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To state the obvious…controlling rainwater entry is the single most important factor in the design and construction of durable buildings.  Let me repeat….controlling rainwater entry is the single… Read More

We looked at exterior spray foam previously (BSI-048: “Exterior Spray Foam”, April 2011). Exterior spray foam typically is used in commercial applications.  Most residential applications use interior… Read More

Crawlspaces continue to be a mess ever since we decided to insulate them and put air conditioned buildings on top of them1.  We were here before (BSI-009: “New Light in Crawlspaces”, May, 2010)…but… Read More

So what do candles and joints (aka “doobies”) have in common with baseboard electric resistance heating and heat pumps?  Read on Macduff[1]…Over the years I have been in countless buildings that… Read More

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal.By Joseph W. Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng., Fellow ASHRAE The issues with stucco are pretty well understood and we have discussed… Read More

 Ten years ago (“BSI-024: Vocabulary”, October 2009) I issued a challenge regarding water control layers asking folks for ideas regarding a performance metric for water control layers.  I suggested… Read More

So does the air control layer go on the outside or the inside?  How about both sides?  How about one in the middle? Do I want one water control layer?  How about two or three?  Yes, yes, I know…if… Read More

It is pretty weird to dig a big hole and drop a building into it.  A one story house with a basement is really a two story house that you dropped into the ground burying one story.  Think about it…… Read More

Remember the good old days when we had filters right at the single central return that we could easily change (Photograph 1).  We didn’t have to go to the furnace or the air conditioner.  The filter… Read More

Everyone is running around sealing the outside of buildings and the term “air barrier” has gone from obscurity to buzz word in less than a decade.  But if you look at the physics we are sealing the… Read More