Author: Randy

Posted on

What is the Lotus Effect?

Foster Lyons Building Science: What building science can learn from a self-cleaning leaf

Editor’s note: I recently received several blog posts from building scientist and writer Foster Lyons. These were originally intended to be republished on the Green Building Advisor website, but circumstances prevented that from happening. The pieces are far too interesting to go unread anywhere beyond Foster’s business site, so I’ll be sharing them here on Northern Built from time to time. I find them both educational and fascinating, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Nelumbo nucifera, also known as Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, Egyptian bean or simply lotus, is an aquatic plant with beautiful flowers. It is native to tropical Asia and northern Australia. It is the national flower of both India and Vietnam. Generally, it grows in wet, muddy, dirty places.

Continue reading “What is the Lotus Effect?”

Posted on

Homeowner Education: The Missing Key to Understanding Your Home’s Systems

Buying or building a home isn’t just about walls, a roof, and the finishes. It’s also about systems: the heating and cooling equipment that keeps you comfortable, the ventilation that maintains a healthy indoor environment, the plumbing and electrical networks that we’ve all come to rely on. Yet many homeowners — new and those who’ve owned a home for years — don’t fully understand how their house actually works. A few manuals in a drawer aren’t enough.

Continue reading “Homeowner Education: The Missing Key to Understanding Your Home’s Systems”

Posted on

Health and Wildfire Smoke-How to Improve Your IAQ

Smoke from Canadian Wildfires on August 1, 2025, blanketing my community. The effects on our health are disturbing.

This post originally appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

I’m pretty much a nerd; I own four different indoor air quality monitors plus a radon monitor and portable CO2 monitor. I have the EPA AirNow app downloaded on my phone, and I’m considering purchasing my own outdoor IAQ monitor, just to finish off the collection. The past few days, they’ve all come in handy.

Canadian wildfires have moved across my home state of Minnesota, blanketing the entire region with a visibility reducing haze and the strong odor of something similar to a campfire, but just a little different. We have spent the last three days under an air quality alert with one more day of the choking stench to go.

Continue reading “Health and Wildfire Smoke-How to Improve Your IAQ”

Posted on

I’ve Accepted a New Job

On Friday, January 31, 2025, I excepted an interim position of editor at Green Building Advisor.  This job offer came out of the blue, and was something I could not pass up.  For now, it is a temporary position with the possibility of becoming permanent.  The current editor, Kiley Jacques is on a leave of absence, if she decides to return, she will have her position back.

What this means for the Northern Built blog is a little up in the air.  I have, in the past been able to repost the articles I write for GBA, this may come to an end during my tenure as editor.  I will plan on writing one original blog per month for the Northern Build website.  Know that Northern Build will not be going away.

My plan for my business, (Willcon Inc) is to continue performing energy audits and building investigations in Northern Minnesota along with some public speaking and teaching events (If you are heading to IBS in 2025, I will be speaking at the Performance Construction Zone, watch for a schedule).  I have also been taking on consulting roles, mostly helping homeowners and builders with new construction projects.  I will have to decline those opportunities going forward.

If you haven’t subscribed to the site, please do.  The only purpose of the subscription is to notify you when a new blog is released.  I do not sell or distribute the subscription list to anyone.

I want to thank all of you who have helped me build the Northern Built site into what is has become.  The site recently hit 10,000 visitors over the past 30 days and has been growing at a rate of 25% per year.  This wouldn’t have happened without the readers, thank you!!!

Hope to see you on GBA, and on this site!

Randy

Posted on

Do You Know About the Four Different Airs Inside Our Homes?

If you’ve been studying the concepts of building science, you’ve probably heard of the four control layers, water, air, vapor, and thermal.  Thinking about each of these building envelope control layers individually, and how they interact together helps in the planning and execution of building a better home.

