Archive of posts tagged air leakage
Air Sealing For Healthy Living
Air sealing is often associated with improving the energy efficiency of heating and cooling system. But there are other even more important benefits. Many of the cracks and gaps that let outside air in a house are located at the joints in the ceiling to the attic or on the floor over the crawlspace. That […]
Remodeling with Passive House Approach
Kevin Stamm, general contractor based in San Francisco, wanted to apply many of the Passive House techniques to achieve high degree of energy efficiency when he started to renovate his home. While the project is still work in progress, he offered to pass his learnings along. He hosted a tour of his project on March […]
Is Your House Leaky?
Have you ever felt drafty in some rooms in your house? The draft can be coming through some hidden gaps or holes in your house. Most homes have gaps and holes in the ceiling, floors and exterior walls that let a lot of cold air into the house in the winter and warm air in […]
Energy Measures Are All In Place
After taking most of this 100 plus year old house to the studs, the energy efficiency measures were all in place. That includes Triple-pane windows (by Kohltech), air sealing throughout the house, blown-in cellulose insulation in attic with R-80 and in walls with R-18, 15 mil heavy-duty polyurethane liners lined the crawlspace and basement. (Yes, […]
Progressing Toward Air Sealing Goal
This house was so leaky that before any air sealing and insulation, the blower door could not be operated to reach 50 pascal pressure difference, which is the standard to measure air leakage. Tom and his team took a series of steps. Using the blower door along the way to measure the result of each […]
Air Sealing For Better Health And Comfort
Air Sealing is often talked about in the energy circle. But for most people air sealing is still an unfamiliar term. I remember once at a community green event a gentleman was proudly said that he just had his attic insulated. I told him that was great and asked him if he also air sealed […]
On-going Saga of Air Sealing
This 100+ years old house in Bridgton, Maine was leaking like a lobster trap, so much so that we were unable to take blower door measurements. After doing much work in sealing the basement and attic we were finally ready to run a blower door test. We knew that the work is far from finished […]
How To Properly Size A Furnace For Your Home
Winter is around the corner. If you are planning to replace your old furnace make sure you size it correctly. A right size furnace can save you money and energy to run the system. The furnace also lasts longer. Many HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) contractors use conventional rule of thumb to size furnaces and […]