I've been known to argue for using building science terms correctly. I've written articles about how we shouldn't use the word "breathe" in relation to houses and that air doesn't have any capacity for holding water vapor. I've even written…
Are you considering replacing your current water heater with a heat pump water heater but worried that it'll freeze your basement in winter? Well, enough homes have this new technology that we now have some data on this topic. A…
If you've ever seen frost in the attic in winter, it's pretty to easy to understand why it's happening. It's the same thing that causes morning dew on the grass, frost on the exposed half of my car, or water…
The central vs dedicated return vent debate has a clear winner. But first, let me explain the terminology. A forced-air heating and cooling system has supply ducts that blow conditioned air into the rooms of your house. That's the part…
Ah, mini-splits. They’re all the rage in the world of high-performance HVAC. But what exactly is a mini-split heat pump? Unfortunately, the terminology around this technology is confusing because it’s used so inconsistently. Let’s start at the beginning. (Well, OK,…
Which roof penetrations cause water damage? They all do, of course. But some are more likely to leak than others. The photo above shows the back of my house. We got a tiny bit of snow on Sunday, and some…
Roof overhangs and moisture problems in the walls of a house ought to be related, right? After all, most of the water that lands on a house hits the roof first. From there, rainwater runs to the bottom edge of…
The DIY box fan air cleaner known as the Corsi-Rosenthal Box (or the Comparetto Cube, in a slight variation) has really taken off in the fight against COVID. I wrote about it here in September 2020, with instructions on how…
It's the last day of the year, so let's wrap it up with some lists. Whether you missed some of the articles I wrote this year or are just curious about what other people were reading here, I've got three…
Here we are at the end of another year. It's been a weird one! I certainly won't go into all the weirdness of 2021, but let me give you the Energy Vanguard wrap-up, divided into five categories. Four of them…