Author: Randy

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Construction Materials-Success with Construction Adhesives

This post first appeared in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Fine HomeBuilding Magazine.

For hundreds of years, adhesives were created with organic compounds made from animal parts and natural resins for wood joinery, book binding, and other tasks requiring materials and surfaces to be bonded together. Today, most construction adhesives are made with synthetic acrylic resins, polyurethane monomers, hexane, and other nonpolar solvents, all man-made compounds.  Modern adhesives are used extensively by manufacturers, builders, and homeowners, and some form of them can be found in nearly every product around you.  While adhesives are available in buckets, sticks, drums, tubes, cartridges, and more, this article will concentrate on the fluid adhesives often used in construction and commonly found at hardware stores, lumberyards, and home improvement centers; the differences between them; and how each of them should be used. Continue reading “Construction Materials-Success with Construction Adhesives”

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Construction Design-Wind Washing

Wind: The natural movement of air relative to the planet’s surface.

Washing:  A method of cleaning.

Wind Washing:  Cleaning using air?

Well, not quite.  Wind washing with regards to insulation is the ability of air movement to degrade the effectiveness of an insulation.  We will get to that in a little bit.  First a quick lesson on how fibrous insulations works.

A close-up of Rockwool ComfortBatt showing the fibers and small air pockets.

We use insulation to slow the movement of heat through our building assemblies.  Heat will move in three ways, conduction (heat moving when objects are in contact with one another), convection (heat transferred by moving air), and radiation (heat moving through spaces).  Fibrous insulations forces heat to move through fibers and small pockets of air, which slows heat movement in both radiation and conduction and prevents heat transmission by way of convection. Continue reading “Construction Design-Wind Washing”

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Construction Materials-Airtight Electrical Boxes

Working as a residential electrician back in the late 1990’s, I remember learning of a new electrical box that we were asked to use on all exterior walls and in the ceilings of unconditioned attic spaces.  At the time, they were called “vapor tight” boxes.  These boxes were designed to reduce air movement through wall or ceiling cavities by sealing the electrical box to the wall or ceiling air barrier and also to seal the electrical wires where they enter the box.  Air will contain at least some water vapor, by air sealing the electrical box, we were also reducing the amount of water vapor that could potentially enter a wall or ceiling.   The name “vapor tight” was at least partially correct.

Continue reading “Construction Materials-Airtight Electrical Boxes”

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Building Science-Window Condensation

As I write this blog, a good portion of the nation is experiencing very cold temperatures with high winds.  I’m currently sitting at -9°F with a windchill or feels like temp of -38°F.  Chatting with a good friend in Kansas City recently, he was impressed by the below zero temperature readings.  (He was actually begging me to stop sharing and keep the nasty weather in Minnesota.)  Because of the weather, I’ve been receiving emails and DMs on Instagram about how people’s houses are reacting to this weather extreme.  Window condensation has been one of the more frequently asked questions, so I figured I’d cover that topic in a blog post.

Continue reading “Building Science-Window Condensation”

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Diagnostic Tools-Indoor Air Quality

There are currently a few hot topics around the construction industry, the high efficiency heating and cooling system called a heat pump is one of the biggest.  Cross laminated timbers (CLT) are an engineered wood product that is getting a lot of attention in the commercial side of construction.  I’m hearing some noise about a few builders wanting to try the technology in the residential market as well.  And then there’s indoor air quality.  Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a lot of attention on how to make the air in our homes more healthy.

