(Image: Berndnaut Smilde, Nimbus, 2010, digital C-type print 75 x 112cm, courtesy of the artist and Ronchini Gallery, London)
It’s easy to think of our homes as monolithic structures with uniform climatic conditions throughout, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Different rooms, even different parts of the same room, have their own temperature, humidity and light levels. Your house has its own weather.
Temperature differences of 40 °C between the coldest and hottest places in the house are not uncommon, says at the University of Texas, who has spent two decades studying indoor air quality.
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Many of the changes to the indoor weather are what you would expect. Switching a radiator on or sunlight shining through a window will increase temperatures. And temperature differences across your home drive indoor airflow. “If the air is really hot in the basement in the winter and cooler in the occupied space, the warm air is going to move towards the cool air,” says Corsi.
But some of the indoor weather patterns are far less obvious – and we are responsible. “All of us are 60 to 100 watt light bulbs, depending on our size,” says Corsi. Our warming of the air around us can take on particular significance when everyone congregates in a room at a party. “Warm air rises from us towards the ceiling and tends to bring in cooler air from elsewhere in the room to replace it. So you have these circulatory patterns of air rising and falling,” says Corsi. The parties in your home don’t just go with a bang, they create their own meteorological phenomena.
“Parties in your home create their very own meteorological effects”
Just as the planet has extreme weather, so do our homes (see diagram). The most extreme conditions are in places we don’t see, such as the attic and the spaces within our walls. “If a house has air conditioning, then the coldest place in the summer will be about 12 °C in the air that’s flying from the supply duct,” says Corsi. “In the occupied spaces it might be 23 °C, and external wall cavities and attics can get up to 50 °C.” It doesn’t just get hot. When the sun beats on an external wall, it raises the pressure in the cavity between outside and inside. Walls aren’t just walls, they are frontal systems too!
Read more: “The secret life of your home“
This article appeared in print under the headline “Cold front in the kitchen”
