Freezing an historic house

Zoe Old <zoe_old<-at->yahoo<.>co<.>uk> writes

>I wouldn't normally consider this, but as the house lacks humidity
>control, has poorly fitting windows and doors, and has only two
>heaters that work, I was considering attempting to freeze the entire
>house one day over the winter, having read a brief article about
>freezing a herbarium in Studies in Conservation (Volume 39, Issue
>Supplement-1).

You might have success with your plan if you get some unusually
frigid temperatures.  Herbarium specimens are commonly frozen at -20
degrees for two weeks; being in Texas, your carpet beetles might
might not need that temperature or that amount of time.  You want to
kill the beetles and you want to make sure that their eggs are
killed too.  If you don't get one long cold blast of winter
temperatures, then hope for two shorter blasts.  The warm period in
the middle will induce the eggs to hatch and the next freezing will
kill the little hatchlings.  Let us know what happens.

Judy Jacob
Senior Conservator
National Park Service
Northeast Regional Office
Historic Architecture, Conservation, and Engineering Program


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 28:31
                  Distributed: Friday, January 9, 2015
                       Message Id: cdl-28-31-002
                                  ***