Green Homes News

The two biggest home improvement retailers in the US each sell a roughly 36" wide bathroom vanity with countertop and sink for $249 that's made of particleboard coated with a…

I compacted the dirt, spread 2.5 tons of gravel, compacted the gravel in three 2-3" lifts, dug footers, and compacted the footers.I only had the jumping jack for a day,…

I've read the ASCE  Section 32 that mentions using a FPSF with a crawl space, which I assume includes a strip footing. The question is how to detail this? I'm…

We are currently midway an exterior insulation project that includes 2" of rockwool comfortboard 80 held in place with 3/4" plywood furring strips.  the plan is to finish with hardie…

A recent deck replacement on my circa 1890 home has led to me discovering some worrisome foundation issues. Even ostensibly simple jobs on my home lead to the peeling of…

A roundup of products designed for water conservation that starts at the tap

We're building in SE Wisconsin (zone 5) using monopoly framing and continuous exterior  insulation.  One part of the house has very large overhangs on the front and the back over…

Hi all, I’m in seismic d2 zone, I see that the IRC requires sill plate anchor bolts <6’ OC and within 12” of plate ends. However I also have quite a…

Last winter we had a manual J/S/D performed on our ~2500 sq ft colonial in New England and installed a Mitsubishi multi-split system. Specifically an MXZ-SM48NAMHZ and a ducted SVZ-KP30NA…

I'm bought into the benefits of an airtight home. Our codes are also shifting to 2021 IECC, which requires the exterior insulation and airtight build, less than 3.0 ACH. I'm…

I’ve been reading for days on how to go about insulating a room I demoed down to the studs.  House is 100 plus years old and  has  aluminum siding over…

Lacking ceiling insulation, our 1860-era home's attic/home office gets pretty unbearable most summer afternoons, so I'm looking for a reasonable solution short of installing a modern vented roof, etc. It's…

Hello,I am having my builder do a blower door test after mechanicals have been put in but before insulation is done to do some blower door directed air sealing and…

Hi everyone,Firstly, I must say that the community has been a very insightful source of information, as I think I have read almost all the materials on this topic.Nevertheless, I…

A homeowner in Arkansas weighs the benefits of mineral wool batts and sprayed Polishing foam — but a third option may be the winner

If saving money is the main motivation, you might want rethink that do-it-yourself project. Start by asking yourself these questions.

I live in a 1980 MCM home in Sacramento, CA. Climate zone 3B. My house has a low pitch roof with the ceiling drywall attached to the bottom of the…

June 26, 2024

By Roxana Shafiee and Dan Schrag

Electrification through heat pumps is a primary strategy for decarbonizing residential heating in Massachusetts. The state has announced ambitions for 65% of residential-scale heating to be heat pump equipment by 2030 and 90% by 2040, earmarking nearly 4 billion dollars in incentives between 2022 and 2024 to promote uptake. Yet high electricity prices across the state (among the highest in the country) mean that heat pump adoption will increase household heating bills and energy burdens, preventing widespread uptake. Here, we undertake a...

Read more about Opportunities for Cost-Effective Residential Heat Pump Adoption in Massachusetts

Hi, we finished building our house. It’s an apartment on a barn built to pretty good house standards. It’s 1100 ft.² in zone 4a (Nashville area).  We heat and cool…

Hi, my house was built in 1973 and I'm pretty sure it's not mechanically connected to the foundation. I'd previously asked a question about sealing the gap between the foundation…