Ever since Cliff May invented the Raised Ranch (which is truly a dumbed-down version of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie-Style homes), sunlight got into more Great American Suburban Home basements.  More light came into those basements because the Split Ranch’s basement is only three or four feet below grade for frost protection.

With natural light came use. Millions of fluorescent lights, zillions of square feet of Masonite siding, hung ceilings and shag carpet all civilized spaces that were more normally seen as “raw.”

Now that we’ve all tightened up the envelope of our homes, there is far less air that circulates from outside to inside and vice versa, meaning that with stale, static air and all those humans exhaling literally gallons of water vapor every day into a place, you have (when the heat is off) created a place that has the potential for a lot of humidity and thus those foundation walls that are always around 50 degrees (the “default” temperature of dirt below grade) creates a simple phenomenon:  condensation.

Condensation = mold.

Mold = allergic response.

Allergic response = intense efforts at mold removal, dehumidification and, sadly, often the ripping out of all those layers of materials that created those civilized basements.

The reasons for condensation are pretty simple:  water vapor will condense out of the air in your basement when the humidity is high enough and the foundation walls and floor slab are cool enough, unless:

1. You can open your windows and let the air flow (unless it’s really humid outside);
2. You can use air conditioning to remove humidity (unless it’s a lower temperature outside than calls for AC);
3. You can have a dehumidifier to remove humidity (but you have to drain that condensed water!);
4. You can actually bring in air exchanges from outside via a forced air system designed for this purpose (pricey, but works!).

The vast majority of American homes were built before the Carter Administration so they did not have a focus on energy efficiency, so they all had leakier windows, ceilings and walls that allowed enough air flow to reduce the potential for condensation and mold.  With everyone tightening up their homes to make them cost less to heat and cool, we also created micro-environments that can make us sick, unless we go to the next level…

Discern and Discuss in the Comments!

There are two types of house dysfunction. First is the simple need for repair: things are broken and need to get fixed. Whether it’s rot, leaks, an HVAC system that doesn’t work – those systems can be easily triaged and cured.

The second typical dysfunctional home has two distinct points of mis-fit with their owners. The first is simply its design (or, more usually, un-design). The vast majority of homes in America were designed without any site or family in mind. The typical American suburban home was designed for a demographic (Doughboys coming home from World War I, GIs coming back from World War II, Boomers fulfilling their potential as the “Me” generation).

As such, most homes either work, or don’t, for most people – but if your home is a mis-fit for the way you want to live, the level of discord keys a “go”- “no go” reality.

When a home is a mild mis-fit, one where the home lays acceptably on its site, has spaces that can work with the way a family’s use patterns flow, (and is not terminally ugly), it can be made much, much better with acts of decoration. The colors, appurtenances, and surfaces that you choose to put in it, all the way down to a sexy couch, can turn a home that is a Marriage of Convenience into a Relationship of Delight.

But, when the design of a house is so discordant with who you are that its outrages cannot be painted away, remodeling, renovation or outright demo are often needed. This is also a useful analytic method when it comes to thinking about whether you should buy a house or not.

When thinking about risking huge amounts of money and equity into a home, you should realize there’s a direct parallel we have all experienced: dating. When you found or find yourself thinking about entering into a relationship with a person you may (or may not) love, there are ground rules beyond pheromones and resumes.

If the person in question is quirky, fun and smart, you can probably contour your discordant mindsets into a delightful dance of harmonic discontinuity. Or if they are bland and nice you may be able to find comfort in their quiet goodness.

However, if you are thinking about any relationship with a schitzy, misanthropic sociopath, no amount of love and attention can ever make the relationship work.

These concerns do not matter much if you are speed dating or engaged in serial monogamy with your home. If you are just having casual domestication with benefits relax, paint and wait for a buyer.

But if you are just a little pregnant with a love of the neighborhood, history of the place or just rock out on your yard, a long term relationship may require some cosmetic (or worse) surgery to the house itself.

So a home’s personality keys how you need to deal with it – if you are locked into a relationship with it, if you simply can’t leave because you are financially underwater or have nowhere else to go and your home is insanely discordant with your values and your ability to cope, it may be time to call an Architect.

If, on the other hand, your home is a near miss, and all you need to do, effectively, is make it stop smoking, cease texting on the highway, or simply wear pants that fit, it’s time to think about redecorating.

As with most things in life, the choices are yours, but you need to know what they are.

As you’ll hear this Sunday, my cohost Duo is putting two boys through college, and  we discussed the factors that, as an architect, he uses to determine what work he ooes on his house.

(Duo’s response: nothing big can happen until the last one graduates.)

So, educational (and other) expenses aside; How should you prioritize your home improvement projects?

Is it layering? Is it physical activity? Is it one of those blankets they use to wrap hot water heaters we talked about last week?

What’s your secret? How do you stay warm?

Cristin Siebert endorses insulation for the attic, and Debby Wan likes the thermal wrapper for the hot water heater. (Which sounds so comfortable, I’m considering having myself wrapped next winter.)

Any other secrets for saving money while keeping warm?

We met Cristin when we were recording Episode 13, just after last summer’s power outage, and I have been thinking about how serious the loss of power becomes in the cold weather months.

Which inspired today’s featured question… What should you have on hand for a winter power outage?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments – and please click the “Post to Facebook” box if you’d like to share with your friends…

I know where Suzi’s coming from. We want to do the right thing. We want to model good behavior for our children. But how much recycling is reasonable for the average person, and what, exactly,  should we be recycling?

As Duo would say on his Facebook page, “Discern and Discuss”!

Meteorologist Matt Scott shared his secret (and Sarah her disgust) for toilet flushing when you’ve got well water and no power. (You pour a bucket of water in there. Or, in Duo’s case, “Champers”.)

Now we turn to you: What are the most important things to think of – or have on hand – in case of a weather emergency?

(In a perfect world, they’re all healthful, easy to prepare, and go nicely with a buttery chardonnay. For Duo, the the on-the-go architect, the solution comes in the form of the pre-cooked chicken from Stop and Shop.)

So, what’s yours?

What we’re concerned with, however, is the stuff you’re just not sure about; like the chinese food that’s been in the fridge four days – or the half a Gatorade that sat out a few hours. (And let’s not forget the salad dressing you remember purchasing during the Bush administration.)

Have YOU ever experienced the difficulties associated with “food gone bad”?