If you read my article last week, you know that most insulation materials don't stop infiltration, although it's commonly believed that adding insulation is the solution to a drafty house. That's only one of many limitations you need to be…
A lot of houses have atmospheric combustion appliances. What that means is that a lot of houses have the potential for problems with atmospheric combustion, including serious health and safety problems as well as higher energy bills. First, let me…
Speaking of things that drive me crazy (we were, weren't we?), here's another one - people confusing the roles of insulation and air barrier. The people I'm talking about are not homeowners, though. I'm talking about contractors, builders, and journalists…
Last week, I did my first webinar. Along with Jason Payne of Structured Energies and EEM Training, I discussed the Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM), theory and application. I handled the theory side, and Jason, who's actually done a bunch of…
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…
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…
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…
Back in grad school, I was taking a class in surface physics, and my friend Steve asked, "What is temperature?" On first hearing that question, you might think it's so obvious that it doesn't even bear asking, and anyone who…