A couple of years ago I wrote a blog on the importance of properly managing moisture in high performance homes. There, I made the point that proper flashing and taping are a big part of that management process. I really believed that back then. I...
Part IV: Two Strategies, One Objective I am guessing that I have telegraphed my conclusion in the preceding blogs. So what follows should come as no surprise. Both Passive House and the Pretty Good House play an important part in making work and living spaces more...
Part III: What is The Pretty Good House? I am going to extend the metaphor of my last post, where I compared the Passive House standard to Elizabeth Warren and the country of Germany. Analogously, if the Pretty Good House standard were a politician, it would...
Part II: Passive House What is Passive House? If high-performance building standards were politicians, Passive House would be Elizabeth Warren; if it were a place, it would be the country of Germany. Let me explain. In the United States, the Passive House standard has been created and...
Part 1: The state of the question: I recently completed my Certified Passive House Builder training. The training consists of several parts. It starts with a self-paced, online tutorial followed by a two-week class, and concluding with a written exam. It demands a sizable commitment of...
Modular Homes are Hip! Coming this fall, we will be breaking ground on another NZE home and once again we are choosing a modular form of construction. This is our second modular home, and we were so pleased with collaborative relationship we built with the designers...
For those who are interested in creating energy efficient homes and additions, there is something incredibly seductive about spray polyurethane foam (SPF), commonly called spray foam insulation. In its closed-cell form it offers both unparalleled r-value performance as well as a permeability rating that keeps wall...
Design with intelligence. That is the first principle of our design process. As important as aesthetic character may be, if a house is not designed with intelligence, with a proper understanding of how a house will function and age, it can lead to headache upon...
In his A Short History of Nearly Everything, the travel writer Bill Bryson calls water a “murderous substance.” Insurance companies have institutionalized their hatred of water, as it is by far the largest cause of insurance loses to homes. They often cancel homeowner policies after...
One of the things I love about the sustainable building community is that it shuns dogmatism. We have innovators and leaders within our community who are eager to follow the line of best practices, wherever it may lead. There is very little axe grinding and...