Historic and distinctive
Guthrie home tour advances with time
Guthrie’s Historic Homes Tour is going deeper into the 20th century this year, featuring at least two homes built in the late 1940s and 1950s in addition to the usual turn-ofthe-century abodes.
“In the past, all the homes on the tour have been historic homes built between 1900 and 1925 or 1930,” said Kala Plagg, treasurer for the Guthrie Territorial Christmas Foundation. “But now we have a situation where all the homes are older and a lot of the people are older, so it’s getting more difficult to get homes for the tour. But a lot of younger people are buying the newer homes and remodeling them.”
She said the foundation may note the shift next year by rechristening the tour as the Historic and Distinctive Homes Tour.
This year’s tour will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and will feature a mix of homes, churches and public buildings, including one downtown apartment.
Ticket holders also will get a look at the newly restored Guthrie Depot and the lobby of the State Capital Publishing Museum, which is being restored after sitting empty for several years.
Tickets for the selfguided tour are $15 and can be purchased online at www.GuthriesTerritorial Christmas.com or in person starting at 9 a.m. on tour day at the Frontier Drugstore Museum, 214 W Oklahoma Ave. in Guthrie. Those who buy tickets online can bring their confirmation email to the drugstore museum
‘Cold roof’ strategy
An ice dam needs three things in order to develop; cold temperatures, a thick snow layer and heat loss from the house. If you can control any of those three things, you can prevent the ice dam.
You obviously can’t control the outside temperature, so the second two are the only things you can have an impact on. In Part 2, we’ll take a closer look at controlling the snow layer, but for now let’s focus on the single most important element of preventing an ice dam — stopping the heat loss. The way to do that is through insulation and ventilation.
First, increase your attic insulation to a minimum level of R-38 or even higher. That minimizes the amount of heat being lost into the attic, which lessens the chance of the snow layer melting.
Second, you need to have good ventilation. Proper ventilation will flush waste heat out of the attic before it can warm the underside of the snow layer. This is what’s known as a “cold roof” strategy.
You need at least 1 square foot of attic ventilation area for every 300 square feet of attic space.
Finally, make sure that your kitchen range hood, bath fans and any other ventilation fans are vented all the way out of the attic. That prevents warm moist air from accumulating in the attic, which not only helps prevent ice damming, it also helps prevent mold in the attic, as well as potential moisture problems to insulation and wood framing.
Have a home repair or remodeling question for Paul? He can be reached by email at improvingyourhome@ ykwc.net.