
Insulation & Air Sealing

You can use your hand to detect some air leaks, but smoke puffers make other air leaks easier to "see."


Insulation does more than slow heat flow: it sells houses, future proofs, makes floor plans bigger, and sends your kids to college. Really.


Soffits should be tight boxes hidden in your ceiling.

Two packages for high performance homes. Vented and unvented roof insulation retrofits and exterior wall insulation details along with rainscreen wall details for furring strips.


Crawlspaces offer all of the headaches of a basement and none of the benefits.

But some buckets are more relative

Why a rain screen wall is important to the energy and durability detailing on a Passive House.

How to detail the foam at corners and connections when tightening the energy efficiency of an old house

The biggest crack in the house, revisited for #ThrowbackThursday

Roofs get wet at night—Heat flows through the easy path—Framing is a bridge.

Electrical outlets, plumbing pipes and bathtubs are underestimated in their importance.

Covering the roof of an old house with a blanket of insulation makes the house more comfortable and it cuts energy use.

The second layer of foam is the air barrier and drainage plane.

New energy codes are coming (very) soon; many states are jumping straight to the most aggressive one
