

It’s so hot mercury thermometers have exploded, sending sprays of mercury out the shattered glass top of the thermometer tube thing. What’s that you say? Those kind of thermometers don’t really exist? Ok, uh, it’s so hot that electric thermometer displays have ceased working, instead showing comical illustrations of exploded old-fashioned thermometers.

It’s so hot that several people have spontaneously combusted while walking down the street.

It’s so hot that people can’t walk barefoot on pavement without getting literally burned feet.

It’s so hot that part of Lake Shore Drive buckled. Twice.

It’s so hot that we bought ice cube trays after a good five years or so of not having them (we’d been using those plastic things that have fluid in them, and you freeze them and drop them in your glass, and your beverage gets cold but doesn’t get diluted, only they don’t really work that well).

It’s so hot that we’ve been dithering about the central air question after we’d thought we’d made up our minds.

Also, we installed window units in Niko’s bedroom and our bedroom. But we only turn them on when someone’s asleep in the room, or when it’s just too hot to be alive and then I take Niko into his room and I sit on the floor and read a book while he throws blocks into his dirty clothing hamper.

We’re going to install some ceiling fans and see if that helps cool us down. (probably it will.)

Comments

[brigid]

Our building pre-dates air conditioning and actually gets super great air flow. It's designed to. It's really awesome! We get noticeable breezes in the sun room/living room, down the hall, through the kitchen and enclosed back porch. And we have a shady, tree-lined street (and no space at all to plant trees between our building and our neighbors. Not going to happen. Impossible.)

We have no attic (and there are people living above us anyway) or I'd totally push for an attic fan. My parents installed one, and it made a NOTICEABLE difference. We also have no doors that open to the outside; both exterior doors lead to enclosed stairways that lead to a "real" door, which has deadbolts and protects the building from OMG STRANGER DANGER (this neighborhood actually does have break-ins, so we are careful to keep the entryways locked).

We absolutely DO need ceiling fans in every room. Removing the weird cobbled-together ductwork will help with that because we have big ducts along the middle of the ceiling and bi-level ceilings, so any fans need to be installed on a post so they don't hit the ducts/ceiling levels. I'm sure that installing them would reduce our home's heat significantly, and they are on our to-do list above even "put in bathroom ceiling" and "obtain cooking device that has a working stove top."

The biggest problem we have is that not only does Chicago get hot, but this used to be a wetlands (and still is, in some areas) and it's really, really humid. So one sits around in the heat, and one sweats, and the sweat doesn't go anywhere or do anything except harass one and make one want to die. Or roll around in a snowbank. Or turn the AC on to 50*. Or whine a lot about how hot it is.

[sara]

Yeah, this house was built in 1973, so it's natural air flow skills were...limited, at best.

The locking screen door we put on is one of those steel security doors, actually -- the kind people put up in sketchy neighborhoods, with a deadbolt in it. It isn't the most mosquito-proof thing, but I think it's actually more secure than the other door. Dunno if it would really work to try to draft cold air up a staircase, though. Even with fans, that's traditionally unsuccessful. *G*

If you've got decent joists and you're replacing an existing light fixture, putting in a ceiling fan is, like, a weekend project (indeed, I think C. did both of ours in a weekend). And they make drops for a lot of styles that match the fixture.

And oh yeah, my one (semi-notorious) visit to Chicago was two Augusts ago. I was amazed by the number of pop-up pools, when we flew in, and after about 20 minutes in town was not amazed at all by the number of pop-up pools (then I was mostly amazed by the rats and the way there are, like, five train stations with the same name, which is really confusing for out-of-towners).

[brigid]

Nesko grew up managing apartment buildings, so he can basically install ceiling fans in his sleep while drunk. I mean, in theory. It's super rare that he's drunk or doing home maintenance in his sleep. We even know what ceiling fans we want, but are waiting for some cash to free up.

The reason so many train stations have the same name, which IS confusing for people who don't ride the train often, is that they are named after the street the station is on. So there's like five Western stops, because Western Avenue is a huge street with a lot happening.

We don't really have enough yard for a kiddy pool. My in-laws have a good sized one, though. I think it's inflatable, but don't remember.

The staircase in the front has a window which is ALWAYS closed, which honestly is good because if it were open we'd get water damage every time it rained because nobody would remember to close it. It's really shady and is often 5* cooler in the outside staircase than in the actual apartment, but I don't know that fans would help draft the air AND our front doors (our apartment and the one upstairs) can't really stand open. They open onto a narrow hall and would basically block the hall.

I think the kitchen would have been pleasanter before the back porch was enclosed, because then there'd be two windows kitty corner from each other. But the enclosed porch has two big windows we leave open all the time in the summer (and the window between the porch and kitchen is still there, lol) and now that it's enclosed we have a washer and dryer. So I'm really not complaining about that. :) I think we should get some UV film for the porch windows, actually, now that I think about it. It gets really REALLY hot out there with the blinds up. It's all parking back there, so no trees to shade us.

[sara]

Oh yah, I bet he can do it even drunk and without a stepladder. *GRIN*

We kept having to try to go places near different Western stations. Time-sensitive things. In the heat. I got a lot of blisters and by the second day wasn't sure if I needed to cuss or cry more (we were staying in a B&B which was, yes, convenient to the bride and groom's apartment, but where there was no non-permit parking, so we couldn't just rent a car. It was such an exhausting week and I really missed the kids and C. was in the wedding party and I wasn't so we were supposed to be different places at different times. I finally ended up hiding in the Art Institute.)

I wonder if you could cut a fan hatch in the door. Though you're probably glad of the extra insulation in the winter.

We did UV film in one of the downstairs windows and it definitely seems to have helped. The bathroom, we used one of those semi-opaque vinyl films and I don't know how the heat resistance stacks up, but it was a MUCH easier product to work with.

[brigid]

Our front door (main entryway and apartment door) are both 100 year old solid oak doors. Our apartment door has slag glass panels (well, 3 panels, only one of which is original slag glass but we're looking fore replacement panels).

I don't want to damage the door OR allow any ingress for winter's OMGWTFCOLD.

We want to put vinyl film on the bathroom window because our neighbors can see right into our bathroom while they're leaving their house through the back door. I don't think that stuff does anything for heat resistance.

One of the worst things about the CTA is that it's hard to get the fold-up paper maps now that show you, you know, where the routes and stops are. It's like somebody said "Whelp, we're changing some routes and don't know if we'll be changing them again soon so... fuck it. No maps." A lot of the stations don't even have posted maps at this point, and then you get on the train and somebody's stolen the route maps that should hang over the doors. It's a hot mess. Once you've gotten used to it (or can do lots of checking and verifying online) it's convenient and manageable. But when you're not used to it... eh.

[sara]

Oh, yeah, that you leave alone.

I think it does keep the drafts down in the winter; I don't know that it does anything at all about heat, though. A lot cheaper than replacing the window with something with opaque glass, too.

Yeah, I had this huge fold-out AAA map, which showed transit stops but not lines, and of course reading a big AAA map in the middle of downtown was like mounting a giant "I AM NOT FROM AROUND HERE!" sign on my back.

[brigid]

At least in my experience, Chicagoans are really super friendly about people who are lost/clueless and are quick to point you in the right direction.

Our windows are pretty new. I think they are drafty, to the point where they should have storm windows or something, but maybe the walls were just really cold? I don't think our walls are... actually... insulated. I mean, with something other than newspaper. When we eventually gut this place (plaster and lathe walls with wallboard covering them, burying a lot of vintage woodwork) insulating the walls is totally on the agenda.