What to Know About Construction Sequencing in High Performance Projects

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

I was a builder for more than 10 years before I attempted my first above code building project.  There was an order in the way I built early in my career that usually kept my projects moving smoothly.  That schedule went out the window with my first attempt at constructing a higher performing home.

Integrating high levels of air tightness, greater R-values, along with other elements to improve performance can result in assemblies and installation details going out of order from traditional construction practices.  The easiest and most logical construction schedules often need adjustments.

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How to Prioritize Performance Upgrades to Existing Homes

I’ve been performing a semi-deep energy retrofit to my home for the past 5 years, and at my current rate of progress, it will be another 5 years before I’m complete.  This leads to a question; how does a person prioritize the work to be done?  Are the easiest items to complete done first, or the stuff that provides the biggest return on investment a better place to start?  This blog discusses my suggested priorities.

  1. Structural decay must be dealt with first.

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How to Design a Frost Protected Shallow Foundation System

My brother has an upcoming construction project on a property he owns that he’s asked for my help in both the design and construction of the structure.  There are portions of the project that are planned to be covered by Fine HomeBuilding Magazine plus I will be writing several blog posts for Green Building Advisor, Rockwool, and for my blog, Northern Built.  One of the first tasks is to plan the foundation system, in this case it will be a frost protected shallow foundation (FPSF).  The illustration below shows both the foundation and wall construction ideas.

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How to Attach Cladding When Using Continuous Insulation

This post originally appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

One of the challenges with continuous insulation (CI) is how to attach cladding.  The cladding type and weight along with the type and thickness of the continuous insulation can affect the cladding attachment details.  This blog post will go over a few of the code requirements and discuss how the manufacturers of both the CI and cladding can help with prescriptive code compliance.

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Where to Locate the WRB when using Continuous Insulation-Inside or Out?

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor Website.

Right now, there’s a lot of interest in the residential construction market around continuous insulation (CI) strategies.  CI adds a layer of complexity to a build, and with it, questions.  How much insulation do I need?  How to fasten the insulation?  How to fasten the cladding?  How to integrate windows and doors?  What about vapor control?  And, this question, should the water resistive barrier (WRB) be at the sheathing layer or outboard the insulation?  The answer, it depends, but you have a lot of choices.

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Concrete Free Slab on Grade House – Five Years Later

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

In June of 2019, we began a project we called “The Concreteless Slab on Grade Home”.  Kiley Jacques, (now the editor of Green Building Advisor), covered the project in an article she wrote back in early 2020.   Another Take on a Concrete-Free Slab – GreenBuildingAdvisor   I wrote a piece on the project for this blog, Construction Design-Concrete-less Slab on Grade – Northern Built.  This year is the Five-year anniversary of the start of that project.  I thought it would be a good time to revisit, discuss what worked, what I would change, and talk about a very unexpected series of events that could have been a major problem.

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Why Knowing Your Climate Zone is Important

Figure N1101.7 (R301.1) Climate Zones-2021 International Residential Code (IRC)

This climate zone map is published by the American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and is included in the International Residential Code, chapter 11, Energy Efficiency.  ASHRAE’s purpose is to create standards of how an engineer or HVAC professional calculates and designs heating, air conditioning and ventilations systems to match the insulation, air sealing, and moisture profile of a building.  When designing these often-complicated systems, where the structure is located becomes key, this is the reason the map was created.

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Upgrades that Effect Energy Loads

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor Website.

As homeowners, builders, and/or designers, how do we choose the right products or assemblies that provide the best energy performance?  How does a code minimum designed wall perform?  How about changes in ceiling insulation R-values?  What if we decide to increase the air tightness?  How about triple pane windows?  There are several ways in which product and assembly upgrades are chosen.

  1. First is experience. In having the opportunity to be in more than 100 homes a year performing energy assessments/audits and building investigations, I see both successes and failures.
  2. Being familiar with the different products on the market is important. As an example, selecting the right product for a given budget that can be installed over the board sheathing of an existing home to provide both bulk water management and air control.
  3. Using energy modeling software to quantify the decisions is helpful. The easiest way to decide which improvements to implement is by creating a baseline (code minimum) model of the project, then key in the proposed upgrades to see how the model changes.
Air leaks, thermal bridging, and low R-values all affect the operational costs and comfort for this home.

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Ice Dams-Why They Form and How to Reduce their Risk

There is a lot of confusion as to why ice dams form on roofs in cold climates.  This is understandable, some years we experience heavy ice dams, other years have little to no issues.  Changes in weather from year to year can have a major impact on their formation.  I’ve seen new homes with ice dams that are completely related to winter freeze/thaw cycles.  That being said, most ice dam issues are directly caused by certain characteristics of the home, namely insulation levels and air tightness.

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Construction Design-Problems with Attic Trusses

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor Website

Attic truss, also known as a room-in-attic truss are a way to create a living space without the need to add a full second story to a home.  These factory-built roof systems simplify a roof buildout and are engineered to meet the structural requirements of your local codes and conditions.  I commonly see them used for bonus rooms over garages and integrated into slab-on-grade homes to add living space without needing to add to the height of the building.

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