My grandpa had problems with heat escaping the house very quickly even though he insulated it pretty well. I borrowed my friend's little smartphone-mounted thermal camera and mounted it on a drone and we were able to find all spots in the roof where heat was escaping and after insulating them, my grandpa's coal usage dropped by almost 20%. It's shocking how much heat can escape through seemingly well-insulated roof. Great video!
@@huntsbychainsaw5986 Even though we never even need a heater here (tropical weather) when I heard that brits still used coal to heat their houses, my thoughts is just why?
We used the heat with coal. There are no gas heating mains where I live, so we had to get an oil tank installed. As this was expensive, it took a while for the installation to be done.
I could imagine a tired scientist working odd hours and accidentally falling asleep int he house, only for the other scientists to "haunt" him/her by randomly opening and closing doors.
A new series! I've got a few videos coming up that showcase some brilliant, but not well known, research labs. Normally I'd file them under "Amazing Places", but that doesn't quite feel right, so there's a brand new playlist and a brand new logo. I say "brand new", it's still written in Helvetica, so don't worry too much about change.
Names of fonts and the underlying code can be copyrighted. The look of the font cannot be, which is why there are so many clones of popular fonts. Licensing of fonts varies, and that can control what it's used for. In practice, fonts that come with operating systems and word processing programs are licensed for any use.
I'm really glad you did this video. There are many important subjects, like energy efficiency, that unfortunately quite a few simply find boring. Finding something that is widely interesting (even to those who find the overall topic a snore) can really help people think about these topics. I don't know how many people will go away and actually find some energy efficiency methods that suit their house but I'm hopeful.
I live in an 80 year old house in San Francisco - a lot of homes here are similar in age. It definitely isn't the most energy efficient but we make the best out of it. Better windows, some insulation here, etc. does wonders. I definitely see some business opportunities for this.
Except they can never ever go outside. We could tell them climate change happened and now the weather changes from freezing cold to boiling hot every 30 seconds. That would be a fun show.
Now this is something i literally never heard about anywhere neither the thought of such experiment happening ever came to my mind. I appreciate your content Tom, it not only shows just the exciting things but also those that are quite unique. Have a nice day :)
When they're simulating winter during the actual winter, then the fridge in that house is a cooled space inside a heated space inside a cooled space inside a heated space inside a cold place.
I graduated this year with a degree in physics from the University of Salford, they let us have a walk around joule terrace and the temperature sensors are so precise they will detect a temperature increase from someone walking into the text environment, awesome stuff. Glad to see it cover on your channel!
I ran across your site just today and I must say your post are very interesting, right up my alley as they say, History, geography and science oddities (and those not so odd) I find fun to watch, keep up the good work, nice site.
Good to see people working on this. Old housing has always been a thorn in my eye. They are leaky, poorly insulated and it sucks to live in them in both the winter and summer because it's either too cold or too hot. Sure hope we get some results from this in "the real world" soon.
I can't say for the UK, but updating and improving "old" construction homes (late 1800s, early/mid 1900s) has been a thing in the US for the better part of 3 decades. You can watch episode of "This Old House" from the late 80s/early 90s and they are retrofitting old Boston (where the show originated) homes with improved windows, insulation and the lot. Granted the tech has improved since ~1990, but the intent and underlying methods have been around for a long time. The troubles come in places like Pomona, California (where I used to live) where homes in "Historic Districts" are so overly protected, that doing reasonable upgrades (like replacing metal swing-out windows with wooden or vinyl) is illegal, because the letter of the law requires "like for like", where a metal swing out window has to be replaced with a metal swing out window. It becomes entirely impractical, because no such things are currently made, requiring custom fabrication, which is expensive, and still won't be much improved because of the materials required.
ThaTyger, Similar to perhaps half the Australian housing stock which was built before insulation became readily available. Weatherboard outside, tongue-in groove inside or something like Masonite, no insulation of any kind, multiple windows to let air in during summer - cold as charity in the cooler months.
