The REAL Reason We Need Building Science
I LOVE this photo! It has nothing to do with building science. Or does it? As we humans have progressed from living in caves to mud huts to stone buildings to the stick-built structures many of us in the US…
indoor air quality
A Ventless Gas Fireplace Is a Liability
First of all, let's call it what it really is. The industry likes the term "vent-free" when talking about gas fireplaces that keep all the exhaust gases in your home. I prefer the term "ventless" or, even better, "unvented." Not…
A Humidifier Is a Bandaid — The Problem Is Infiltration
Does your heating system have a humidifier attached to it? If so, it's most likely there to treat a symptom while leaving the underlying cause of that symptom alone. The symptom is dry air in winter. Unless you're in an…
Recirculating Range Hoods — As Effective As Recirculating Toilets
You'd never settle for a recirculating toilet, would you? Press the lever and everything in the bowl just swirls around and around. Never leaving, just recirculating. That's the image Professor John Straube painted for us last week in his talk…
Don’t Compromise — Get a Low-Level Carbon Monoxide Monitor
You know that saying, Don't judge a book by its cover? That certainly applies to what may be the best protection against carbon monoxide poisoning you can buy. The CO Experts carbon monoxide monitor doesn't have a flashy website or…
Want Bad Air? Put a Heating & Cooling System in Your Attached Garage
I've written about how bad it is to put your heating and cooling system in an unconditioned attic, especially in a cooling climate. There's one place, though, that's even worse: an attached garage, as shown at left. From an efficiency…
I-Joists, Attached Garages, and the Air Leaks That Poison
A home with an attached garage is usually a home in which people breathe more carbon monoxide (CO). Of course, having an open carport or detached garage is better for air quality (and a feature that usually gets points for…
Asthma and Poor Indoor Air Quality — The Trouble with Homes
I grew up with really bad asthma. Not being able to get enough air into your lungs, in case you haven't experienced it, is pretty scary. I remember lying in bed during one asthma attack, gasping for air, wheezing loudly,…
The Mystery of the Ventilating Dehumidifier
Sometimes I find the most amazing mysteries in people's homes, usually in nasty crawl spaces or attics. Here is one such story. The photo at left shows a whole-house dehumidifier. It's tied in with the heating and cooling system, which…
This Hole May Be the Biggest Air Leakage Site in Your Home
I'm talking about the hole the plumbers cut for the bathtub drain. If you have a bathtub sitting on a floor over an space like a vented crawl space or unconditioned basement, this hole allows air to move freely between…