We live in a house built in 1829. It wasn’t insulated ofcourse. To date the only installation is in the bathroom and porch which we built on. As we tear out walls to do repairs we will be insulating with the fiberglass pink insulation.

We burn wood in a heating stove and kitchen stove and only heat the four rooms downstairs. We have a fan going to circulate the heat.There is no heat upstairs.

The old people who built these houses sometimes put straw , moss or eel grass in the walls. We discovered this when remodeling. That wasn’t much for insulation. There are no fire stops in these old houses either. Air travels freely from basement through the walls.

The solution is to pick the rooms you want to heat nearest the source of heat. Take down outside walls, put in fire stops and insulate well . Replace windows with thermal windows also. Patch cracked foundations too. Wood is great heat if it isn’t heating the outdoors!

In bedrooms do what we did and the pioneers did. Heat rocks or bricks and wrap them in a towel to warm the bed. If you are opposed to that use an eletric blanket or heating pad to warm the bed. Dress warm and cuddle.

I grew up in a cement house with a little oil stove which Grandma turned out at night. She got up early and lit it in minus 20 F. winters. My husband’s Mother did the same with the wood stove. She too was up early to lite the fire. The kids came running with their clothes to the stove mornings. No one heated the entire house.

Remember winter only last one fourth of the year. Then you can spread out and use the whole house again. Have a great day! Linda