The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Heating a New House in Nova Scotia
In the Canadian maritime province of Nova Scotia, a GBA reader named Janet is building a new weekend home whose heating system will include both a wood stove and radiant-floor…
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Coping With High Humidity and Mold
Moses Draper and his family are spending their first summer in their new house in southern Vermont. The 1,200-square-foot house is well insulated and very tight, so the summer should…
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How to Insulate a Raised Floor
Peter Danube is planning to build a detached workshop in northern Delaware, a Climate Zone 4 locale. The 20-by-32-foot building will be constructed on concrete piers, rather than on a…
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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.…