Every sixth row has the bricks set with their headers [the smallest face] exposed. This is known as "common bond" or "American bond" - it's an unusual bond in a British house!
Its a mere 45 years since professor Randall built 4 highly insulated houses at Salford Uni for the same price as a typical council house. What have we learned since then with 150mm insulated cavities, 300mm roof insulation, triple glazing and heat recovery ventilation. I understand the houses were so well insulated they only needed a low cost gas fire to heat them!
While I love the short form and informative videos like this and a lot of the channel, there are a lot of topics such as this where every now and then you want a 10-20min video explaining in much greater detail and how it can effect me and what I can do to improve my home. I live in a 1940's mid terrace home, rental property, drafty windows, old boiler. It's one of the few videos you do where I would love some more in depth info, not just who is doing the work, but how that work can help me. Just my 2 cents on the matter
Cool Project. I hope they are monitoring the air quality inside the house. Because a lot of these energy efficiency improvement make the houses so airtight you get a build up of damp stale air. This promotes mould which is terrible for our lungs, especially us asthmatics.
Because of the British climate, it almost never rains on a still day, so it's almost always windy. The wind will blow the rain sideways. There are places in the world where overhead cover is adequate to keep somewhere dry. The UK isn't one of them; if it's not covered on all four sides, then the rain will blow in.
In particularly mountainous areas the rain can go up. We have rain that is more like a thick mist which is very easily blown around in a squall. So on hillsides the rain can follow the hillside up. I think it's found effect or similar,
0:38 how do you know which will work? I'm little skeptical about this approach. It gives results for one building, but all buildings are different. The size and position of the openings relative to landscape is very important, quality of construction is very important. I think those can outweigh the differences of weather from one year to another. Of course new building materials and structures are carefully measured by the industry, and engineers calculate the heat losses of a planned house. This model might be better for measuring how bad the old structures are.
The majority of houses in England, especially in the industrial and rural North, were built pre-world-wars. So, to test on a single layer terraced house of the period really does have the "one size fits all" as an excuse.
Okay... that's odd, I thought I was subscribed to you, but when I tried to look for you in my subscription tab, I can't find you. I had to go into my history to find you and subscribe to you again... Thanks TH-cam for unsubscribing me from the channel that I like to watch...
N0616JC Productions you need to hit that bell icon in TH-cam's App to be notified to your phone. I did this years ago knowing TH-cam's algorithms would eventually descend into this kind of garbage
Jack up the house and rotate it to have the majority of the windows facing the Equator, thus getting the sun back in the house, orientation is the BIGGEST thing in capturing sun energy, and its starts with planning, a house built the direction blocking naturally sunlight will ALWAYS be wrong.
Isn't the current drama around the TH-cam algorithm about the recent change that it instead prefers daily uploads over all other parameters like video length number of comments etc?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure TH-cam's algorithm mainly focuses on daily upload views now. If you upload everyday but aren't a vlogger you'll be in the recommended section of TH-cam every day it seems.
Could you do a video explaining the differences between calculating winter? Daylight winter (Nov, Dec, Jan) - starts 6 weeks before shortest day (solstice Dec 21st is mid-winter) Meteorological winter (Dec, Jan, Feb) - 3 months of lowest average temperatures Astronomical winter (Jan, Feb, Mar) - starts on shortest day (solstice Dec 21st)
Pretty cool! It looks pretty surreal to see icicles hanging off a house that looks like that (I can't remember any time it's got that cold around here), almost like it's from a post-apocalyptic movie or something.
Having a grad student live their to provide body heat and to run appliances might have cost more than actuators, but wear and tear would be useful data. And grad students need the housing.
this seems pretty similar to NIST's Net Zero House, although that's built with modern techniques and has been used to test out various modern energy harnessing technologies etc.
Fascinating. But I'm curious about the foundation. Did they recreate the soil that the house sat on? Would the house shift due to weight and what effect would that have on the efficiency of energy consumption?
