building-envelope-0 / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

What is the best wall system for a home?  We're frequently asked which is the perfect wall system for high-performance LEED, Passive House or Zero Energy Homes, Well, a perfect Answer to that Is, first Ask the Right Questions! - After all, what is the best way to get from one place to another?  You have to choose betwe...

  Choosing window mechanisms: a homeowner's and pro's guide Windows are a critical component of any building envelope, affecting everything from energy efficiency and air quality to security and comfort. When choosing windows for a new build or a renovation, the mechanism of operation is one of the most important decis...

Unused chimney? How to seal it successfully... That charming old chimney in your home might be a major source of heat loss, acting like a permanently open window that costs you money every single day. An unsealed chimney is one of the single biggest sources of air leakage in a home's building envelope, leading to uncom...

The Ecohome Demo House has a vapor permeable exterior air barrier, and with an ACH rate of .69 it is  several times more airtight than the average new home. Air leakage can be responsible for up to 1/3 of the total heat loss of a home and cause significant moisture damage in walls, as one small hole can be responsible ...

What does the R value of insulation mean? The thermal performance of wall assemblies and insulation products has long been characterized using R-value, a metric which describes thermal resistance. While R-value is useful, it doesn’t tell the whole story about heat flow through building enclosures such as walls and roof...

LEED Platinum V4 wall design: building Science  The wall we designed for the Edelweiss house, Canada's first LEED Platinum V4 Home is best categorized as a 'REMOTE' wall, a high performance building envelope developed by the Cold Climate Housing Research Centre in Alaska. REMOTE stands for 'Residential Exterior Membr...

What is the difference between a slab on grade and a crawl space? A slab on grade, or ‘frost protected shallow foundation’ is exactly that, a slab of concrete on the ground. There’s more to it of course, but let’s start with a ‘win’ in the comprehension department shall we?  A slab on grade rests directly on the groun...

For anyone looking to replace windows or build a new home, the options to weed your way through can be overwhelming. You will encounter terms like argon and krypton gas fills, low-E coatings, and U-values. Understanding these technologies is critical because windows are often the weakest link in a building's thermal en...

How to protect indoor air quality from smoke during wildfires in homes with HVAC? As we move towards summer in Canada and the USA, we're hoping that the last few year's wildfires are not going to be as bad again this year - but unfortunately in areas of Canada and the Midwest of the USA, there have already been air qua...

What is the best off grid heating system? We live in a very uncertain global climate with rising fuel prices, and increasingly catastrophic weather events caused by the changing climate. This can leave families feeling vulnerable and looking for future proofing solutions. Whether you are building an off grid home and l...

EIFS exteriors: a homeowner's and pro's guide In the world of modern building, you've likely seen homes and commercial buildings with a distinctive, smooth stucco-like finish. This is often an Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), or an EIFS exterior. EIFS is a multi-layered wall assembly that offers superior t...