A question about canadian houses

[enoemos]

Hello everybody. I'm from Ukraine so hope you'll excuse my English :smile:

My question is about the entrance in Canadian houses. Does a Canadian house have an entrance with 2 doors? As far as I know, winters in Canada are chilly so in my opinion you have to isolate a house from the street with a double door.

 

[Cannuck]

You can have two. It's called a storm door

 

[enoemos]

Ok. What else alternatives do you have?

 

[Cannuck]

I'm not sure what you mean


storm doors canada - Google Image Search

Is the storm door comfortable? Anyway a good deal of the warm air can leak while someone is coming in or out through the door.

The cold air does come in when the doors are open but with central air it isn't much of a problem unless somebody stands there with the door open. Besides, it's probably not as cold as you think here.

 

[enoemos]

Is the storm door comfortable? Anyway a good deal of warm air can leak while someone is coming in or out through the door.

 

[enoemos]

Besides, it's probably not as cold as you think here.

Do you have -20 Celsius at winter?

 

[Cannuck]

Do you have -20 Celsius at winter?

Sometimes but that isn't a normal,

 

[Ariadne]

Do you have -20 Celsius at winter?

This winter has been particularly cold, -30 celcius was too common. What do you mean when you ask if the warm air leaks when the door is open in -20 degree weather? Is there any way that it doesn't leak? Like maybe a porch?

 

[enoemos]

In my country people usually build houses with а mini chamber after the entrance door. The one who enters can come in, close the door, put off his shoes and coat there. Something like a thermal sluice. Do you have something alike in Canada?

 

[Ariadne]

In my country people usually build houses with а mini chamber after the entrance door. The one who enters can come in, close the door, put off his shoes and coat there. Something like a thermal sluice. Do you have something alike in Canada?

What you are calling a mini-chamber is called a porch. Some older and rural houses have a porch, but most city houses don't. Instead, houses are oriented with the weather as a consideration. For example, if you build a house on an acreage in the prairie, you consider the northwest wind. The cold wind always comes from the northwest. With this in mind, houses are designed/oriented such that the main door does not open directly to the northwest. If it opens to the north, then another section of the house is built along the west side of the house to interrupt the wind or protect the entrance. This is done most of the time. Sometimes architects come along, forget all about the weather, and design houses with storm door entrances facing the northwest ... but they are typically inexperienced. City houses don't typically have porches, and the wind is not as big a problem as in rural areas. The cold weather bursts in when it's -30 celcius and the door is open, but it warms up quickly.

 

[Ariadne]

There's also the vestibule, which is more common in city houses. This is like the mini-chamber you refer to. It is a small room between the main door and the house. Most houses don't have a vestibule.

 

[TenPenny]

Most modern houses don't have vestibules, because they reduce the 'useable' space in the house, although they are a good feature.

We have one in our front entrance, it's very handy. We also have a nice feature - an attached garage, so we go from the car to the house without going outside, and closing the garage door creates what is essentially a vestibule.

Most old farmhouses would have an enclosed porch of some sort as well, but again, these have fallen out of favour.

One thing that really annoyed me when we were looking at house plans, is that a lot of plans (even the one we built, we just modified it) have no allowance for closet space, boots, etc near the main entrance. I've seen floor plans where, if you come in the front door, you are in the living room. What do you do with snowy boots and jackets?

 

[Ariadne]

Throw them on the floor so everyone else that enters the house can trip over them?

 

[VanIsle]

Most modern houses don't have vestibules, because they reduce the 'useable' space in the house, although they are a good feature.

We have one in our front entrance, it's very handy. We also have a nice feature - an attached garage, so we go from the car to the house without going outside, and closing the garage door creates what is essentially a vestibule.

Most old farmhouses would have an enclosed porch of some sort as well, but again, these have fallen out of favour.

One thing that really annoyed me when we were looking at house plans, is that a lot of plans (even the one we built, we just modified it) have no allowance for closet space, boots, etc near the main entrance. I've seen floor plans where, if you come in the front door, you are in the living room. What do you do with snowy boots and jackets?

I must have about 10 house plan books sitting near me. It is rare to see a plan without a foyer. I have only found one plan that I like that the coat closet was forgotten. However, the foyer was obviously large enough to add one into the plan.
Where I live, it rarely drops below -3 so cold getting in isn't that big a factor. As someone said - most of us have an attached garage and enter the house from there. Company of course comes through the front entrance and there can be a momentary blast of cool air but it's not like someone is coming through the front entry often enough for that to matter. It's probably good for the house to get a little blast of fresh air now and then in a day. Storm doors are great even if you have a garage. I like a little something between me and the person standing at the door. It's easier to tell salespeople to get lost.

 

[L Gilbert]

In my country people usually build houses with а mini chamber after the entrance door. The one who enters can come in, close the door, put off his shoes and coat there. Something like a thermal sluice. Do you have something alike in Canada?

Some houses have small rooms between the outer doors and the door to the kitchen. We call ours the mudroom. Some people call them utility rooms. Some houses don't have them, but have the storm doors. Either way, once you open an outer door you start leaking heat.
Canada varies concerning temperature. Near the US border (49th parallel) is not as cold as say the 60th parallel in the winter. BC is a much milder climate than most other provinces in Canada, too.

 

[enoemos]

Thanks a lot to all of you! Yes, what I meant as mini-chamber is the mudroom. Of course you anyway loose heat but the mudroom allows avoiding draughts when someone opens the door and you don't have to bring dirt on your feet to the living room. I believe that Canada streets are much cleaner than Ukrainian so you just don't know that problem.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Thanks a lot to all of you! Yes, what I meant as mini-chamber is the mudroom. Of course you anyway loose heat but the mudroom allows avoiding draughts when someone opens the door and you don't have to bring dirt on your feet to the living room. I believe that Canada streets are much cleaner than Ukrainian so you just don't know that problem.

Do most people in Ukraine live in houses or apartments?

 

[enoemos]

Most people in Ukraine live in cities and towns in multistory buildings. Ukraine is very urbanized country - much more urbanized than Germany for example.

But my question concerns one or two story houses.