The new Georgia energy code, based on the 2009 IECC, moves our state a step ahead of other states. The major new requirement is that all new homes be tested for infiltration rates with a Blower Door. As far as…
Put your hand out, palm up. Believe it or not, you're now holding about 200 pounds of air in your hand. You may have heard that standard atmospheric pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch. Your hand is probably in…
This is the second article of a two-part guest post by David Butler of Optimal Building Systems in Arizona and a frequent commenter in the RESNET BPI group on LinkedIn. I've known David for a couple of years now, and…
This is the first article of a two-part guest post by David Butler of Optimal Building Systems in Arizona and a frequent commenter in the RESNET BPI group on LinkedIn. I've known David for a couple of years now, and…
Snow on the Roof is the poor man's infrared camera. During the snow days we just had in Atlanta, Jeffrey Sauls sent me the photo above. What you see is the roof of his own house, which he'd had insulated…
One of my all time favorite books is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It’s really good on a lot of levels, but one thing that really stuck with me was the author’s discussion of how…
About a year ago, I had lunch with someone who was in the process of refinancing his 50 year old home. He was doing the refi merely to lower his interest rate and monthly payments, but he missed out on…
Building Envelope as a Balloon At some point in your life, you may have seen or done the needle through the balloon trick. It's where a large needle pierces one end of a balloon and is pushed through to the…
Green Building Advisor, one of my favorite sources of good info on building science and green building, ran my Flat or Lumpy article as a guest blog yesterday. (They also gave the Energy Vanguard blog a nice review!) With the…
We got a couple inches of snow here in Atlanta over the holidays. That always offers a great look at heat loss through the ceiling, so I love to get outside and take pictures. After the snow has been on…