Well why would you have the door opening inwards. And why would you have the door open directly into the living room. If the door is on the inside of the frame that means the cold air / snow / rain can get through much more easily. If the door is on the outside then there's a lot more "stuff" in between and you can insulate it much more efficiently.
Another person who thinks the Japanese have it right. Presumably a Japanese person has never opened a door in somebody's face before. Not all houses have the front door there; it's not a big house.
I don't know how you manage to hit someone in the face with a door. You'd know better than to stand where a door opens. All of Scandinavia like Finland, Sweden, Norway, private homes open the door outwards without bloodied noses. Afaik this is mostly the case with all the Baltic region, Soviet houses included.
opening inwards is better for exiting and entering the house imo, unless you are carrying something that is the width of the doorway, although it may be bad for efficiency, it is more convenient
mmh. Well, this isn't a cold climate (quite the opposite in fact), but due to the presence of screen doors on most properties around here, the actual door has to open inwards. On my property the front door opens inwards and then there's an outward opening screen door (hinged on the opposite side of the door frame) right up against it. Still, that's not really related. XD Most front doors I've ever seen (and I've lived in several countries, and visited many, many more), have inwards opening front doors. Interior or exterior doors other than the main door vary enourmously, but front doors fairly consistently open inwards. Don't ask me why (obvious things such as inclusion of screen doors aside), but that seems to be the norm in large parts of the world.
Presumably there are no streets in Scandinavia either. Or houses without front-gardens, flats (apartments) with corridors (I mean Japan has those), busy people, general need to use all the space available (Japan again!) etc...
If I worked on this project, I would live in the house and gather subjective data; i.e. a human constantly tweaking the thermostat to react to their subjective experience of it being too hot or too cold in the house
Interestingly the place I live in is in Providence, RI - it was built in 1900 so no insulation whatsoever. And when we moved in it had an ancient oil fired steam system. That was replaced by a modern hot water circulation system a few years back. And I'll tell you a $250 gas bill is better than a $900 bill per month to fill an oil tank. Now if the building owner would just blow some insulation into the walls.
retrofit comes with 70's style tv. Dodgy tv presenter's. A shed load of asbestos. Stone chipping on the side. And a shifty looking 70's conservatory with Bucket loads of Subsidence. Nice. Just right for a University Student. LOL
Who says they haven't? The average human only emits about 100 to 150 watts at rest or doing light indoor activities, and doesn't lose more than a half pint or so of sweat per day under normal conditions (heck, my dehumidifiers are barely pulling out that much between them right now, and the air indoors is bone dry...). A device to emulate that could be quite small and easily overlooked.
mspenrice is correct. Also, the whole point of putting this building inside another building was to be able to exactly duplicate testing conditions. Adding humans to the mix automatically nullifies that. Say one of the students has a fever one day, and is putting out 200 watts for a few hours. Say two of the students find a broom closet with no cameras, and put out 250 watts for 30 minutes...... :)
Changing from single-pane (and double-glazed) glass to triple. Changing from storage radiators to underfloor heating (I think). Pumping insulation into the wall cavities (or putting an inch of foam between the brick wall and plasterboard finish). Those tend to be the big ones that'll work best.
Adderkleet I was under the impression that while going from single glazing to double glazing is a very large improvement, the change from double to triple is not that impressive. Still, good insulation would be a major factor in most things...
does selford school for the built environment do any urban planning/sustainable urban development work? I'm playing with the idea of graduate school and this seems really cool.
There's a meta rule about research.if we spend a load of effort on this one unit, but it improves a million units, the effort will probably be worthwhile
Did they use traditional 'breathable' lime mortars, internal lime plaster to ensure it was in keeping with period soft bricks of the property? Old bricks are softer than today's modern bricks (due to lower kiln temperatures), and as a rule the mortar should always be softer than the brick. PIR insulation boards in floors/ walls are fine in modern builds, however when introduced to heritage builds it can cause damp problems due to its none breath-ability. Sympathetic breathable solutions should be considered like lambs wool between joists of suspended floors, and lime hemp plaster for internal walls.
