February 25, 2022
Building and Remodeling for Climate Change
First, the Science: How Climate Change Affects Houses
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Science explains the natural world with a disciplined method of repeatable—and verifiable—questions, experiments, and answers
This episode's guest is Alison Bailes aka …
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The top reason to study engineering in college: Wall of Wind. Yay Science!
Florida International University's fifteen-foot-tall…
Flood Resistance: What, How, and Why
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Flood-resistant construction is a critical piece of resilient design and construction.
As we have seen over the past decade, massive climate events are mushrooming into everyday occurrences. In…
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If you can't build to stay dry, build to tolerate wet
In this episode of 7 Minutes of BS, 'Dr. Joe' Lstiburek, PhD , P. Eng, ASHRAE Fellow, and founding principal of…
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Make a route for drainage, protect the structure, and use water-tolerant materials to rebuild
It is pretty much a fact of life that some places are prone to flooding. It is also pretty much a fact…
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Two ways to insulate a brick veneer wall, from the Inside
Bill Robinson moved to New Orleans to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. he never left. He has become quite an expert in flood…
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Recent flooding in the midwest means we have updated our flood resistance and retrofit page.
Wind Resistance: What, How, and Why
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Wind damage is not restricted to hurricane zones, so why does wind-resistant construction limit itself?
For this episode, we are joined by Dr. Anne Cope, Ph.D, P.E., and Chief Engineer of the…
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Overlapping tapes with gravity in mind keeps water out of the house
One of the best ways a roof can resist high winds is to not be a gable roof. Wind can push against it like a sail. If there are…
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Hardware, fasteners, and panels can work together to significantly boost wind resistance of wood-framed structures
Designing a structure to withstand the devastating forces of tornados is one of the…
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This small video collection covers the basics of installing a roof deck in a place where sideways rain and hurricanes are real. Flashing, taping the seams, and storm-proof shingle starter strips.
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When soffits blow off, wind-driven rain pushes into the building causing damage to attic insulation, interior walls and more
I form part of an industry taskforce developing prescriptive codes…
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Tend to yourself and to immediate danger—and then start planning your comeback party
When a hurricane, tornado, or other devastating storm comes through, there are always varying levels of…
Wildfire Resistance: What, How, and Why
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With 100 years of fuel on the floor and hotter climate, wildfire resistance matters almost everywhere
In this episode, we are joined by Daniel Gorham, a fire engineer and budding ecologist at the…
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Defensible Space– Controlling Ignition Potential in the Home Ignition Zone
"It's not a matter of if, it's WHEN"
—Ben Nicholls, Division chief, CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit
This presentation…
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Home design and retrofitting techniques for wildland wildfire defense
Yana Valachovic U of California explains how homes burn from wildfire, and how to protect the house. Mainly, it comes down to…
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Wildfire is a growing threat to buildings all over North America; the main solution is recognizing the problem and looking to solve it
As of December 31 last year, 58,733 wildfires across the…
Extreme Temperature Resistance: What, How, and Why
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This collection of videos and animations covers basic wall framing as the first stages of a double wall house with 12-inch thick exterior walls. The jobsite was in Scarborough, Maine, climate zone 6A…
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A collection of five videos on a Passive House Retrofit in Sharon, CT (climate zone 5) executed by Ben Bogie, Built to Last, LLC.
This is by no means an exhaustive disection of the construction…
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Surfaces and subsurfaces are on the same team, remember?
Dan Whitmore, then with …
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How to install two layers of foam and Tyvek's Drainvent rainscreen over an old, lightly-insulated wall
Last time on ptc@home…
Indoor Environmental Quality: What, How, and Why
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Built tight and verify. And then ventilate.
A blower door is a simple device: basically a fan in a shroud that fits tightly into a door. The fan is calibrated so that to measure exactly how…
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Tightening an old house or building a tight new one means that you can't leave ventilation to random leaks anymore. You have to control it.
[Ed's note: This article is reprinted with permission…
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A tight path to the outdoors keeps the indoors fresh and you can call it a day because you are one step closer to the Energy Star
The Energy Star checklist has a lot of items. Some of them relate to…
When talking to homeowners or trade contractors about energy-efficient construction one question is inevitable: Are tight houses bad?
Here's the answer:
Tight houses are good because they lower…
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Yes.
Brett Singer, a scientist with the Indoor Environmental Group at Berkeley Lab explains how pollutants get into the air from cooking and his…
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Range hoods are a key player in the kitchen mechanical system: If they are not tied to a makeup air system, they make their own
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Three-pronged solution to indoor pollution: Isolate, eliminate, and ventilate
For today's topic, we have Jim Shelton, Panasonic North America Vice President, as he breaks down the nuts and bolts…
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To suck radon-laden air from under a slab, the slab must be airtight
In the United States, the Surgeon General has warned radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon can be found all…
Foundation Solutions for Moister Soil
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You can't stop heat flow, but you can keep your floor becoming a big ol' heat sink
Slab edge insulation keeps heat in or out of a house, depending on the climate and the season. A slab can be…
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Use gravity and capillary breaks to stop water from seeping into the basement
Jake Bruton with AAROW BUILDING is at the Glen Eagle…
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An affordable insulated slab foundation suitable for climate zones 4, 5, and 6
One cold spot on a house is where the edge of a slab is exposed to the outdoors. This thermal bridge, is really more…
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An affordable insulated slab foundation suitable for climate zones 1, 2, and 3
One of the cold spots on a house is where the edge of the slab is left exposed to the outdoors. This thermal bridge is…
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Adding brick veneer to the outside a house complicates insulating outside a slab. So Insulate inside.
One cold spot on the house is where the edge of a concrete slab is exposed to the outdoors. …
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A four-dimensional detail drawing of an insulated and damp-resistant basement slab
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT:
An energy-efficient slab is isolated from the ground with insulation. This keeps the slab…
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Warm and dry basement living space begins with keeping the basement dry—
All moisture from outside must be directed away from the interior walls and slab. The drain pipe can go to daylight, a…
Work Safe in Extreme Conditions
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Too much of a good thing can kill you. Including sunny weather.
This episode features Brenda Jacklitsch a Health Scientist with N…
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Frigid temperatures bring health hazards like frostbite and hypothermia, but one of the most frequently overlooked cold-weather hazards is dehydration.
When it’s hot out, it’s common to get thirsty…
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The less romantic side of construction is framing in the winter. When the temperatures drop, the propane heaters show up on the job. That's when fire danger creeps up ...
In most parts of the…
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Aggregation // Safety, Roofing
Eight articles, videos, and animations that will help you stay alive and uninjured.
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