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Maybe not. For years I have said that dog won’t hunt1. I have come around. The engineer in me likes tools. I can’t help it – it is a genetic defect we engineers are born with. With therapy we… Read More

Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious. And sometimes the not so obvious becomes obvious. For example installing leaky ductwork1 in a vented attic is a pretty dumb idea (Figure 1). It leads to… Read More

We have long wrapped our framed buildings with a “layer”. What we called it and what we make it out of has changed over time. And now the vapor permeance of it needs to be re-thought. How low can you… Read More

Vitruvius had it right 2,000 years ago: “…if a wall is in a state of dampness all over, construct a second thin wall a little way from it…at a distance suited to the circumstances…with vents to the… Read More

Sometimes we make easy things hard. And sometimes we make hard things easy. With continuous insulation and punched openings both things are true.The physics is easy. A wall has to control water, air… Read More

Things have evolved considerably since the Eisenhower and Diefenbaker years. Hutcheon2 taught us about air flow that decade but it took more than a half century to get it right. We needed air control… Read More

For all that we know about roofs–which is a great deal–sometimes things can get confusing. I am more than partly to blame for that. I wrote a lot of the code language dealing with both vented and… Read More

Personally, I think the most beautiful floors in the world are wood. I like the look. I like the feel. Even Greenies like wood floors because apparently wood grows on trees.1Wood floors have been… Read More

So what does “net zero” mean anyway? And what is the difference from a “zero energy house”? A zero energy house is “off grid” and makes all the energy it needs on site using renewables. This is not… Read More

"linings and warmth . . . "1How do you insulate uninsulated masonry buildings on the inside? Carefully. There I go again with the obvious. It is trickier to do it on the inside. But it is often less… Read More