When you first start learning building science, you may run into this thing called exfiltration. It's not a widely used word, even among those of us who work in the world of building science. We learn about it and then…
With winter beginning soon and energy prices climbing, let's talk about energy efficiency. And I'm not talking about that standard crap about caulking the windows and weatherstripping the doors. (You may recall that I've advised people NOT to caulk the…
With all the incentives for heat pumps and the talk of electrification these days, you may be thinking of going with a heat pump. Heat pumps can work in both new and existing homes. But can you be comfortable with…
My house exhibits an interesting phenomenon on occasion. A lot of people who understand building science sometimes jump to the wrong conclusion when they see it. Hey, I did the same thing myself at first, too. The puzzle lies in…
Vented crawl spaces are often nasty, dirty buffer spaces that can flood your home with a variety of indoor air pollutants. A lot of it starts with moisture, of course. Water comes up from the ground beneath the crawl space,…
You'd think that after more than 12 years and a thousand-plus articles, I'd have mentioned all the major building science terms by now. Yet, here we are. I just did a search of all the articles in this blog and…
Tis the season for pumpkin spice. It began with pumpkin pie and then later spread to fancy coffee drinks. Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte in 2003 and turned it into a trend. Now everyone knows it even by its…
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, indoor air quality has become a subject of great concern. IAQ and infectious disease scientists discovered early on that COVID is airborne. That means removing virus-laden particles from the air or deactivating…
The Westford Symposium on Building Science (known mostly as Building Science Summer Camp) came back to life this year after a two-year pandemic-prompted hiatus. Three of the presentations on the first day focused on health, indoor air quality, and infection…
We've normalized the abnormal in our homes in so many ways that most people have no idea what kind of performance they should expect. If you've never lived in a house with a good building enclosure and HVAC systems, for…