Where did vestibules go?
MALCOLM TAYLOR
| Posted in General Questions on
With all the emphasis on energy efficient building enclosures and air sealing, what happened to the vestibule? A fair amount of thought goes into the energy penalty small leaks represent to a well sealed house, but surely opening the main entry represents a significant air change, especially if it is windy or you are talking to someone who has knocked on your door.
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For a new home, built to be very tight, the need for a vestibule is lessened. Air can't come rushing in if other air in the home can't go anywhere to the outside. What you would find for the first 30-60 seconds is more of air interchange at the entry, with cold air settling in at floor level and warm air leaving at the top of the door, with much less in the way of draft flowing across the floor to the other side. At least that's what I have found in my own (very tight) home.
Malcolm,
Back in the mid-1970s, everyone was talking about "air-lock entries" and the need for two doors and a vestibule. Then someone did the math, and found that the energy savings associated with this strategy were so small that they didn't justify the expense of building a vestibule with two doors.
That said, mudrooms are useful. They are desirable architectural features, even if their cost cannot be justified by energy savings.