This concept of separating a home’s assemblies can also be applied to a different topic, the air inside a home.  Most of us probably take air for granted, we breathe it, it’s always around us, but with regards to inside our homes, airflow needs to be managed.    I recently caught a presentation by Pat Huelman, a respected building science educator and researcher from the University of Minnesota.  Part of his discussion focused on the need for projects to include an “air manager”, someone paying attention to how air interacts with the built environment and mechanical equipment.  He discussed the importance of four different types of air in our homes and how each contributes to the quality of the indoor environment, energy conservation, and durability:

  1. Combustion Air
  2. Make-Up Air
  3. Ventilation Air
  4. Circulation Air

Continue reading “Do You Know About the Four Different Airs Inside Our Homes?”

Posted on

Using S.W.O.T. to Help Develop a Scope of Work

Back in the early 1990’s, before I joined the construction industry, I was in college taking business classes.  I remember learning how to assess a business by using something called SWOT.  The SWOT acronym stands for strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  I’ve been developing this idea for assessing existing homes that are looking to undergo renovations.  I’ve found that working through a construction project using this theory can help in the development of the plan, the process includes pre-construction data gathering and developing and accessing a scope of work.  As far as I know, this is the first discussion of SWOT being used for analysis in the construction industry.

Continue reading “Using S.W.O.T. to Help Develop a Scope of Work”

Posted on

What Happens to Your Home in Extreme Cold?

As I’m writing this blog post, a very cold air mass typically found at the North Pole has begun to move southward, into more temperate climates.  This latest polar vortex is forecast to affect much of the continental US with below average temperatures.

Here’s a question, what effect does that very cold air have on our homes?  Well, it depends!

Continue reading “What Happens to Your Home in Extreme Cold?”

Posted on

How to install a Window When Using a Self-Adhered WRB

The first time I used a self-adhered water resistive barrier was in 2019, on my own home.  I had recently purchased a 1950’s vintage Cape Cod design fixer upper that was built using board sheathing covered by 15 lb. asphalt impregnated felt.  I knew I wanted to improve the water management and air tightness of the structure but didn’t want to upgrade the sheathing.  I had been researching self-adhered WRB’s and decided that option would be the best fit based on what I was trying to accomplish.

For the exterior renovation at my home, the Henry Blueskin product was installed over the board sheathing. The assembly also includes a 3/8-inch furring strip for a ventilated rainscreen.

Continue reading “How to install a Window When Using a Self-Adhered WRB”

Posted on

How to Utilize Modeling Software and Mock-ups When Designing Construction Assemblies

Missing a detail when working through an unfamiliar assembly can be easy to do.  Getting your head around the movement of water, air, and the thermal boundary with all of the parts and pieces that are required to make the structure often requires more information than can be shown in a simple plan or elevation.  I often find myself drawing in 3-D using a modeling software or even going as far as building a mock-up of the assembly.  Sometimes both are needed.

If you are an architect, which I am not, you’ll have the software tools to make professional, photo realistic drawings.  I do have some formal training in drafting, but that was decades ago, CAD was new, and my instructor believed in drawing by hand first, then move to the computer.  Some of my past designs were simply done on paper or with an inexpensive CAD program, which can work, but not very impressive when trying to sell a client on a design.

This hand drawing is my original design for the concreteless slab on grade home showing the floor system.  Later, with the help of SketchUp, the design was transformed to this.

Continue reading “How to Utilize Modeling Software and Mock-ups When Designing Construction Assemblies”

Posted on

A New Tool to Find Air Leaks in Buildings Using Sound

Testing the air barrier or air control layer of a home has traditionally been done using artificial pressure created by a fan, commonly referred to as a blower door test.  Why You Need Blower Door Testing – Northern Built   The advantage of using an air pressure differential testing is twofold, we can quantify the building tightness (CFM50, ACH50 or CFM/ft² of surface area) and locate deficiencies in the air barrier.  Finding the air leaks can be done by watching for fluttering drapery or spiderwebs, feeling for air leaks, using synthetic smoke created by smoke generating tools, by thermal imaging, or measuring pressure differentials between spaces inside the building enclosure using a manometer.

Continue reading “A New Tool to Find Air Leaks in Buildings Using Sound”