Green Homes News

Many HVAC problems start on the drawing board. Here are common design mistakes that lead to poor airflow, comfort issues, and inefficient systems.

My house (Climate zone 4A) has a small attic (200sf), which is encapsulated with 4" of polyiso above the roof deck, mineral wool batts in the rafter space and an…

I have a house built in 1960 in Climate Zone 4A.  I am looking to insulate or at least air seal the rim joist bays along with insulating the basement…

Integrated design in residential construction: why early builder involvement improves cost, quality, and coordination

Hi AllWe're in framing stage. As air barrier, I have Zip 1/2" on the attic floor. This goes underneath the knee wall bottom plates. The roof is not fully framed…

HiI'm looking to insulate and finish a basement room made of concrete blocks. The foundation exterior walls are covered with a delta membrane and damproofing (bitumen material-black stuff).The concrete block…

I happened to see this at a construction site today. One inch XPS directly over the studs, and then sheathing -- Zip board -- over the XPS.I thought it was…

GBA connected with industry leaders to discuss some new products that have come to market

Helping a friend who is installing an exhaust fan in a bath that never had one.  The duct from the exhaust fan will go to the attic and about 7'…

I am re-siding a house built in 1986 in the Cleveland, OH area. As part of the project, we are doing an energy retrofit. I am familiar with current building…

Hello  I started this thread back in November and since then I got a thermo imaging camera and shows a lot. I have an ice cold ring around the perimeter…

As extreme weather grows more frequent, resilient housing design is becoming even more important

My builder wants to use R30 closed cell and open cellfoam in our exterior wall, 5/8" cdx sheathing no exterior insulation and no furring strips. the install would in clude…

I live in a humid climate, so I think about humidity and dehumidification a lot. And in many ways it’s the final frontier of building science, there doesn’t seem to…

Hi,I am a GC in Greenville, SC. Climate zone 3A. I have a client who wants to replace the existing vinyl siding with new vinyl. We have already built them…

Last summer we had a wasp nest in our basement. I found where the wasps were entering- there was a sizable hole near a basement window. The hole had been…

Hello.  I am attempting to restore a 1952 MCM home in Saint Louis - Zone 4A.When I bought the house in 2022 I had planned to simply move in and live…

Hi All,Long time reader but first time poster. We recently built a house in climate zone 5A (Indianapolis) and working with our builder and doing a fair amount of air…

I would like to use Rockwool insulation to retrofit my 1-storey home in Quebec (zone 5b: cold winters, hot/humid summers) while changing the envelope. The problem is that the house…

Hi! How to detail warm roof (dormer flat roof) cold roof (existing front slope of the roof) junction? Will timbers connect differently to each other? How to keep the insulation layer…