FAQ’s, Acronym’s, & Terminology

BS4D: The HERS Index & Score

HERS or the Home Energy Rating System is the industries benchmarking tool for modeling a home’s energy use. The system is comprised of two parts; an index and a score. The index is linear with two static points; a “0” equates to a net-zero home (one that produces as much electricity as it uses) while […]

BS4D: Radiant Barriers

A Radiant Barrier (RB) is a product designed to only block radiant heat transfer from happening and is rated based on its reflectivity & emissivity values per ASTM C 1313. In order to qualify as a Radiant Barrier it must have a reflectivity rating of .9 or more (the higher the better). A radiant barrier […]

BS4D: Heat & Transfer Methods

Heat is energy and refers only to the transfer of this energy between or through items and not the stored energy of the item (aka its temperature). While this difference might appear to be subtle, it is very important to understand the distinction between the two, & how this transfer takes place. One other important […]

BS4D: Stack Effect

Stack or Chimney Effect describes the natural phenomena of how air moves into and out of a building, a chimney, a flue pipe, or other type of container. This is caused mainly by pressure & temperature differences – the bigger the difference, the bigger the effect is. For most people the concept seems simple – […]

BS4D: ACH (Air Changes per Hour)

ACH or ACH50 stands Air Changes per Hour. It is a standardized measurement using a calibrated blower door designed to see how leaky a home or building is. While the test & many of the terms are a popular means of expressing leakage, they can also be very misleading. The blower door was invented in […]

BS4D: Building Codes

Just like any other scientific field, building science is constantly evolving as new information, testing, and materials are released. Unfortunately in some cases the acronym’s, amount &/or type of information provided is not only hard to understand, but can also be meaningless based on your house or area you live in. With that, welcome to […]

Say what… aka the acronym dilemma

I still remember it like yesterday, my partner in crime was talking to a whole bunch of suits – “While we tried to eliminate most of the TLA’s, three letter acronym’s, there are still a few we can’t get around, so if you have a question about one, please feel free to stop us & […]

FAQ’s on Infrared Thermography

As many of you know or have seen, we at SLS Construction & Building Solutions LLC are now offering Residential, Commercial, & Industrial Infrared Thermographic Inspections throughout Illinois. This has led to a few questions that we thought we would try to answer all in one place. In layman’s terms, what is Infrared Thermography? It […]

LEAD FAQ’s – To Test or Not to Test – that is the question

As the property owner you have a question you should seriously consider, due to the increased costs of the EPA’s RRP rules, should I get my house or areas that are being worked on tested for lead, or should everyone just assume lead is present and proceed accordingly? In order to start answering that question, […]