The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Foam-Free Insulated Foundations
By now, most builders know that in all but the warmest climates, foundations need to be insulated. Whether your house has a basement foundation, a crawlspace foundation, or a slab…
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Bad Stair Design Contributes to Falls
Old houses are quaint, with many quirky features rarely seen in new homes: attics or basements with low ceilings, for example, or odd-shaped closets in unexpected corners. Many old houses…
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Five Rules for Wall Design
An architect recently told a friend of mine that he was designing a flash-and-batt wall with the spray foam insulation installed on the interior, and the batt insulation toward the…
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Goldman on Minisplits
If you are designing or building a high-performance home, you probably know that a minisplit heat pump is an efficient, affordable way to provide space heating and cooling. Unfortunately, in…
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Insulating a Metal Building
Most metal buildings (also known as steel buildings) are used for relatively utilitarian purposes — for example, as warehouses, auto repair shops, or manufacturing facilities. That said, it’s possible for…
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Insulating Rim Joists
Rim joists make up the perimeter of the floor system of a wood-framed house. Also known as band joists, rim joists are pieces of lumber—either sawn lumber or engineered lumber—that…
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More Stringent Energy Codes Don’t Necessarily Save Energy
Since states began adopting energy codes in the 1980s, newer versions of the energy code continue to be adopted every few years, with each new version ratcheting up the stringency…
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Christmas Poems for 2019
If I Were King With apologies to A.A. Milne I often wish that I were king, So I could order anything. If I were King of South Sudan, I’d buy…
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Jacking Up Buildings in Fairbanks
How do you build a residential foundation in Fairbanks, Alaska? The answer depends on site conditions — especially soil conditions and the presence or absence of permafrost. The answer may…
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Still Fighting the Same Battles, 20 Years Later
When I began working at the Journal of Light Construction in 1999, I was assigned to edit the magazine’s Q&A column. At all of my various jobs since then, I’ve…
