Is there a simple way to determine if something is alive, ever was? There is black mold that looks a lot like particulate and both or either can show up on fiberglass insulation associated with air leakage. See the image below. There is efflorescence that looks a lot like white mold, and both or either …
Does this new wall truss one-up double-stud walls and continuous exterior insulation? High-performance exterior walls typically handle thermal bridging at framing members in one of two ways—either the building is wrapped in some thickness of continuous rigid insulation outside of the sheathing or the home is framed with staggered, double-stud walls. Each of these two …
And who decided that 1 grain of water moving through 1 square foot of a material in 1 hour at a vapor pressure difference of 1 inch of mercury was the right measure? [Author’s Note, June 21 2019: I’d like to leave this story as is for the time being, even though–as my wife …
It has been a while since I blogged about my first round of Wingnut roof vent testing, so here is a reminder of the questions that the tests should answer: Does soffit-to-ridge cathedral roof air flow actually follow the nice neat arrows that ridge vent manufacturers show in their brochures? Does the configuration of a …
Wingnut Testing of Soffit-to-Ridge Venting, Round 2 Read More »
Is ThermalBuck a face-sealed or a water-managed window installation system — or a little of both? ThermalBuck inventor John Brooks is a very clever, passionate building professional who is job-site savvy. He saw a weak component of high-performance walls: wood window bucks in exterior walls with exterior rigid insulation. His ThermalBuck system virtually eliminates that …
Opportunities for builders to obtain building science education may seem scant, but opportunities for people who own and operate buildings — particularly homeowners — are even rarer. About two years ago, this lack led to my developing a class for homeowners called “How (Older) Homes Work” (HOHW). My good friend and colleague, Steve Snider, really …
So far, I have performed wingnut testing on PSA tapes and on basement waterproofing products. Very recently, I started working on wingnut testing of roof venting, using an easel made from 2-by lumber and two sandwich panels of 1/2-inch OSB (see the photo above). The easel includes a vent space and ridge vent between the …
Over the last 20 years or so, I have revised many times the building assessment form I use. I decided to post it to my website as a pdf download for anyone to use. The first 5 pages make up the items to consider/complete. The next 3 pages are references/resources for each of the line …
Hygrothermal building assessment – available as a pdf! Read More »
Taking a look at only the first three images in the photo gallery for this blog, can you guess what the contraption is (was) in the middle of the basement floor? OK, now look at Image #3. Yup, this home — built right next to Baker Brook in Williamsville, Vermont — is a former lumber …
Pete’s Puzzle: Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Moisture Problem Read More »
Hygro refers to water, and thermal refers to heat. In buildings, you really can’t manage heat without also managing moisture. For example, if you increase how much insulation is in a wall, you may also be increasing the risk of moisture and mold problems. There are four ways that buildings can get wet: – bulk …
What is a hygrothermal building assessment, anyway? Read More »
Peter is the person you turn to if you want to truly understand how buildings work: their design specification, construction, performance assessment and more. Building-Wright is where you will learn from Peter. Enjoy!
