Phillycat
New Member
I’ve got an old(150) Philadelphia row. 3 stories, full height basement with a “weekend shack” one story attached. Unheated. The addition has a crawl space underneath. The one story shack has a full bath installed, I really only use the tub for dog washing. But I do use the toilet. Bought the house 5 years ago, and redid all systems. Complete rehab. Except the bathroom in the addition, which I redid with pex supply. The copper had all burst from a freeze up. We knew this going in, and I’ve simply shut down the bathroom during winter, drained the lines and antifreeze in the toilet and bathtub p trap. I’d like to be able to use it all 4 seasons. I do have available radiator piping (pex al pex) and a radiator available (it wasn’t in there, I acquired it recently). The piping enters from the main basement through a penetration in the stone foundation, as seen in the picture. there’s a steady stream of air coming in from that crawl space. I haven’t sealed it up because I thought maybe it was good to have some air flow, but I’m reading that maybe I should seal it up. There’s no outside vents. When I opened up the floor to replace the busted copper, there was old degraded insulation, and a dirt floor. I just said, I have other stuff to deal with, and plywood, wet bed and tiled it back in.(the whole floor is a wet bed and tile over Plywood). Oh and the white parging you see is old school lime putty and sand. I’m doing the whole basement. Dry basement, never gets water.
My question is, should I just put in the radiator? Or should I simply get a baseboard electric and heat the space to 55 degrees or so? Will that prevent p trap and water supply freezing? should I seal the penetration into my main basement?
My question is, should I just put in the radiator? Or should I simply get a baseboard electric and heat the space to 55 degrees or so? Will that prevent p trap and water supply freezing? should I seal the penetration into my main basement?
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