My grandpa had problems with heat escaping the house very quickly even though he insulated it pretty well. I borrowed my friend's little smartphone-mounted thermal camera and mounted it on a drone and we were able to find all spots in the roof where heat was escaping and after insulating them, my grandpa's coal usage dropped by almost 20%. It's shocking how much heat can escape through seemingly well-insulated roof. Great video!
I'm honestly surprised people still heat with coal.
@@huntsbychainsaw5986 Even though we never even need a heater here (tropical weather) when I heard that brits still used coal to heat their houses, my thoughts is just why?
We used the heat with coal. There are no gas heating mains where I live, so we had to get an oil tank installed. As this was expensive, it took a while for the installation to be done.
0:50 So Tom said (paraphrasing) "Let there be light!" and there was light and he grinned, cheekily.
our house
in the middle of a building
our house
Well done!
that's... MADNESS!!
I don't understand...?
madness - our house, that should explain it
Yo dawg. I herd you like houses.
"Rain never falls down. It always comes sideways."
This is the most British pair of sentences ever uttered.
And it's also true.
I could imagine a tired scientist working odd hours and accidentally falling asleep int he house, only for the other scientists to "haunt" him/her by randomly opening and closing doors.
Why would it scare them? They'd be asleep.
@@joshyoung1440 fr
A new series! I've got a few videos coming up that showcase some brilliant, but not well known, research labs. Normally I'd file them under "Amazing Places", but that doesn't quite feel right, so there's a brand new playlist and a brand new logo. I say "brand new", it's still written in Helvetica, so don't worry too much about change.
Thanks a lot!
yay! btw youre vids are the best
isn't Helvetica copyrighted by Microsoft?
Will you add the San Francisco Bay model to this playlist? (and maybe even reupload with new logo)
Names of fonts and the underlying code can be copyrighted. The look of the font cannot be, which is why there are so many clones of popular fonts. Licensing of fonts varies, and that can control what it's used for. In practice, fonts that come with operating systems and word processing programs are licensed for any use.
this is all at once one of both the lowest and highest tech of houses. what a glorious dichotomy.
Joule Terrace. I see watt they did there
I know, it's shocking.
Hey, that's pretty good!
Amperesting stuff!
I personally think it's re volting.
That's brilliant
I'm really glad you did this video. There are many important subjects, like energy efficiency, that unfortunately quite a few simply find boring. Finding something that is widely interesting (even to those who find the overall topic a snore) can really help people think about these topics. I don't know how many people will go away and actually find some energy efficiency methods that suit their house but I'm hopeful.
I want one!
I live in an 80 year old house in San Francisco - a lot of homes here are similar in age. It definitely isn't the most energy efficient but we make the best out of it. Better windows, some insulation here, etc. does wonders.
I definitely see some business opportunities for this.
Wow. Salford in a good light. Glad to see we have something
Imagine a reality tv show with someone living inside that house without knowing it was a testing site.
That 70 year old mason wouldn't be the only person laying bricks
You'd need to do something about the windows, and the door.
Basically the Truman Show
Except they can never ever go outside. We could tell them climate change happened and now the weather changes from freezing cold to boiling hot every 30 seconds. That would be a fun show.
Let's make it happen, internet
That gleeful look, from turning on the sun at a snap of the fingers :-)
this kind of stuff is why I like your channel scott. Plus, its always nice to see a experiment with such meticulous effort to control for variables.
So did you have an energy efficient tea from the energy efficient kettle in the energy efficient house?
He had ice tea
IgWannA2 but iced tea is less energy efficient than hot
And also a less accomplished rapper than ice cube.
He was a more accomplished actor, though.
That is one very well dressed gentleman.
He is looking extremely dapper.
(Are we sure he's actually a scientist?)
