The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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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…
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Ranking Indoor Air Pollutants
That face above is of a physician, alchemist, and astrologer named Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He is deemed the father of toxicology and is better known by the…
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A Better Name for Friction Rate
Last year I wrote some articles on duct design and one of the topics I covered was this thing called friction rate. At the end of that article, I discussed…
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Pete’s Product Puzzle: Cetco RX-101 and Sika 703
What's the scary thing about the two products in the photo above? The scary thing is that it is rare to find a residential builder or architect who has seen…
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The Two Main Flaws With Kitchen Ventilation
Energy efficiency is a gateway drug to building science. When you really start learning about it, you come to the inescapable conclusion that there's so much more to making homes…
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R-10 Vacuum-Insulated Glazing
For twenty years or so, companies like Pilkington (Spacia) have been cranking out R-5ish (center-of-glass) vacuum-insulated glazing (VIG). The attraction of glazing units with a very thin profile, relatively low…
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What Is the Relative Humidity When It’s Raining?
Serious question here: Have you ever thought about what the relative humidity is when it's raining? I've heard people say it's 100% because, well... because it has to be. It's…
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How Much of Your Life Do You Spend in Buildings?
Back in 2004, as I was immersing myself in the world of building science and green building, I took the U.S. Green Building Council's exam to become a LEED Accredited…
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Professor Straube on Moisture Physics
The 22nd annual Westford Symposium on Building Science (a.k.a. Building Science Summer Camp) happened two weeks ago. And it began with a bang, as Professor John Straube expounded on moisture…
