Last week I spoke with one of our HVAC design clients. He's in the middle of getting his systems installed and had some concerns. We provide a list of do's and don'ts for changes the installers can or shouldn't make…
Bath fans are a big topic in building science. How do you get good air flow through them? Should you insulate the duct? Is it OK to use an ERV extract vent instead? Can they work as part of a…
Here's a little conundrum for you. When you go outdoors on a summer morning and see dew on the grass, it's because the temperature dropped overnight. Moist air and cold surfaces really like each other, so the water vapor condenses…
You'd think that HVAC companies would have this locked down. The V in HVAC, after all, stands for ventilation. But ventilation falls below duct systems for many contractors. And duct systems are below what's in the box that makes the…
I clean the gutters on my house twice a year—once in early winter to clear the leaves and again in late spring to clear the catkins. I was up there a couple of weeks ago and decided not to bother…
In December 2025, we got a photovoltaic (PV) array installed on our roof. I was going to wait longer, but the 30 percent solar tax credit was going away at the end of 2025. We got in just under the…
For those of us who heat and cool our homes with forced-air systems, duct leakage can matter a lot. I say "can" there because as with most things in building science, "it depends." For this article, I'm focusing on ducts…
We finished phase 1 of our basement remodel a year ago, but I never showed you how the guest suite turned out. So here's a video tour of it, along with a bit about how the beginning of phase 2…
Let's dive into some more manometer madness today, shall we? Last week I tried to clear up some weird stuff I saw online about U-tube manometers. And then I found out that I might have made things worse, at least…
Take a look at the set of photos of the U-tube manometer on my new radon mitigation system above. Can you tell which ones show that the radon fan is on? In which ones would the fan be off? Are…