How to protect your house?
Reading the headline I bet you expected the latest security system. However, I am talking about something very different.
When we bought our old house thirty years ago, we saw that there were pine trees on two sides of the house, planted 10 to 25 yards away. We never contemplated cutting them down in order to get a “view” of the rolling hills. They were just there and have grown a lot in 30 years.
So why did the former owner plant those trees?
The house is in the middle of the red circle.In the wintertime, the cold wind is blowing mostly from the lower right corner. Having these pine trees keeps the house protected from those howling winds and it is therefore warmer.
Steady winter winds blowing across a house will constantly suck the heat from every crevice and crack, dramatically increasing your heating costs. When you have a 150 year old farm house, that can really add up, no matter how much caulking and insulating you do!
In the old days, they did not have the internet but a vast knowledge of nature to draw from. Planting evergreen windbreaks was a natural way of saving on firewood and dealing with blown snow. Of course, added privacy was a bonus!
Reading the headline I bet you expected the latest security system. However, I am talking about something very different.
When we bought our old house thirty years ago, we saw that there were pine trees on two sides of the house, planted 10 to 25 yards away. We never contemplated cutting them down in order to get a “view” of the rolling hills. They were just there and have grown a lot in 30 years.
So why did the former owner plant those trees?
The house is in the middle of the red circle.In the wintertime, the cold wind is blowing mostly from the lower right corner. Having these pine trees keeps the house protected from those howling winds and it is therefore warmer.
Steady winter winds blowing across a house will constantly suck the heat from every crevice and crack, dramatically increasing your heating costs. When you have a 150 year old farm house, that can really add up, no matter how much caulking and insulating you do!
In the old days, they did not have the internet but a vast knowledge of nature to draw from. Planting evergreen windbreaks was a natural way of saving on firewood and dealing with blown snow. Of course, added privacy was a bonus!
Over the years, various government agencies or agricultural extensions have provided subsidies or loans to land owners to do this as a way of improving land usage. Your local agricultural extension may have current programs. Planting a new windbreak from seedlings will start to pay benefits in around 15 years, but it will be a legacy property improvement that will reap rewards for generations to come!
So next time you see a country home flanked by groves of tall pines, take a moment to appreciate the forethought of a previous generation, and think twice before cutting them down for a ‘view’.
So next time you see a country home flanked by groves of tall pines, take a moment to appreciate the forethought of a previous generation, and think twice before cutting them down for a ‘view’.
You might need a few more blankets.