His tie's wonky. Definitely studies something.
Big_Adam_2050 truly snazzy
You're talking about Tom, right?
@@klaxoncow He's got a PHD in lookin' fresh
This was one of the best videos yet. Absolutely fascinating.
"Joule Terrace" that had me smiling, well done chaps
How do you not have more subscribers? This is one of (if not the best) channels on TH-cam.
Aquatic Llamas algorithms
It's not very entertaining to children?
Every single video you post has been very interesting to me. Keep up the good work Tom!
Now this is something i literally never heard about anywhere neither the thought of such experiment happening ever came to my mind. I appreciate your content Tom, it not only shows just the exciting things but also those that are quite unique. Have a nice day :)
I study Climate and Energy so I find this extremely interesting. Thanks for the video Tom! :)
When they're simulating winter during the actual winter, then the fridge in that house is a cooled space inside a heated space inside a cooled space inside a heated space inside a cold place.
The picture in the thumbnail really shows you from your best side Tom
I graduated this year with a degree in physics from the University of Salford, they let us have a walk around joule terrace and the temperature sensors are so precise they will detect a temperature increase from someone walking into the text environment, awesome stuff. Glad to see it cover on your channel!
I ran across your site just today and I must say your post are very interesting, right up my alley as they say, History, geography and science oddities (and those not so odd) I find fun to watch, keep up the good work, nice site.
Did students ever have a house party in it?
A housewarming party ^.^
Miren Summers some times they spend a week living in it, so there probably has been a party for "research" reasons
Before it was moved, there's a good chance!
Terraced house in Salford? Almost certainly.
Good to see people working on this. Old housing has always been a thorn in my eye. They are leaky, poorly insulated and it sucks to live in them in both the winter and summer because it's either too cold or too hot. Sure hope we get some results from this in "the real world" soon.
I can't say for the UK, but updating and improving "old" construction homes (late 1800s, early/mid 1900s) has been a thing in the US for the better part of 3 decades. You can watch episode of "This Old House" from the late 80s/early 90s and they are retrofitting old Boston (where the show originated) homes with improved windows, insulation and the lot. Granted the tech has improved since ~1990, but the intent and underlying methods have been around for a long time.
The troubles come in places like Pomona, California (where I used to live) where homes in "Historic Districts" are so overly protected, that doing reasonable upgrades (like replacing metal swing-out windows with wooden or vinyl) is illegal, because the letter of the law requires "like for like", where a metal swing out window has to be replaced with a metal swing out window. It becomes entirely impractical, because no such things are currently made, requiring custom fabrication, which is expensive, and still won't be much improved because of the materials required.
ThaTyger, Similar to perhaps half the Australian housing stock which was built before insulation became readily available. Weatherboard outside, tongue-in groove inside or something like Masonite, no insulation of any kind, multiple windows to let air in during summer - cold as charity in the cooler months.
One of the coolest things I have seen. Literally.
What was different about the brick laying?
I think it was the course pattern, I'm not sure.
I'd like to know, too.
Victorian homes were solid wall construction, more modern homes have twin walls with a gap to prevent damp getting through.
Dougstillation true, but there's likely more to it than that.
Every sixth row has the bricks set with their headers [the smallest face] exposed. This is known as "common bond" or "American bond" - it's an unusual bond in a British house!
I really like the built for science series, I hope it continues!
Its a mere 45 years since professor Randall built 4 highly insulated houses at Salford Uni for the same price as a typical council house. What have we learned since then with 150mm insulated cavities, 300mm roof insulation, triple glazing and heat recovery ventilation. I understand the houses were so well insulated they only needed a low cost gas fire to heat them!
It's amazing but I have to admit, you only make good videos. Thanks for your work!
I'm a student who works in the labs on the floors above this house! Awesome to see Tom was here
Wait, there's stuff above this house?
Richard Emms Its on the bottom floor of the Cockroft / Bodmer labs
I love this channel! The awesome side of TH-cam right here !
