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Better than Plumb
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On stimulus handouts and bargain-seeking brides
comments (3) March 20th, 2009 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
6 users recommend
Some builders argue with Marc Rosenbaum when he reports the results of a blower-door test. He tells them the air changes per hour at 50 pascals, and they roll their eyes and say “Isn’t that good enough?” That’s when he brings in the fog machine.
Marc turns the fan around so that the blower door pressurizes the house rather than depressurizing it. Then he walks around inside with a theatrical fog machine, filling the house with murky vapors. Outside, the builders watch in horror.
“Once the fog starts pouring out of the building—around the rim joists, the windows, and even the siding—nobody ever says ‘This is good enough.’”
Marc has been an energy consultant for nearly 30 years, and last week at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) conference, he gave a full-day seminar on deep-energy retrofits, something we’re all going to be hearing more about in the months and years to come. The U.S. has something like 60 million uninsulated houses, and a portion of President Obama’s stimulus package is aimed at plugging that huge energy leak.
Marc began his presentation by saying, “Every time I hear John Straube or Joe Lstiburek speak, I’m convinced that every building I ever worked on has turned into snot.” It was hyperbole, of course, but drove home the point that insulating and air-sealing a house after it’s already built is a dicey proposition. If you do it wrong, you get rot, mold, and indoor-air pollution (while still spending a lot of money). Marc went on to quote another colleague, Terry Brennan, as saying, “Building science is like rocket science, only more complicated.”
Listening to Marc last week, I learned a lot about insulating older houses, and I was much entertained by his speaking style. (He claimed to have patented a new consulting approach called “billable by syllable.”) But I also came away worried. When the stimulus money hits, it’s going to be like the “Running of the Brides” at Filene’s Basement. A lot of builders and remodeling contractors who don’t understand building science very well are going to persuade a lot of desperate homeowners to shell out money for energy upgrades. That work needs to be done, but how can we make sure it gets done properly?
posted in: Blogs, energy efficiency, green building, insulation, weatherizing, water and moisture control
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Garage Progress
We're making good progress on the garage shop at the project house. Drywall is hung, carriage doors are installed and the new front facade has been painted. read more
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About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
Comments (3)
What"s up? You haven't posted an entry in over a month. As a celebrity don't you know whats expected of you? ;-)
Posted: 11:08 am on May 9th
Posted: 7:45 pm on April 6th
Posted: 4:21 pm on March 27th
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