Stack effect is relentless: it is always working, when you’re awake or asleep, even during blackouts. And it feeds on itself.

 

When air sealing a house, begin with the biggest holes and work toward the small ones

"In order to maximize the buildable area on the infill lot, we had to go fairly deep and do some extensive shoring."

—Dan Whitmore of Hammer & Hand 

Offset the joints and seal the gaps to keep air leaks out of the thick walls

 

This is the first episode of 7 Minutes of BS (building science). We break it down with engineers and building scientists.

What the HERS index is and how to make it work for you

Windows cannot rest on the foam, so they hang from wood bucks

 

Direct the heat toward the feet

Letting the brick dry evenly is the key for old masonry walls that want to leak less energy

Dr. Bailes does the math

Wide tape spans the many layers of a thick wall to make an air tight and water tight seal

Window banks need to line up neatly for the trim to work out. Foam walls add the extra possibility of compressing the backing. So there's that.

 

Adding brick to the outside of a house complicates insulating outside a slab. So Insulate inside.

An affordable insulated slab foundation suitable for climate zones 4, 5, and 6

A superinsulated sunroom might sound like an oxymoronic idea, but it is not. Just use triple glazed windows and thick foam over the wall framing and roof

A deep energy retrofit in Concord, MA illustrates everything you need to know to bring a house to energy überville

Built tight and verify. And then ventilate.

You can't stop heat flow, but you can keep your floor from becoming a big ol' heat sink