May 10, 2019
This Best Practice Handbook covers the roof, walls, and floor assemblies to give a full picture of how to design and build houses that manage heat, air, and water effectively.
Building Envelope Handbook
Engineering and Design Considerations
You can't simply go down to the hardware store and buy a box labeled air barrier
This episode features Jonathan Smegal, M.A. SC a Senior Project Manager with …
Vapor barriers cause a lot more harm than good in many parts of North America. Understanding vapor barriers begins with knowing what it means to be one
This episode features Jonathan Smegal, M.A.…
This is the first episode of 7 Minutes of BS (building science). We break it down with engineers and building scientists
Three-pronged solution to indoor pollution: Isolate, eliminate, and ventilate
For today's topic, we have Jim Shelton, North America Vice President, as he breaks down the nuts and bolts of cleaning…
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…
The science of stickiness: a molecular look at tape's adhesive and cohesive properties
In this episode, Allen Sealock, the product director for ZIP Systems with Huber Engineered Woods leads the …
Foundation Details
Outside insulation is an efficient way to keep heat in. The devil is in the details like this one
Old-fashioned walls had siding over house wrap, over wall sheathing, which worked great until…
One of the biggest air leaks in a house is where the wood meets the concrete
In previous episodes, we installed wall sheathing…
Five videos about how to install a subfloor over thick insulation without sleepers. The insulation can be over a concrete slab, or not...
Floor and Wall Construction Details
Glue the rim joist, caulk the gaps, and overhang the wall sheathing to tighten this leaky building assembly
One of the leakiest parts of a house is where the floor meets the walls and foundation…
Snap a line, put the panel on the line and nail it, tape the seams, and where to snap that line in the first place.
In the previous episode, we were going over basic wall framing as part of a double…
For walls with a pre-applied weather barrier, make sure the tape is compatible with the WRB coating—or use a primer
If you use wall sheathing with a pre-applied weather barrier (such as Zip System) …
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With blower door tests in the building code, it is up to more than just the insulators or the GC to deliver results: many trades have a stake.
Turns out, it is easy for a drywall contractor to…
Peel and stick Z-flashing and some padding pushes a ledger flush with the face of the thick panels. A cover sheet of peel and stick completely waterproof the ledger before the deck is framed
Seems…
Belt, suspenders, rainscreen, and redundancy make this wall awesome for cold climate construction
This dronezone driveby is the fourth in a series on a gut rehab and substantial addition to a…
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…
Window Openings
The general idea of installing windows is to plug the big hole that you just cut in the wall
The bottom should slope out and away from the house, and the rough opening should be protected with…
A monolithic layer of protection for holes in walls
Last time we were bucking out the window openings in a double wall …
The easy way to install a peel and stick pan flashing: with tape that stretches in three dimensions
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT:
David: We like to install windows over a sloped sill ...
Dan: ... and…
Water often finds its way into holes in the wall. It is your job to help it get out.
Most remodelers spend a lot of time and effort sloping window sills and flashing the heck out of the…
Putting a window in the hole means sealing around the edges, too
Episode 6: Window Installation
Last time on the Model Remodel Show we were Setting trusses and sheathing the roof with it…
A deep energy retrofit in Concord, MA illustrates everything you need to know to bring a house to energy überville
This series of nine videos was shot in 2015 on the job with builder David…
The complete video collection on insulating, air sealing, and installing windows in a superinsulated sunroom addition in Wayland, MA
Roof Detailing
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…
Roofs peel off from the edges, so it is critical to hold them tight
With the roof deck sealed on the outside, we turn to flashing the edges with metal and membranes
Metal drip edge flashing…
Moving air keeps unwanted heat and moisture out of your roof system
In this episode, we are joined by …
Like an out-of-plumb wall, an insulated and unvented roof can work well—or not
In this episode, we are joined by Jonathan Smegal, M.A. SC a Senior Project Manager with…
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Snap a line and stick to it
A solid roof deck that won’t leak in storms begins with a piece of string. A line is snapped across the rafters to indicate the top of the first course of sheathing…
Decking the field and delegating responsibility
In the first part of this series, we talked about snapping a line to …
The nuances of measuring is what separates the kids from the carpenters
Last time we went beyond the first course of sheathing to…
Tape layers should overlap shingle-style up the roof
In the first few parts of this series, we figured out where to snap that first line, how to work efficiently as a team, and how to measure…
Flashing must extend all the way from the wall to the outside. Oh yeah, and it has to be watertight and eight people have to work on it...
Step flashing to a brick wall involves a lot of…
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