Learn how to custom design your home to meet the challenges of your climate in this introduction to building resilient homes. Learn building science principles to help you build homes designed to withstand the challenges of a changing climate.
This overview of high-performance construction techniques specific to regional climate conditions will explore the principles of resilient design for individual climates.
You will discover the importance of proper material selection and design details, and how to elevate homes from simply code-built to exceptionally built in terms of energy-efficiency, durability and resiliency.
This training course is given live in a webinar format at the scheduled date and time so it can be attended from the location of your choosing. The course will also be recorded and saved to the education hub in your member zone, so it can be reviewed in the future as many times as you like.
Targets and objectives:
- Understand the fundamentals of building science as they apply to foundations, walls, roofs and openings
- Learn to assess your specific climate conditions and design for resiliency
- Understand the science behind the movement of heat and moisture through building envelopes to ensure durability, safeguard indoor air quality and achieve your energy efficiency goals
- Learn to create more efficient building envelopes in order to reduce heating and cooling demands
- Learn the resilient-design principles of how to construct buildings that require as little maintenance as possible
Who should attend:
The training course is aimed at housing professionals such as: architects, technologists, engineers and general contractors who want to gear their day-to-day professional practice towards building homes with greater sustainability, energy efficiency and durability and also to homeowners who wish to learn what is entailed to build a better home.
Lesson Plan
Foundations
- Resiliency comparison between a basement, crawlspace and frost-protected slab-on-grade
- Best practices for insulating foundations - material selection and proper application
- How to manage moisture and protect foundations - controlling ground water and interior humidity
Walls
- Walls as an environmental separator: understanding how air, heat and moisture move though walls and learning how to control it
- Exploring options of wall assemblies - the pros and cons
- Insulation options: choosing materials and their proper applications
- Air barriers, vapor barriers and weather barriers: explore material options and installation
Roofs
- Choose a pitch - learn the pros and cons of high and low-pitched roofs
- Insulation choices and levels - choosing materials and R values
- Roof and attic ventilation and durability
- Roof coverings and bulk-water management
Windows
- What to consider when choosing windows
- How to install windows to prevent water and air infiltration
Passive solar and heating systems
- Orientation and optimal design of buildings for passive heating and cooling
- How to capture, store and redistribute heat
- Shading and heat dissipation
- The pros and cons of thermal mass in homes
- Heating systems
Instructors
Mike Reynolds
Builder / Educator
Long into his career as a home builder focusing on passive solar designs and experimental building envelopes, Mike built his own home in the early 2000s. In the process, he found there was no reliable and comprehensive source of building advice available online. So he set out to change that with a couple of like-minded partners.
Fast forward about 15 years to now, and the Ecohome Network has become that very source of building information that was needed. With something of an obsession for creating the most resilient and efficient homes, Mike’s head is always spinning with ideas on how to build better, and how to best bring that information to others.
Mike is happiest when he has the attention of a group of curious homeowners or builders - in person or online - that share his passion for pushing the envelope on performance home construction, and who realize optimal comprehension is achieved when information is delivered with a sizeable helping of humor.
100% satisfaction guaranteed
Experience Ecohome's training courses!
Ecohome is committed to offering high-quality, cutting-edge training in sustainable housing that is adapted to North America's climates and markets. All our training sessions are given by expert instructors with many years of experience in their respective fields. So you can be sure of a rewarding experience! And please look over our satisfaction policy to see that providing a positive and valuable experience for our participants is our priority.
