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Recent Articles
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Is Using Closed-Cell Spray Foam Worth the Trade-Offs?
Closed-cell polyurethane spray foam is amazing stuff. It’s a great insulator, with a higher R-value per inch than almost any other commonly available material. (Polyisocyanurate foam can be equivalent, but…
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Climate Change for Builders: The Biggest Opportunity
When people say, “Earth’s climate has always changed,” I think back to a college geology class I took in 1992. The professor’s PhD research specialty was drilling deep in glaciers,…
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Minimizing Concrete in a Slab-on-Grade Home
For the last ten years, most of my work has been designing renovations and new homes, and now I am building again as well. But I also sometimes help clients…
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How to Choose Black Siding
Design trends for siding seem to be steering away from muted, neutral colors into either pure white or rich, saturated and dark tones—including pure black. Bold cladding choices can make…
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How to Install Doors in Thick Walls
In high-performance building envelopes—those with thick walls and other details that allow for extra insulation and air-sealing—installing standard doors poses challenges that builders don’t typically encounter on more conventional builds.…
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Windows in Thick Walls
Thick, highly insulated walls are great for lowering energy bills and creating a more comfortable interior environment for occupants, but they present some unique challenges for builders when it comes…
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Pretty Good House 2.0
You may already know about the Pretty Good House concept, the result of a question that moderator Dan Kolbert asked back in 2011, partly as a joke, at the long-running…
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Thermal and Moisture Control Layers
Editor's note: This post originally was published as part of the ProHOME series at Fine Homebuilding magazine. Michael Maines is a Certified Passive House Consultant and residential designer based in…
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Convincing Clients to Upgrade to Pretty Good (or Better)
How do you convince clients to upgrade from code-minimum (or worse) construction to Pretty Good House, or better, levels of performance? How do you ventilate a commercial-style range in an…
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The Pretty Good House: A Better Building Standard?
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) held its annual meeting in Portland, Maine, on September 15th, 2012. After a day of tours of local sustainably designed projects and some pre-meeting…
