Category: Construction Design

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Sealing Electrical Penetrations

This post originally appeared on the Green Building Advisor Website.  www.greenbuildingadvisor.com.

I’ve been a licensed journeyman electrician since 2000 (I haven’t worked as an electrician since 2005, but still keep my licensing requirements up to date).  Back in those days no one was asking us to seal the penetrations for electrical equipment we were making to the outside or into unconditioned spaces.  Even today, with building codes requiring all air passageways between conditioned and unconditioned spaces sealed, it’s rare that the electricians are performing those duties.  It’s usually left to the insulating contractor, a member of the carpentry crew, or in the case of holes drilled to the exterior of the building, the siding contractor.  I can speak with experience that, with a little training, the residential mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) trades are more than capable of sealing their own holes and penetrations.  I’m finding the MEP contractors I’m working with are taking pride in performing those duties.

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Ten Requirements for High Performance Buildings

How do you define high performance?  If you build to code and accidently end up with a super tight enclosure, are you high performance?  (I’ve tested a code-built house that ended up at .33ACH50.)  Or do you need to build above code in all four of the control layers, water, air, vapor and thermal to reach the high-performance accolades?  To tell you the truth, I don’t particularly like the term high performance.  If you are shooting for a certification, then you are building to “Zero Energy” or to “Passive House” or whatever model you are trying to achieve.  If you are not going for a certification, then you are simply building above code, or building better, but for clarity with this blog post, we’ll call it high performance.

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Windows-Water and Air Sealing

I’m going to make a statement that not everyone will agree with, windows leak water.  Not all are leaking now, some will develop the leak later, as the window and the sealing products used to install the window age.  The leak may be an error or failure in the installation, or it could be the window itself that is leaking.  It could be a design error, water funneling off a roof over a window, such as in the photo.  The leak may only be an incidental amount of water, or it could be a major bulk water concern.  The leak may also only be active during the once every ten-year major rain fall event.  The point is windows will leak water.

Photo by Eric Strommer-Strommer Home Improvements

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The Thermal Bridge

Thermal imaging is an awesome tool, it can be used to find areas of missing insulation and other temperature anomalies in the building shell.  It can help us find issues with electrical, plumbing and heating systems.  And when used in conjunction with a blower door, we can often “see” the air leaks.  The photo below was taken without the assistance of a blower door, I was at this new home to conduct a blower door, but the test hadn’t begun at the time this photo was taken, can you say thermal bridge!

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The Diminishing Return of Insulation

Insulation and R-value go together like hard work and sweat.  R-value is, of course, the resistance to heat flow.  We’ve been taught to think more is better, which is true to a point.  I’m changing the insulation in the wall of my home from R-7, originally installed in 1952, to R-15, and I’m excited to see how much more comfortable my home becomes.  There is an argument that at a certain level, more insulation will cost dollars to save pennies.    At what point do we reach diminishing returns?

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What is R-Value?

This is the first in a series of blogs I’ve written for Rockwool and the R-Class Builder Program.  If you are not already a member, you can join at this link, Rockwool R-Class.  The R-Class program is free.

What is R-value?  I write often about different insulations, how they perform, where they should and shouldn’t be used.  I think this blog post should go back to the basics and talk about what is R-value, how it is calculated, and how much is needed.

This concrete foundation is not insulated, concrete has a much lower resistance to heat flow (R-Value) than the insulated wall. This becomes evident when using thermal imaging. Heat is leaving this structure through the concrete. Insulation will slow this heat loss.

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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 Design-Conditioning an Attached Garage

This post is the unedited version of an article I wrote for Fine HomeBuilding magazine which appeared in the December 2021/January 2022 issue.  My original version was more focused on garage designs for heating dominated climates, FHB helped to make the article relatable to other climates.  The link will bring you to the printed version.  FHB304-ConditioninganAttachedGarage.pdf (finehomebuilding.com)

I consider the attached, heated garage a luxury item.  I used to have one, it was nice not having to scrape ice or clean snow off my vehicles.  Having a warm car when its below zero outside was also nice.  But I was paying for that luxury, around $100 per month for energy costs in December, January, and February.  There was also the added cost of the heating equipment and extra insulation needed when building the space.  And lastly, there was always moisture in the space, both in liquid and vapor that needed to be dealt with.

This attached garage has a bonus room above, separation between the garage and home is important for both the durability and indoor air quality of the home.

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Construction Design-The Effect of Windows on Wall R-Values

I’m about to start a remodel project of the family room in my home.  Not your normal fresh paint and new floor covering update, but a complete gut down to the stud renovation.  New electrical, new drywall and no more popcorn ceiling.  I’m curious as to what my effective R-value of the exterior walls will be when I’m done with the space.  This includes the windows.  I figured I’d share my calculations with you.  This post is math heavy, if you’d like to skip the math, read the final five paragraphs.

Progress picture of the exterior work on my small cape from 2019.

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Construction Design-Heated Floors and Floor Coverings

Best Choices and What Should Be Avoided

One of the first jobs I had when I started my career in the construction industry, back when I was working as an electrician, was installing electric resistance heating cables for a basement heating system.  It took two people, one person pulled (me) while a second person pushed (my brother) and guided a small manual plow which installed electric heat cabling just under the surface of a sand layer.  Concrete would then be poured over the sand; the result would be a heated floor.  As it turned out, there was a high percentage of cable failures with this system, which resulted in many people having to install a new heating system.

Hot water radiant heat in a slab on grade home.

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