It had to be the weather

[tpa]

That was a much more detailed response than I expected, Paul, thank you for that. I'll keep my fingers crossed for everyone in your area that you don't have any more abnormal winters and that any very cold spells you do have are short lived. Having grown up in houses where glasses of water froze overnight, I can sympathise with your predicament, but hopefully your winter spells are not as long as our Scottish and English ones.
PS: A basement can be a blessing because it can allow easy access to the underside of the floors which you can insulate. It also keeps the wine and beer cool in the summer.

[brewerpaul]

PS: A basement can be a blessing because it can allow easy access to the underside of the floors which you can insulate. It also keeps the wine and beer cool in the summer.

I fully agree a basement can be a nice addtion to a home. My basement isnt finished out so it isnt, as many people refer to them as, my man cave. I hate that reference. What I do use my basement for is fermentation. In spring 5 crocks holding 5 gallons of cabbage are turned to 60+ quarts of saurkraut and in the fall the same crocks make my Kim Chi with Chinese cabbage. In between I brew the occasional ale. My basement is insulated to the floor above but even with that it stayed below freezing this year. I spent one week without water due to freezing and then repaire the busted pipes after the thaw. It is easier in a basement than a crawl space. This winter i even had to put a heater in front of my ale to get it to ferment at a proper 65 degrees F. All is well and the beer taste great. Such is the trials of owning a home over 100 years old. I know that is quite young compared to some of the homes in the UK>

[tpa]

Yes, half of our last house in Scotland was 200yrs old and the other half 100years old. The walls were 3 ft thick stone and acted like cold radiators. No basement though, the water table was too high, though you could crawl under most of the floor. Wet and dry rot were just a couple of the issues.