The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Is This Bathroom Vent Screwed Up?
Leslie Warren thought she had all the details worked out in advance with her HVAC installer, so on the day he was scheduled to install the bathroom fan she was…
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Does This House Really Need Air Conditioning?
Jackie Treehorn is planning a new home near Portland, Oregon, to be constructed with insulated concrete forms and designed with a daylight basement. He'd like to include radiant-floor heat, and…
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Where Do I Put All My Extra Stuff?
Tyler Keniston is pondering design details for an energy efficient home in Climate Zone 6A. He's thinking of a Pretty Good House—a home that's energy efficient but not overly fussy—and…
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Case of the Missing Spray Foam
Aun Safe settled on spray polyurethane foam as the best way to turn his attic into a conditioned space. Although the open-cell foam between the 2x8 rafters would not be…
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Tracking Down a Stubborn Leak
GBA reader Megnchris is experiencing one of the more frustrating parts of home ownership—dropping a chunk of cash on a repair doesn't necessarily make the problem go away. Writing in…
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Attic Ventilation for a Revamped Timberframe
Jonathan Sinclair's home, a 225-year-old timber frame in New Hampshire, is getting a facelift. Sinclair is residing the building with fiber-cement lap siding, and he plans to install the siding…
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Air-Source or Ground-Source Heat Pump?
It's been a great 31 years, but the single-zone HVAC system has finally reached the end of the road, and gtmsmith has narrowed the search for a replacement to two…
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Building Strategies in a Hot, Humid Climate
AlbertoArriaga33 is wrestling with plans for a new home in a tropical location. He doesn't say exactly where, but conditions are certainly challenging: high heat and high humidity, with nighttime…
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Rainscreen Details for a Board-and-Batten Retrofit
One thing on Drew Goldsack's spring cleaning punch list this year is removing the vinyl siding from his Alberta home and replacing it with cedar board-and-batten siding. As he explains…
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Hedging Bets on a Heating and Cooling System
Brenton is building a new house in southern Maine (Climate Zone 6) that he currently plans to insulate with a combination of open- and closed-cell spray foam plus a continuous…
