Construction Moisture Management: Catch Up or Lawyer Up
Moisture in buildings has become increasingly worrisome for construction professionals in recent years. American buildings are subject to a wide variety of defects related to water in its different forms – liquid, vapor and sometimes snow and ice. These range……
The glass edge thermal bridge: the PSIg value
We continue our series of articles on thermal efficiency of windows, describing the glass edge thermal bridge. As far as thermal bridges go, this one is inevitable, and it represents the weakest point of a well designed thermal envelope. It…
Mold and condensation: if the solution is worse than the problem
We cover here two real examples of mold and condensation problems, with thermal insulation installed on the inside of existing masonry walls. In both cases, the solutions were chosen on an empirical basis, and turned out to be worse than…
Thermal bridges: the temperature factor fRsi
We continue our series of articles on the topic of thermal bridges: this time, we illustrate the fRsi value, which describes the thermal ”strenght” of a node under the point of view of internal surface temperatures. As we have explained…
Meet the Mechanical Ventilation System
With this article, we’d like to cover a topic that is very important for both comfort and energy efficiency of buildings: the ventilation of the house. Unfortunately, this matter is as important as it is unknown to most people.
The blackout-proof home: Passive House with high time constant
Last week, our region (Emilia, Italy) was pounded with what locals are calling "The Big Snow". With it came very tangible proof of just how fragile is our infrastructure, particularly our electrical grid. When my husband wrote this article, originally…
How do you define the “health and comfort” of building occupants?
We often refer to the “health and comfort” of building occupants. What does this mean? An ideal building would be one that you wouldn’t notice or feel, one that would allow the body to exist in a healthy and comfortable…
Mold and condensation problems
Mold and condensation on the interior surfaces of a house's thermal envelope is a self-evident proof of poor quality and lack of comfort. It can happen on walls, roof, slabs and so on. These phenomena are symptoms of degrading building…