building codes - Northern Built

This blog post first appeared on the Andersen Windows ProViews Blog

We’ve known for a few decades that improving the air tightness of a home and installing a properly designed mechanical ventilation system can greatly enhance the performance of a home. Having the ability to verify the airtightness of the structure is key, we perform verification by using a tool called a blower door. This introductory blog will answer the questions; what is a blower door test? Why do we perform blower door testing? How is the test performed? How do we interpret the test results? What else can a blower door be used for? Are there codes relating to blower door testing? Before we dive into those questions, let’s start with that first question, what is a blower door test?

A blower door test is a test to confirm the continuity and integrity of a structure’s air barrier.

Continue reading “What is a Blower Door Test? An Introduction.”

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

I’ve heard Mike Guertin mention that every home built is a building science experiment. It can take some time for problems in buildings to be known. For instance, a bad detail on a window installation, like shown in this photo, could take more than 20 years to present as a problem. If the problem is being repeated, building science might identify the issue and propose a change. Eventually, the change may end up in the building codes, but this whole process is slow.

That being said, there are many building science principles that we have figured out, with several already added to the codes. Some have been known about for decades but are still slow to be adopted. Let’s discuss a few of each.

Continue reading “Building Codes and Building Science are Beginning to Better Align”