The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Insulating and Air Sealing a Vaulted Ceiling
Kevin is working up the design for a new lakeside cabin in Tennessee, with plans currently calling for a scissor-truss roof and a vaulted ceiling over the kitchen and living…
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Tackling a Basement Water and Radon Issue
Rossn has been remodeling the lower level of his Colorado home and in the process discovered evidence of some moisture and bulk water issues. Although the problems are not severe…
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Does Radiant Floor Cooling Make Sense?
Steve Mackay is already committed to radiant floor heat in the house he is building. Why not, he wonders, use the same system for cooling?
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Do I Really Need to Heat the Basement?
Irene lives in a 1901 house in the Pacific Northwest with an unfinished basement that's slowly been improved but is still unheated. In previous remodeling, Irene removed fiberglass insulation that…
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Designing a High-Performance Wall in Wildfire Country
Will Welch has chosen to build his high-performance house in Nederland, Colorado. The site is at the border of Climate Zones 6 and 7, and it poses some challenges: it's…
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Does an Electric Tankless Water Heater Make Sense?
David Voros owns a vacation home that isn't used frequently, but every so often the house sees a lot of guests. What, he asks, is the best way of providing…
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Heating a Bathroom Floor
A warm bathroom floor is a something to look forward to on a chilly winter morning, and C.L. is poking around for ideas on the best way of accomplishing that.…
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Details for a Closed Crawlspace
Emerson has moved into a house in Climate Zone 4A, a region where humidity can be relatively high. As Emerson explains in a Q&A post, the crawlspace beneath part of…
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Backing Up a Minisplit Heating System
Low temperatures where David Gadbois lives aren't Siberian, but he's still interested in supplementing his ductless minisplit heating system with electric resistance heaters, something to provide a boost on just…
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Does This Roof Need to Breathe?
GBA reader Erik is building a new house in southwestern Washington state, and he's thought through most of the details with care. But as the time nears to install the…