While I love the short form and informative videos like this and a lot of the channel, there are a lot of topics such as this where every now and then you want a 10-20min video explaining in much greater detail and how it can effect me and what I can do to improve my home. I live in a 1940's mid terrace home, rental property, drafty windows, old boiler. It's one of the few videos you do where I would love some more in depth info, not just who is doing the work, but how that work can help me.
Just my 2 cents on the matter
I LOVE YOU SCOTT. I DON'T NEED UNI. I JUST NEED TOM!
Awww, now you got me interested in development of bricklaying techniques during the past 100 years (1:39).
amazing to see how far a university would do to do their experiment.
Cool Project. I hope they are monitoring the air quality inside the house. Because a lot of these energy efficiency improvement make the houses so airtight you get a build up of damp stale air. This promotes mould which is terrible for our lungs, especially us asthmatics.
Add a dehumidifier and an heat exchanger airbrick. Sorted.
Nothing is more gangster than making it rain for science. Good show.
Am I the only one that really wants to see a video on the differences in brick laying?
'Rain never falls down, it always comes sideways'. Baffled.
Because of the British climate, it almost never rains on a still day, so it's almost always windy. The wind will blow the rain sideways. There are places in the world where overhead cover is adequate to keep somewhere dry. The UK isn't one of them; if it's not covered on all four sides, then the rain will blow in.
Yeah, our rain comes in on the winds.
In particularly mountainous areas the rain can go up.
We have rain that is more like a thick mist which is very easily blown around in a squall. So on hillsides the rain can follow the hillside up. I think it's found effect or similar,
tom scott found himself a new home
AMAZING SPACES, WITH TOM SCOTT
I'd watch it :) I'm gonna love this series!
I go pass the uni pretty much every day on the bus. I had to idea this was in there. Pretty interesting! Thanks Tom :-)
0:38 how do you know which will work? I'm little skeptical about this approach. It gives results for one building, but all buildings are different. The size and position of the openings relative to landscape is very important, quality of construction is very important. I think those can outweigh the differences of weather from one year to another. Of course new building materials and structures are carefully measured by the industry, and engineers calculate the heat losses of a planned house. This model might be better for measuring how bad the old structures are.
Which is exactly what it is for: Not for testing new models, but for testing improvements to Victorian houses.
The majority of houses in England, especially in the industrial and rural North, were built pre-world-wars. So, to test on a single layer terraced house of the period really does have the "one size fits all" as an excuse.
Okay... that's odd, I thought I was subscribed to you, but when I tried to look for you in my subscription tab, I can't find you. I had to go into my history to find you and subscribe to you again... Thanks TH-cam for unsubscribing me from the channel that I like to watch...
Good you pointed that out. I was too. :(
N0616JC Productions you need to hit that bell icon in TH-cam's App to be notified to your phone. I did this years ago knowing TH-cam's algorithms would eventually descend into this kind of garbage
Never knew this sort of thing existed, another great video Tom.
Went here a year back for a tour, walked past the place and was like "Wait a sec, i've seen this from a video"
Great idea for a new series. Very interesting so far.
Jack up the house and rotate it to have the majority of the windows facing the Equator, thus getting the sun back in the house, orientation is the BIGGEST thing in capturing sun energy, and its starts with planning, a house built the direction blocking naturally sunlight will ALWAYS be wrong.
Tom, longer videos. It's ok, TH-cam wants you to make them long.
Longer videos would be more work, especially to keep the quality level the same, and that would mean fewer video's, which would be :(
Isn't the current drama around the TH-cam algorithm about the recent change that it instead prefers daily uploads over all other parameters like video length number of comments etc?
***** No its worse. It was both viewed min and return viewership.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure TH-cam's algorithm mainly focuses on daily upload views now. If you upload everyday but aren't a vlogger you'll be in the recommended section of TH-cam every day it seems.
