The Old House Winter Manual

Old houses don't fail in winter all at once. They fail one small, cheap thing at a time — a dirty flame sensor, a gap under a door, a pipe on the wrong wall — and then they fail at 2 a.m.

The Old House Winter Manual is the order to check things in, written for houses built before most of their owners were born. 12 chapters: the ten-minute fall walkthrough, a furnace that won't start or won't stay on, radiators and boilers, the "leave the heat on?" question, drafts, foggy windows and condensation, frozen pipes, no hot water, ice dams and the attic, the dryer vent, power outages and carbon monoxide safety, and hot and cold rooms.

Every chapter: what's going on, the five-minute check, how to fix it yourself, and exactly where to stop and call someone. Plus print-and-keep bonuses: the Fall Walkthrough, the Winter Kit shopping list, the "Who to Call" sheet, and the questions to ask before you say yes to a big heating quote.

No gas-line work, no wiring panels, no roofs in the snow. General information for older homes; not a substitute for a licensed professional.