The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Is it Time to Move Away From ACH @50 Pascals?
A residential blower door test result is usually performed at a pressure difference of 50 Pascals, and the results are reported as an airflow rate in cfm. A report might…
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Building with Cob and Straw
There are two camps in the green building world. One camp — the one focusing on energy efficiency — gets most of the world’s attention. The other camp — natural…
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Vapor Diffusion Ports
Cathedral ceiling assemblies and unvented conditioned attics often suffer from problems with damp roof sheathing. For years, building scientists have been proposing a variety of solutions to these damp sheathing…
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Insulating Basement Walls With Embedded Joists
If you visit the basement of an older home, you may notice that the floor joists above your head are embedded in the foundation walls. This is rare in a…
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Insulating Scissors Trusses
A scissors truss is a roof truss that creates a sloped ceiling instead of a horizontal ceiling. Unlike parallel-chord trusses — a type of truss that creates a sloped ceiling…
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Preventing Lightning Damage
Recently, lightning struck near the garage and house of good friends of mine, a Vermont couple named Susan and Stan. Lightning destroyed a tree, fried all of the electronics and…
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Solutions to the Attic Duct Problem
In last week’s blog, I discussed the practice of burying attic ducts in deep insulation. Since burying ducts is simply one of several ways to address the energy waste associated…
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Burying Ducts in Attic Insulation
You shouldn’t install ducts in a vented unconditioned attic. As most GBA readers know, ducts belong inside a home’s thermal envelope, not in an environment that’s cold in the winter…
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Should I Build a Mechanical Room in My Attic?
In many southern states, it’s common for an HVAC contractor to install an air handler and ductwork in a vented unconditioned attic. In July, the attic temperature rises to 120°F.…
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Understanding Dew Point
The dew point is a temperature. In my article on the psychrometric chart, I defined dew point as “the temperature at which moisture in the air begins to condense on…
