2013: A Look Back at the Year in Building Science
2013 is almost history. Just a few short hours left before the giant possum drops into the bonfire to ring in 2014. (That's the New Year's party I go to each year, and it's always a lot of fun.) So…
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The Case of the Duct That Wasn’t There
I saw the photo below on the Structure Tech Facebook page recently. (They're a home inspection company in Minnesota that appreciates building science.) In this case, everyone can see one of the problems. Even if you know nothing about building…
Cold Air Is Dry Air
Relative humidity is what everyone likes to talk about. It gets the attention, but it can be confusing, especially when the temperatures drop. The truth is that, despite a high relative humidity, cold air is dry air. For example, at…
Will Higher Ventilation Rates Reduce Student Absences in School?
A new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) makes a bold claim that increasing ventilation rates can cut the number of student absences related to illness. The lead author on the paper, Mark Mendell, is quoted by LBNL's News…
Bats Can’t Live Under a Thermal Bridge
I was in Austin a couple of months ago, and I got a chance to watch the bats fly out from under the Congress Avenue bridge. (See my video at the end of the article!) I also saw a great…
A Net Zero Energy Home in a Beautiful Green Community
I spoke at Serenbe,† a beautiful green community southwest of Atlanta, this weekend and got a chance to visit a net zero energy home while there. Built by Luis Imery, one of the home energy raters we're a HERS provider…
Is Energy Efficiency More Important Than Indoor Air Quality?
I was searching the Interwebs for data on what percentage of buildings are designed by architects this week when I came across the Home Design Trends Survey from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). (If you can point me toward…
Why Did Painters Refuse to Paint Insulated Houses in the 1930s?
Now, I know exactly what you're thinking. Those painters didn't want to paint insulated buildings because building science hadn't been invented yet, and they thought the insulators were jumping the gun. Or was it that painters thought that stuffing the…
Beware of Roofers in Homes with Spray Foam Insulation
You have two choices when change happens: You can embrace it, or you can fight it. Some parts of the home building and home improvement industries are in the first camp. These are the home performance contractors, green builders, and…
Does Your Spray Foam Insulation Need a Thermal or Ignition Barrier?
To say spray foam insulation has become popular in green building over the past decade is like saying Peyton Manning is a good quarterback. It's an understatement. Although it's certainly not used in every green building project, it's become one…