- BSD
Adding outdoor air in hot humid climates causes moisture problems right? Sometimes. It depends on the condition of the house before you start to add outdoor air. Contrary to popular belief, most… Read More
Hot-Humid
- BSD
The function of a vapor barrier is to retard the migration of water vapor. Where it is located in an assembly and its permeability is a function of climate, the characteristics of the materials that… Read More
- BSD
Controlling rain is the single most important factor in the design and construction of durable buildings and in the control of mold. Drainage planes are used in the design and construction of… Read More
- BSD
Controlling heat flow, airflow, moisture flow and solar and other radiation will control the interactions among the physical elements of the building, its occupants and the environment. Of these four… Read More
Very Cold, Cold
- BSD
Buildings used to be constructed over cellars. Cellars were dank, dark places where coal was stored. People never intended to live in cellars. Now we have things called basements that have pool… Read More
- BSD
Attics or roofs can be designed and constructed to be either vented or unvented in any hygro-thermal zone (Map 1). The choice of venting or not venting is a design and construction choice not a… Read More
- BSD
Building form and orientation do not have as large an impact on energy consumption as sometimes thought, especially for mid-size or large buildings. In all buildings, the ratio of enclosure area to… Read More
- BSD
- NEWS
In traditional mass walls, e.g. a wall of solid masonry or earth, the resistance to rain penetration was only one aspect of enclosure performance (Photograph 1). Heat flow was also controlled by the… Read More
- BSD
Airtightness testing has long—since the 1980’s—been used to test high-performance housing. The 2012 version of the International Residential Code requires testing of every new home. Recently there… Read More
- BSD
The design of building enclosures to control rain penetration and control rain shedding is typically based on experience and rules of thumb that make use of traditional details. Unlike heat flow,… Read More
- BSD
I have recently written about some aspects of the German Passiv Haus1 housing standard (see BSI-025: The Passive House Standard and the GreenBuildingAdvisor.com) as it applies to cold climates (that… Read More
- BSD
The Passivhaus (PH) standard is a set of voluntary criteria for an ultra-low energy use home. Originally developed in Germany for houses and low-rise multi-unit residential buildings, the standard… Read More
Very Cold, Cold
- BSD
All space-conditioning systems are intended to provide a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. Many, even most, systems are designed in such a manner that they cannot reliably provide fresh… Read More
- BSD
That part of any building that physically separates the exterior environment from the interior environment(s) is called the building enclosure or building envelope. Environmental separator is another… Read More
- BSD
This Insight is an excerpt from Armin Rudd's "Ventilation Guide." This publication can be ordered online from www.buildingsciencepress.com. Experience is a great teacher, but much bad experience can… Read More
- BSD
The control of air flow is important for several reasons: to control moisture damage, reduce energy losses, and to ensure occupant comfort and health. Airflow across the building enclosure is driven… Read More
- BSD
Driving rain deposition is quantitatively the largest single source of moisture for most walls and roofs leading to building enclosure deterioration. Controlling rain penetration is, therefore, one… Read More
- BSD
Moisture accumulates when the rate of moisture entry into an assembly exceeds the rate of moisture removal. When moisture accumulation exceeds the ability of the assembly materials to store the… Read More
- BSD
Providing thermal comfort without excess space conditioning costs is one of the primary requirements of buildings. Therefore, thermal control is an important aspect in almost all buildings.… Read More
- BSD
Predicting the future is very difficult, but examining trends and potential tipping points is useful as an aid to understanding the direction the building industry is headed, and where it might end… Read More
- BSD
Historical works, notably the Roman Vetruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture, that describe buildings begin with an historical overview. Archaeological and anthropological studies have furthered this… Read More
- BSD
When I see a fully glazed, floor-to-ceiling commercial or institutional building, I see an energy-consuming nightmare of a building that requires lots of heating and cooling at the perimeter just to… Read More
- BSD
The construction and operation of buildings consumes over a third of the world’s energy consumption, and 40% of all the mined resources. Striving to make buildings more sustainable, while saving… Read More
- BSD
The future of energy is particularly unclear at present. Will the cost of oil rocket back to $150 per barrel or languish at $40? Will the cost of clean renewable energy generated by photovoltaic’s… Read More
- BSD
The environmental crisis, and hence green building design, revolve around a wide range of issues: habitat destruction, stormwater run-off, air pollution, climate change, and resource use. However,… Read More
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