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…
![Various Ways To Install Ducts Overhead, Including Buried Ducts [Image Credit: IBACOS]](https://www.energyvanguard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/attic-duct-system-configurations.jpg)
Think about moving cold air through a hot attic or hot air through a cold attic. Building codes require only a measly R-8 insulation on the ducts. It may seem natural to bury those ducts beneath the attic insulation to…
Bringing an attic within the building enclosure that defines the conditioned space has a lot of benefits. By having the insulation and air barrier at the roofline, the attic stays close to the temperature in the living space below. That…
Which do you think would have the bigger impact: Building better new houses or fixing existing homes? Well, let's do the numbers. In 2024, building departments across the US issued just shy of 1.5 million building permits for new homes…
Do you know how to read a roof after a snowstorm? When you do, it tells you something about how good the building enclosure is. We had that opportunity here last weekend. We got 2 or 3 inches of snow…
Several years ago, I heard something really interesting at a talk by a self-described futurist. It's an interesting "Futurists," she said, "look at weak signals and try to figure out which ones will become strong signals." I hadn't thought…
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…
Bathrooms need some way of exhausting air. Mostly it's to keep the humidity down, but, depending on who lives in the house, the bathroom also can be a source of a lot of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Not all homes…
A lot of volunteers gathered in Decatur, Georgia this past weekend for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Service Project. They worked at a number of sites doing all kinds things to improve the homes of low-income senior citizens. The…
Imagine the house of your dreams. It's beautiful and laid out efficiently. You're always comfortable. It promotes health and happiness. The operating costs are low. You don't have to spend much to maintain it. You don't get a lot of…