- 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
- BA
Since we use gas hot water heaters for space heating in some of our Building America houses we thought it appropriate that we weigh in on the discussion relating to using gas hot water heaters for… Read More
- BA
Air flow measurements were taken for 7.6 m lengths of 12.7 cm through 22.9 cm diameter flexible ducts, with a 15.2 cm wall-cap, at duct pressures of -10 Pa to -120 Pa. Using these measurements and… Read More
- BA
A residential attic model, contained in the finite element computer program FSEC 3.0, was empirically aligned with measured attic data from three roof research facilities in Florida and Illinois.… Read More
Hot-Dry/Mixed-Dry
- BA
This research involved construction of a conditioned test hut in a cold climate (Climate Zone 5A) with multiple side-by-side instrumented roof rafter bays. This work examined seven experimental… Read More
Cold
- BA
The purpose of this report is to disseminate the findings from a needs assessment of issues related to attic insulation retrofits in manufactured homes that meet building codes specified by the U.S.… Read More
- BA
This research is a test implementation of an unvented tile roof assembly in a hot-humid climate (Orlando, FL; Zone 2A), insulated with air permeable insulation (netted and blown fiberglass). Given… Read More
Hot-Humid
- BA
This Technical Report describes the modeling of typical wall assemblies that have performed well historically in various climate zones. The provided information can be generalized for application to… Read More
- BA
This Measure Guideline describes how to model and interpret results of models for above grade walls. It analyzes the failure thresholds and criteria for above grade walls. A library of above-grade… Read More
- BA
There are many existing buildings with load-bearing mass masonry walls, whose energy performance could be improved with the retrofit of insulation. However, adding insulation to the interior side of… Read More
- BA
The measure guideline provides ventilation guidance for residential high performance mulitfamily construction that incorporates the requirements of the ASHRAE 62.2 2013 standard. The measure… Read More
- BA
The 2012 IECC has an airtightness requirement of 3 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals test pressure for both single family and multifamily construction in Climate Zones 3-8. Other programs have… Read More
- BA
This Measure Guideline describes a deep energy enclosure retrofit (DEER) solution for insulating mass masonry buildings from the interior. It describes the retrofit assembly, technical details, and… Read More
- BA
This Measure Guideline describes a deep energy enclosure retrofit (DEER) solution that provides insulation to the interior of the wall assembly with the use of a double stud wall. The guide describes… Read More
- BA
This Measure Guideline provides design and construction information for a deep energy enclosure retrofit (DEER) solution of a flat roof assembly. It describes the strategies and procedures for an… Read More
- BA
BA-1502: Measure Guideline: Three High Performance Mineral Fiber Insulation Board Retrofit Solutions
This Measure Guideline describes a high performance enclosure retrofit package that uses mineral fiber insulating sheathing. It describes retrofit assembly and details for wood frame roof and walls… Read More
- BA
Double-stud walls insulated with cellulose or low-density spray foam can have high R-values; compared to approaches using exterior insulating sheathing, double-stud walls are typically less expensive… Read More
Cold
- BA
In cold climates, a common practice of the weatherization industry is to retrofit compact roof/ceiling assemblies with blown-in dense-pack cellulose. However, this assembly has high moisture and… Read More
Cold, Hot-Humid
- BA
In cold climates, a common practice of the weatherization industry is to retrofit compact roof/ceiling assemblies with blown-in dense-pack cellulose. However, this assembly has high moisture and… Read More
Cold, Hot-Humid
- BA
In 2011, Building Science Corporation completed research work to support the development of standards for testing the airflow resistance of insulation materials used in dense-pack retrofit… Read More
- BA
This report covers the long-term performance of mini-split heat pumps (MSHPs) in Massachusetts (Zone 5A); it is the culmination of up to three years’ worth of monitoring in a set of eight houses.… Read More
Cold
- BA
This measure guideline provides information regarding the design and construction of wall assemblies that are using thick layers of rigid exterior insulation (in excess of 1.5 inches) that require a… Read More
- BA
Of the various measures that can drive building performance towards net zero, passive measures are the most preferable. They result in durable construction, increased comfort, health, and resiliency… Read More
- BA
Changes in the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) from 2009 to 2012 have resulted in an increase in minimum insulation levels required for residential building. Not only are the levels… Read More
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