Continue reading “Diagnostic Tools-Indoor Air Quality”

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Building Science-Natural Air Leakage

This blog first appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

When conducting a blower door test, one of the ways we express the findings is with air changes per hour at 50 Pascals (ACH50).  As an example, a new home is blower door tested and found to be 2.75 ACH50, this means the entire volume of air inside the home is exchanging with the outside air 2.75 time per hour at the test pressure of 50 Pascals.  When discussing blower door testing with builders and homeowners, it can be hard for them to relate to the ACH50 number other than they know the home needs to be less than a certain level of air tightness to meet current code requirements.  Expressing the tightness as natural air leakage can sometimes be helpful.  How can we calculate the natural air change rate?  Well, there’s a formula:

ACH50/n-Factor = ACHnat Continue reading “Building Science-Natural Air Leakage”

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Construction Education-Texas Building Science Symposium

This post originally appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

I recently made the 1349-mile trip from my home in Northern Minnesota to Austin, Texas.  Stepping off the plane in Austin at 9:30 in the evening on November 8th, my first impression was it was hot, hot and muggy.  Much different than the 35°F when I left Minnesota.  I was taking my first trip to Texas to attend the Texas Building Science Symposium.  A two-day event of nothing but building science education.

Ben Bogie, Steven Baczek, Enrico Bonilauri, Allison Bailes, Jake Bruton and Peter Yost. (Not pictured, Glenn Mathhewson.)

The Texas Building Science Symposium is an off shoot of the Midwest Building Science Symposium started by the Kansas City chapter BS and Beer group.  Travis Brungardt and Joe Cook started the symposium in 2020, which I had the pleasure of attending.  That first event had two speakers, Steven Baczek and Jake Bruton.  In 2021, the event grew to include more speakers.  This year, the symposium was held not only in Kansas City, but also in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Austin, Texas, and an upcoming event in Washington, DC. Continue reading “Construction Education-Texas Building Science Symposium”

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Diagnostic Tools-Hikmicro Pocket 2 Thermal Imaging Camera

This post first appeared in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Fine HomeBuilding Magazine.

Thermal imaging tools used to be so expensive, the only people to own them were researchers and specialty tradespeople.  That’s not the case anymore.  Anyone can get a decent thermal imaging camera for under a $1000, my latest camera is a good example.

I was introduced to Hikmicro at the most recent International Builders Show, a newer manufacturer to the industry, Hikmicro had several of their products on display where interested people could try them out on the show floor.  I gravitated towards the Pocket Series of cameras.  This style of camera looks closer to the traditional digital camera, or a smart phone than the pistol grip thermal imagers we are used to seeing.  Compact but filled with features, the Pocket 2 I purchased has the resolution of a more expensive camera (256×192).  By comparison, my first thermal imaging camera had a resolution of 60×60, and the Pocket 2 is one-third the price of that camera. Continue reading “Diagnostic Tools-Hikmicro Pocket 2 Thermal Imaging Camera”

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Diagnostic Tools-Monitoring Electricity Usage

Randy Williams and Travis Brungardt

This post originally appeared in the November, 2022 issue of Fine HomeBuilding Magazine.   You can read the FHB print version here:  Options for Smarter Home-Energy Tracking – Fine Homebuilding

A home’s electricity use is affected by many factors.  The efficiency of the home, the type of equipment in the home and the habits of the occupants all play a role.  Up until recently, monitoring electricity use took complicated equipment.  That’s all changing.  New technology allows for monitoring whole electrical panels or individual circuits through technology included the electrical panel or the overcurrent device (breaker).  Other technologies that have been around a while are aftermarket products that can be installed inside panels.  There are also options that include point of use metering or utility usage monitoring performed directly though the utility meter.  These electrical monitoring options can be installed in both new and existing construction. Continue reading “Diagnostic Tools-Monitoring Electricity Usage”

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Shorts-If Cars Were Built Like Houses

I saw this video several years ago when I first leaned of Corbett Lunsford.  Shortly after, I purchased his book, Home Performance Diagnostics, a book on different testing methods for evaluating a home’s performance.  You can check out Corbett’s YouTube channel here, (1171) Home Performance – YouTube

The video struck a nerve with me, there are so many rural homes built in my area that have no inspections or performance testing conducted, they really are like the video.  If you are a homeowner, ask the contractor for performance testing, and if you are a contractor, find someone in your area to partner with, they may help to make you a better builder.