Its a really interesting place. I went to Salford university and went in that house a few times
So cool. It makes you happy to have science. :)
Could you do a video explaining the differences between calculating winter?
Daylight winter (Nov, Dec, Jan) - starts 6 weeks before shortest day (solstice Dec 21st is mid-winter)
Meteorological winter (Dec, Jan, Feb) - 3 months of lowest average temperatures
Astronomical winter (Jan, Feb, Mar) - starts on shortest day (solstice Dec 21st)
That is really cool! Looking forward to more videos in this series :D
Pretty cool! It looks pretty surreal to see icicles hanging off a house that looks like that (I can't remember any time it's got that cold around here), almost like it's from a post-apocalyptic movie or something.
Very cool stuff! Glad somebody recommended this channel!
This is my university :D it is a really cool place, they even let undergrad physics students like me do projects in there if we want
I like this concept for a series, looking forward to the next video!
Having a grad student live their to provide body heat and to run appliances might have cost more than actuators, but wear and tear would be useful data. And grad students need the housing.
"We have a wind machine"
Turns on fan
Shouldn't the Bay Area model be added to this playlist as well?
This is one of the coolest things I did not know...
this seems pretty similar to NIST's Net Zero House, although that's built with modern techniques and has been used to test out various modern energy harnessing technologies etc.
Fascinating. But I'm curious about the foundation. Did they recreate the soil that the house sat on? Would the house shift due to weight and what effect would that have on the efficiency of energy consumption?
This was so cool, I had no idea about this place!
This is every building energetics engineer's wet dream.
This is fascinating! Great video, per usual!
Joule Terrace - that's actually pretty funny...
Tim E I wonder, does Chris live there?
As in all jokes, there's a bit of truth in there, too--James Prescott Joule was actually born in Salford!
Tom that's really awesome.
Oh wow, I went here a few years back! It's really, really interesting aha.
Well why would you have the door opening inwards. And why would you have the door open directly into the living room.
If the door is on the inside of the frame that means the cold air / snow / rain can get through much more easily. If the door is on the outside then there's a lot more "stuff" in between and you can insulate it much more efficiently.
Another person who thinks the Japanese have it right. Presumably a Japanese person has never opened a door in somebody's face before. Not all houses have the front door there; it's not a big house.
I don't know how you manage to hit someone in the face with a door. You'd know better than to stand where a door opens. All of Scandinavia like Finland, Sweden, Norway, private homes open the door outwards without bloodied noses. Afaik this is mostly the case with all the Baltic region, Soviet houses included.
opening inwards is better for exiting and entering the house imo, unless you are carrying something that is the width of the doorway, although it may be bad for efficiency, it is more convenient
mmh. Well, this isn't a cold climate (quite the opposite in fact), but due to the presence of screen doors on most properties around here, the actual door has to open inwards.
On my property the front door opens inwards and then there's an outward opening screen door (hinged on the opposite side of the door frame) right up against it.
Still, that's not really related. XD
Most front doors I've ever seen (and I've lived in several countries, and visited many, many more), have inwards opening front doors.
Interior or exterior doors other than the main door vary enourmously, but front doors fairly consistently open inwards.
Don't ask me why (obvious things such as inclusion of screen doors aside), but that seems to be the norm in large parts of the world.
Presumably there are no streets in Scandinavia either. Or houses without front-gardens, flats (apartments) with corridors (I mean Japan has those), busy people, general need to use all the space available (Japan again!) etc...
If I worked on this project, I would live in the house and gather subjective data; i.e. a human constantly tweaking the thermostat to react to their subjective experience of it being too hot or too cold in the house
Always wondered what that energy house thing was on my campus aha, have a lecture opposite it...
"We've got wind machines"
*Cuts to shot of large fan*
I love your videos Tom Scott :)
Interestingly the place I live in is in Providence, RI - it was built in 1900 so no insulation whatsoever. And when we moved in it had an ancient oil fired steam system. That was replaced by a modern hot water circulation system a few years back. And I'll tell you a $250 gas bill is better than a $900 bill per month to fill an oil tank. Now if the building owner would just blow some insulation into the walls.
