Lately there have been numerous questions on the use of WRB’s or Weather Resistive Barriers. For example; do I need it if I am using foam? If I am installing foam, should it be placed over the foam or under it? According to the ZIP system, I don’t need one, is this really a good […]
Common Sense Building: OFT – Optimized Framing Techniques
OFT or Optimized Framing Techniques is taking the best framing techniques that fit the house you are building & utilizing them to not only save resources but to also have a strong, durable structure that uses a minimal amount of connectors. Ah, but isn’t that what one might call OVE or Advanced Framing? Well before […]
Common Sense Building: Making Sense of Radiant Heat (FAQ)
We originally started this series on Radiant Heat with an article entitled “Don’t just jump on the bandwagon” & followed it up by a guest post from Todd Vendituoli on his installation of an under the slab system & the benefits of a Radiant Hydronic System. As promised we are into our third article on […]
Common Sense Building: Radiant Hydronic Heating
Heating ones house via radiant heat has been around for over 5000 years & is generally credited to the Koreans with their “ondol” system and is still in use today. The genius of this system & the later “hypocaust” systems developed by the Romans is that one heated one’s whole house from under the floor […]
Common Sense Building: Don’t just jump on the bandwagon
Contractors rightfully get a bad rap sometimes for not wanting to change or embrace new technologies. “I have been doing it this way for years & never had an issue.” Some that do embrace change have learned the hard way that it is best to tread carefully after being bitten by some new product that […]
Common Sense Building: The Cool Roof Concept
When one starts talking about roofs you will quickly run into a whole bunch of jargon; hot roof’s, cool roof’s, vented, unvented, green, flat, hybrid & the list goes on & on & on. Needless to say this can & does cause quite a bit of confusion especially when regional differences in naming conventions pop […]
Common Sense Building: A new series for On the Grid & Off-Grid houses
As many of you may recall, back in May we decided to take a break from the “off the grid” series & decided to look at “common sense” methods for designing & building new homes. We decided to go this route as it doesn’t matter if a house is on the grid, or off the […]
Ten Rules of Roof Design: Really?
Just like clockwork, this last Friday Martin Holladay posted his weekly blog article under the by-line of Musings of an Energy Nerd on Green Building Advisor. While I generally am always looking forward to seeing what he has to say, I was particularly looking forward to reading this one on Martin’s Ten Rules of Roof […]
Building Green Homes: Looking back & Lessons Learned
I guess I can credit some of my desire to learn about and utilize energy efficient designs, green buildings, & solar power with the area I grew up in. I can recall some of our schools field trips where we would go see new houses being built with photovoltaic panels, and eating food cooked on […]
Energy Efficiency vs. Conservation – what is the real issue?
I have to admit, I was originally confused by some of the attitudes or opinions given about those in the Energy Efficiency fields. I grant you that there are quite a few individuals in the green community that are five cans shy of a six pack, but the following quotes come from some of the […]