The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Wingnut Testing: Soffit-to-Ridge Roof Venting
So far, I have performed wingnut testing on PSA tapes and on basement waterproofing products. Very recently, I started working on wingnut testing of roof venting, using an easel made…
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Three Sources of Home Heating (Times Two)
It's wintertime in the Northern hemisphere, and that means we're heating our homes. The new year started off a bit on the warm side here in the Atlanta area, with…
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Defogging the Windshield with Psychrometrics
A lot of people don't understand the best way to defog their car windshield in wet, cool weather. About 30 years ago, I was on a group trip on a…
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Pete’s Puzzle: Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Moisture Problem
Taking a look at only the first three images in the photo gallery for this blog, can you guess what the contraption is (was) in the middle of the basement…
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Does Fiberglass Attic Insulation Really Lose R-Value?
When you get into the world of building science, it's inevitable that you'll hear about the Oak Ridge study proving that fiberglass insulation loses about half its R-value. Maybe, though,…
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Do High-MERV Filters Always Reduce Air Flow?
Over the past few months, I've taken a look at some critical issues for indoor air quality. Starting with the issue of how much time we spend indoors, I then…
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Never Home Alone
Every single one of us — those of us who lives indoors — is cohabiting with all manner of living uninvited guests: bacteria, fungi, insects, plants, and even rodents. And…
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The Continuity Equation and Air Flow
As we continue our study of indoor air quality and filtration, we now come back to duct design. Today's lesson is on an interesting bit of physics that applies to…
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Seven Reasons Your Filter Isn’t Cleaning the Air
Indoor air quality (IAQ) researchers have established that little bitty invisible pieces of stuff that float around in the air are bad for human health. Of course, being scientists, they…
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More Wingnut Testing of Basement Waterproofing
In the first round of Wingut testing of negative side waterproofing, I was pretty focused on how various interior basement waterproofing systems dealt with hydrostatic pressure. But in recent workshops…
