The Two-Inch Nightmare Snow Storm That Brought Down Atlanta
I was one of the lucky ones. I spent only two hours in my car when the big snow storm of 2014 hit Atlanta on Tuesday. We got only about 2" of snow in my part of the city, but…
health & safety
Energy Vanguard Offers RESNET Combustion Safety Class for HERS Raters
RESNET, in case you haven't heard, will require† all HERS raters to be certified in combustion safety and work scope development. Yep. All new raters trained in 2014 will need to demonstrate those skills before they can be certified. Raters…
Beware of Roofers in Homes with Spray Foam Insulation
You have two choices when change happens: You can embrace it, or you can fight it. Some parts of the home building and home improvement industries are in the first camp. These are the home performance contractors, green builders, and…
Does Your Spray Foam Insulation Need a Thermal or Ignition Barrier?
To say spray foam insulation has become popular in green building over the past decade is like saying Peyton Manning is a good quarterback. It's an understatement. Although it's certainly not used in every green building project, it's become one…
Fixing an Old House? Follow Einstein’s Advice
I get a lot of questions from people asking how they should go about fixing their homes. Sometimes it's specific (What's the best way to insulate my kneewalls?), and sometimes it's a hands up in the air, With all these…
A Halloween Homage to Those Things That Live—and Die—in Our Homes
Whether you live in a single-family detached house, duplex, condo, or apartment, we all have something in common: We share our homes with other animals. They crawl in from below, squeeze in through the sides, or fly in at the…
Confessions of a Building Science Zealot
Hi. My name is Allison, and I'm a building science zealot. I preach the gospel of building science, yet in my own life, I fall short of the perfection I exhort others to attain. Yes, I once built a green…
The #1 Question to Ask before Putting Spray Foam in Your Attic
Earlier this year I got a question about a home that had spray foam insulation in the attic. Nothing unusual about that. A lot of builders and homeowners are going with spray foam insulation because of the airtightness benefits. But…
Are You Making These Mistakes with Your Garage?
Sometimes people do the craziest things. Take that photo above, for example. That's a new home being built in Austin, Texas. The arrows point to three air conditioning ducts. In the garage. Yes, they're air conditioning the garage. Mistake #1:…
11 Building Science Secrets Every Home Builder & Remodeler Should Know
Overall, the state of the construction industry is improving. A lot of home builders and remodelers are learning, either out of interest or coercion, about building science and how to apply it to their work. Overall, the state of the…