I like to imagine there's a row of houses somewhere in Greater Manchester with a gaping hole in the middle where the house used to belong
retrofit comes with 70's style tv. Dodgy tv presenter's. A shed load of asbestos. Stone chipping on the side. And a shifty looking 70's conservatory with Bucket loads of Subsidence. Nice. Just right for a University Student. LOL
Conservatory? On a terrace? Have you gone _quite_ barking?
I don't know why, but after you closed that door behind you, I expected some sort of gag where you got locked out.
Shouldn't they have something to simulate the thermal properties of humans in the house, moving about, sweating and emitting body heat?
Good point. They could turn it into affordable student accommodation to do tests like that. Two birds with one stone.
Joule Terrace: Now with 100% more mould.
Who says they haven't? The average human only emits about 100 to 150 watts at rest or doing light indoor activities, and doesn't lose more than a half pint or so of sweat per day under normal conditions (heck, my dehumidifiers are barely pulling out that much between them right now, and the air indoors is bone dry...). A device to emulate that could be quite small and easily overlooked.
mspenrice is correct. Also, the whole point of putting this building inside another building was to be able to exactly duplicate testing conditions. Adding humans to the mix automatically nullifies that. Say one of the students has a fever one day, and is putting out 200 watts for a few hours. Say two of the students find a broom closet with no cameras, and put out 250 watts for 30 minutes...... :)
Wow!
Amazing vid!
Love it!
Very interesting video, though too short as usual.
I like videos of this length, actually. They are short, sweet and to the point.
Don't you feel the need to know more?
Yeah, sure. That's why there's a link in the description for more information.
Anyone got good videos about the changes in brick laying techniques?
The comment about the bricklaying challenge in this case got me wondering.
The important thing for me to know is... How did they improve those things?
Changing from single-pane (and double-glazed) glass to triple. Changing from storage radiators to underfloor heating (I think). Pumping insulation into the wall cavities (or putting an inch of foam between the brick wall and plasterboard finish).
Those tend to be the big ones that'll work best.
Domen Bremec Maybe reducing size of the hole between windows and wall so there is no space for owls to get in of it, just space for little birds.
ErkkiMattila
According to Neil Gaiman, wolves may also infest the walls.
Adderkleet I was under the impression that while going from single glazing to double glazing is a very large improvement, the change from double to triple is not that impressive.
Still, good insulation would be a major factor in most things...
Amongst the improvements already suggested, I would imagine replacing sash windows with casement windows would be another.
a house in a house! ... it's a russian doll house!...
It's a russian house!
That is some of the best wordplay I've seen. Props to you! xD
Someone really should put a dollhouse in that house, just for that proper Twilight Zone feeling.
Love it! Great video!
Loved the smile at the end haha
This is brilliant!
1:45 - is there really more than one way to lay bricks for building purposes? The way the bricks are in that house seems like normal to me.
does selford school for the built environment do any urban planning/sustainable urban development work? I'm playing with the idea of graduate school and this seems really cool.
There's a meta rule about research.if we spend a load of effort on this one unit, but it improves a million units, the effort will probably be worthwhile
Did they use traditional 'breathable' lime mortars, internal lime plaster to ensure it was in keeping with period soft bricks of the property? Old bricks are softer than today's modern bricks (due to lower kiln temperatures), and as a rule the mortar should always be softer than the brick.
PIR insulation boards in floors/ walls are fine in modern builds, however when introduced to heritage builds it can cause damp problems due to its none breath-ability. Sympathetic breathable solutions should be considered like lambs wool between joists of suspended floors, and lime hemp plaster for internal walls.
Dude, I love you
Been looking fowards to this one for ages, did you get a look round our uni while you was there Tom?
Tom did you look round their annachoic chamber when you where there? It's the worlds queitest room