2/9/2005: Iced house

People in ice houses shouldn't throw salt, is what I always say. there have been a few shots of frozen cars that came along, but this one from axlrosen shows a few houses in Hull (MA) that got a similar freeze treatment.

Now the physics question of the day. Would this act as a good insulation? would it be an improvement over regular insulation? If you were iced in, who would you call? Or would you just stay inside?

That looks so cool or should I say unreal. I've never seen such a thing happen, mostly here in sunny Sydney (not so much today, it's raining).

I doubt it would be very good insulation. Snow is a decent insulator, but ice doesn't have the air pockets snow has.

That can't be good for the houses. Imagine when all that ice melts. Water will work its way in through every little crack in the sidings and shingles. Water stains are a minimum, and rot is a possibility if a lot of water gets into the walls.

It sure does look cool though. I wonder if that's a deck or a dock she is standing on? It looks like it could be a water-front home, and boats pull up to that gap in the railing.

Wow, it sure looks neat, like it belongs with Santa up at the North Pole. I'm certainly not envious of the person who lives there, though...

I suddenly crave frosting...

Adding an extra layer of any solid material will improve insulation. The problem is that in this case the solid material is really cold, so it will keep the house well insulated at a cold temperature. In other words, it will insulate the house from the warming effect from the sun.

Looks great though.

I agree with Glatt, it can't be very good for the house. The freezing water on the siding and roof shingles will expand and start tearing it all apart.

And I wonder how that person on the deck got out of the house in the first place.

Imagine the weight related stress on the house.......
If the ice is three inches thick, the roof alone would weigh about 36000 lbs.
Not to mention the ice on the walls themselves.
Unless frozen water weighs less than the fluid. Even so........that's a lot of stress.
What an icehole!

As long as it's frozen it's semi-self supporting like an exoskeleton. If the bottom melts first it can bring the whole weight on the house.

Now that would be an interesting experement , spray water on the roof of a structure in a freezing climit and see just how much weight it could take -v- spraying the whole structure , and if there truely was a difference . You could predict a weight , but to see just what type structure could take what kind of abuce would be interesting
Some truck scales are tested with a hydrolic press to see the working life and repatability , they call it the module masher , i have seen it , BIG damn rig !!! I will see if i can dig up a link .

whoa!! I used to live there! we never used to have anything of this sort!

Ok this is a lousy small pic , i will see if i can find a better one and more info ,

Oh, for a little lime and a bottle of gin!

That houses windows must have very good insulation or
the heater is broken down... I have never seen windows frosted like that.
But it looks cool.

grats on 1000 posts zippyt


I wondered the same thing, how do people get out of the house?

Oh, and I'm sure the Ice wold melt top side down, I think. I wonder what kind of damage happens when all the water spills into the cracks of the house that the Ice probably made?

The thing that would really suck is if the ice melted a little.. then refroze. That'll definatly mess up the house there. And if the house will freeze over in the first place than that is probably going to happen. Unless if gets Florida warm up here... which I doubt.

An uncropped picture of the original post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327608/posts
And another picture (scroll down)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...14_ndig26.html

These are ocean front homes. It's quite possible that the house in the IOD is an unheated summer residence. If so, the ice won't melt from interior heat. That's good. It's best for it to melt from the outside in and let the water run down the outside of the ice as it melts. Less damage that way.

A good, powerful hair dryer would do the trick I imagine.

Heh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wormfood That houses windows must have very good insulation or the heater is broken down... I have never seen windows frosted like that. But it looks cool.

brrrrrrrrrrrrr!