Building science / Discussions

The house we bought is like a log house (post and beam). It was insulated only on the outside with a 1 inch air gap between the wood and foam insulation. This allowed for cold air to come in easily and for a major bug infestation. We are re-doing the outside insulation. We will put soft rockwool (batten) right against ...

I have a small crawl space, about 10' x 6' that is mostly gravel, and then an L-shape extends another 3' x 4' under some steps and is a thick concrete slab. I have a radon mitigation tube through the concrete slab (about 2' from the exposed earth) and weaves it's way to the roof (fan in attic). 3 of the crawl space wal...

I live in Minnesota. My basement is currently partially finished. I plan to finish it this year. The foundation walls are poured concrete, and about 1 foot of the foundation walls is above ground without exterior insulation. There is a vapor barrier between the concrete walls and the 2x4 studs. The space behind the rim...

I have noticed  heavy frost build up in my attic space the last 2 years in my home. It is 5 years old and had R50 of cellulose fibre blown in when built. The moisture barrier is properly installed and not modified. I got a bit of leakage in the spring through my master bathroom ceiling.  I have a 6/12 pitch roof with g...

The builder on this 15 year old home ran the heat runs in the exterior joist space, he then insulated against the rim joist and under the heat runs, then wrapped from the mud sill to the underside of the plywood on the interior of the first joist and sealed the poly to the plywood with acoustical caulk, we will now spr...

...building in, whether it is above grade or below, and the composition of the wall. The answer is more simple for homes in Canada, but the lack of a U in vapor indicates you are likely in the US. If where you live requires vapor barriers by code, then you would need to continue with that on the ceiling, and no, it should...

...building envelope, you can often wait out a heat wave (at least on the main floor) without the need for artificial cooling, as the concrete absorbs the ambient heat from the home. That and even a small localized heat pump may be all you need.

...building a house in Atlin, BC (zone 3), and was hoping to have a wood stove as back up heat for my hydronic slab on grade in addition to the aethstetics and comfort it would provide.  However, the thought of punching a 2 sq ft uninsulated hole through the roof with a steel column running up through the centre is troubl...

I finished a basement for a contractor and what we did was put tar paper on the concrete walls the left about 3/4 to an inch of air space than a 2x4 wall I think 16 on centre and used pink fibreglass insulation with vapour barrier break under the bottom plate and over the insulation on the interior warm side and then d...