Making a Roof Less Likely to Leak
I got the shingles replaced on my roof this week. I've needed it for a while but held off for a couple of years. Why? Because there were a couple of things I needed to do at the bottom of…
The Energy Vanguard Blog
What’s the Correct Air Flow for an Air Conditioner?
Air conditioning is a wonderful thing. Now that warm weather is returning here in the northern hemisphere, ACs are getting turned on and cranked up again. The air in a house gets warm because of the heat coming in through…
A Weekend Zehnder ERV Installation Blitz
You may recall that in 2021 Zehnder America gave me one of their premium energy recovery ventilators (ERV) with all the components I needed to get it up and running in my house. It's taken longer than I wanted to…
Will Your Water Heater Give You Legionnaires’ Disease?
Whenever I post a photo of the control panel of my heat pump water heater (like the one above), I usually hear from at least one reader who has concerns about Legionnaires' disease. I care about my health, so I've…
What Is PM2.5?
You can't see them. You can't smell a lot of them. In fact, they're hard to access with any of your senses. But that doesn't mean your body won't respond to those tiny airborne particles that make up what scientists…
The Problem With Too Many Basement Walls
Ever been in a basement that smelled musty? Maybe the better question to ask would be if you've ever been in a basement that didn't have that smell. Far too many basements do. There could be any number of reasons…
The One Reason NOT to Do It Yourself
I've taken on a whole lot of do-it-yourself (DIY) projects over the years. I built furniture (end table, bookcase, coffee table...) in high school and college. Thanks to owning a couple of old Volkswagens ('61 Beetle and '65 bus), I've…
Radon Reduction From Basement Sealing – Preliminary
Shortly after my wife and I bought our 1961 home in 2019, I discovered a serious problem in the basement. Where I could see it, the slab was cracked all along the edge of the exterior walls (photo above). I…
What Happens to the Frost on My Heat Pump?
This is the fifth winter since I've been heating my house with a Mitsubishi* heat pump. And finally I got to see something I've missed every time it happened until last week. Yep. I'm talking about seeing frost on the…
Basement Renovation in a 1961 Home
My wife and I bought our 1961 house in 2019, and it came with a basement in pretty rough shape. It smelled musty. There was evidence of moisture damage. The slab was cracked along the perimeter of the exterior walls. …