Energy Vanguard Blog

If you install fiberglass batt insulation* with a kraft paper vapor retarder in a home, which way do you face the vapor retarder? To the inside of the home or the outside of the home? For many building science questions, the answer is, 'It depends.' For this one, the answer is clear.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a control freak. This was a guy who not only designed houses but also all of the trim details and even the furniture. No, you're right. That's not really enough evidence to convict him. The really damning part is that he also placed the furniture exactly where he wanted it in the homes he designed...and expected you to keep it there! If you owned one of his homes, you better hope he never visited and found the furniture out of place. If so, you'd get a good scolding. Then he'd put the furniture back where it was supposed to go. Control freak!

I write mostly about buildings and the people who fight about them: the crazy things I find, the good things I find, the super-secret Building Science Fight Club, how I don't need no stinkin' Building Science Summer Camp. Just your standard energy geek fare. Occasionally I talk about peak oil and the Long Emergency. Aside from the few articles I've written about the green home I built, with its greywater system, reclaimed materials, and passive solar features, I haven't said much about sustainable living, though.

I was rereading one of Joe Lstiburek's articles last week. The man has a way with words (and I'm not just talking about the four-letter ones). This article was called Understanding Vapor Barriers and is perhaps the clearest, most direct explanation I've read on the topic. It's got some nice Joe-quotes, too, of course. Here's one:

Back in the summer of 2003, I was finishing up the green home I'd started building in 2001. One of the last pieces we had to complete was the greywater system, and we'd already put a lot of work into it before we ever moved a spadeful of dirt.