Building Matters
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Details for a “High-Performance Garage”
An insulated slab, Larsen truss wall system, careful air-sealing, and dense-packed insulation in deep cavities mitigate heat losses at a garage door
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Call for Building Pros to Try New Energy Modeling Software
Ekotrope seeks residential construction professionals to test its HERS-specific energy modeling rating system in a free trial
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HomebuildersCAN: A Prologue
A budding carbon-action network aims to rally the residential construction sector to decarbonize new homes
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Another Effort to Recycle Vinyl
A new inititiave attempts to manage the waste stream this ubiquitous building material produces
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Building Affordable Houses—20 Years Later
A renewed conversation about the intersection of cost-effectiveness and green building practices
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Variations on the Larsen Truss
Builders continue to innovate around this decades-old method of framing a wall that puts insulation to the exterior
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Problems with Attic Trusses
If you are designing with attic trusses to create conditioned living space, be warned it is difficult to detail this assembly, making it susceptible to heat loss and air leakage
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IRC 2021 and the Ratio Rule for Hybrid Roof Insulation
Correcting an outdated table of energy code–mandated R-values
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Overview of Panelized Construction
A look at the benefits, manufacturing and delivery methods, and potential pitfalls of prefabricated building enclosures
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Efficiency Without Sufficiency Is Lost
Let’s learn to live well with “frugal abundance.” We can start by adopting the dictum “enough is plenty.”
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How Much Does It Cost to Build Your Own House?
An owner/builder shares the line-by-line break down of costs to design-build his high-performance home in Wisconsin