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This article briefly repeats some of the information in the other mold articles but also includes information on how to prevent mold in residential structures. Mold requires water. No water, no mold… Read More

Builders for many years have put mechanical equipment and ducts in non-living spaces such as crawlspaces and attics primarily to save valuable floor space. Be that as it may (there are lots of good… Read More

Top ten blunders that rot your house, waste your money, and make you sick. Reprinted with permission from Fine Homebuilding Magazine, April/May 2004, pages 52-56. 

Crawlspaces should be designed and constructed as mini-basements.  Crawlspaces should not be vented to the exterior (see FAQ on Crawlspace Venting). They should have their floors uninsulated, the… Read More

Water managed foundation systems prevent the build-up of water against foundation walls, thereby eliminating hydrostatic pressure. No pressure, no force to push water through a hole.Groundwater… Read More

Joseph Lstiburek's classic list of building practices not recommended for hot-humid climates. This list was first posted on Building Science Corporation's website in 1997.10. Vented Attics and Vented… Read More

The purpose of this guide is to provide useful examples of high performance retrofit techniques for the building enclosure of wood frame residential construction in a cold and somewhat wet climate.… Read More

This pamphlet is designed for members of the residential construction and remodeling industries, as well as owners and managers who work in affordable housing. It presents building guidance for both… Read More

Where foundation insulation is on the exterior of foundations and touches the ground it needs to be protected.   Yes, this should be obvious, but it is often overlooked.  One of the most overlooked… Read More

 I feel the earth move under my feet1 To state the obvious earthquakes are a major threat to the structural integrity of homes.  New homes and existing homes need to be connected to foundations to… Read More

Don’t get hit by a wave1….Don’t get too wet…and…Make sure you dry…The best way to design for floods is to build in places where you don’t get floods. Yeah, right. We have gotten pretty good at… Read More

Five Integrated Pest Management Strategies to Consider Pests include insects and animals that have a harmful effect on humans, food or living conditions.  Pests include insects, termites, ants,… Read More

Sometimes obvious things are not so obvious.  And when you miss them, they can be expensive….and embarrassing.  And often the embarrassing is worse than the expense….”that was dumb”…”.that hurts”…and… 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

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

I remember sitting around listening to stories my dad and his friends would tell when they were hanging around in the basement playing cards. They would laugh uproariously, tease each other, get… Read More

Imagine a three-dimensional molecular billiard game with billiard balls that are sometimes sticky, and where the rules depend on where you are on the table. Then assume that there are many different… Read More

It’s pretty easy to deal with new basements. They are not hard to insulate. The majority of them do not leak or smell and the buildings on top of them are generally not rotting.1 If you want a… Read More

Mold is pretty easy to understand.  No water no mold.  Any questions?  Well, there are a few.  For one we have more mold today, but we don’t have more water.  What’s with that?  We’ve always built… Read More

Crawlspaces stink, they rot, and are just plain icky. Photograph 1 shows the modern crawlspace, which is a forest of water droplets on the underside of fiberglass batt insulation. The exposed wood… Read More

We learn our lessons from disaster. Hurricane Andrew taught us about wind. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne taught us about rain. The Red River of the North Basin taught us about floods.… Read More

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

Basements can account for up to one quarter of the typical energy consumption in a house. Therefore, insulating foundations is a critical measure for achieving high performance buildings. However,… Read More

Successfully executing strategies to control bulk water for foundations is critical for building durability, indoor air quality, and creating acceptable conditions and/or living spaces within the… Read More

The following report is an excerpt from the 2010 Building Science Corporation Industry Team Building America Annual Report. Many concerns, including the rising cost of energy, climate change concerns… Read More

Conditioned crawlspaces perform better than vented crawlspaces in terms of safety, health, comfort, durability and energy consumption. Conditioned crawlspaces also do not cost more to construct than… Read More