Browsing all posts in Insulation.
Insulation Materials… or “How to build a better house” – Part3
Part3 in my series – "How to build a better house". Last week we talked about advanced framing techniques, which in simple terms replaces lumber with insulation material and maximizes the wall that’s insulated. This effectively improves the thermal resistance or R-value of a wall. As a reminder on how important advanced framing is, [...]
Some of the “coolest” houses on the planet….literally!
Today I'm kicking of a series of some of the "coolest" green building projects on this planet. The DGBA Green Building Video Collection. document.getElementById(“post-1602-blankimage”).onload();
Advanced Framing Techniques… or “How to build a better house” – Part2 of 7
Last week's post on "Thermal Bridging" kicked off a series of articles that I have wanted to share for a long time. These articles cover issues, techniques and solutions related to how we build exterior walls and the impact of some of those decisions. Today's article is about one of the solutions to minimize "Thermal [...]
Fast & Free Ways To Conserve Energy, and Money
Cutting back unnecessary energy use is an easy way to keep your hard earned money in your pocket. Here are some suggestions you can do at home, at absolutely no cost to you. Let the sunshine in. Open drapes and let the sun heat your home for free (get them closed again at sundown so [...]
Think of it as “Sheep Rock,” Wool Wall Panels
If you're going to hike in the snow, you'll probably want to wear your wool socks. Not only do they insulate your toes from the cold, but your socks will still do a good job if a little snow or slush gets into your boots. That same principle applies for insulating wall cavities in places [...]
STYROFOAM SIS by DOW
Structural Insulated Sheathing(SIS),Developed by Dow to help make building energy efficient homes easier for builders, STYROFOAM SIS™ is a 3-in-1 solution that provides R3-R5.5 insulating value, meets or exceeds structural codes, and is one-third the weight of OSB*. Because OSB and housewrap are not needed, STYROFOAM SIS™ reduces the number of trips around the house [...]
Thermal Bridging… and its role in wall assemblies! – Part1 of 7
What is thermal bridging and why is it important that we pay close attention to its effects in the homes we build? The importance lies in the different materials we use to build our wall systems, how much of these materials we use and what conductivity these materials have. We all know that exterior walls [...]
Save some Green while Going Green with Spray Foam Insulation
Your walls alone are not adequate to protect you from the sound, pests and weather outside. They are not as tough as you think. It is necessary to have a blockade between walls to keep the pests, cold and dampness out of the house and the heat and sound in. Some kind of insulation is [...]
Why performance testing should be mandatory
There’s a big debate in the green building industry about performance testing – should it be mandatory for new and existing construction and how much good will it do? As reported in the American Statesman on June 10, 2009 Austin just released the results of the first 310 homes that received energy audits under the [...]
