Building science / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...building is measured in ACH (Air Changes per Hour), and is determined by a blower door test where the building is depressurized by a fan in the door, and air leakage is measured. The average home built to code using conventional building practices is expected to have air leakage rates of 3.5 ACH, which under normal air...

...building enclosures that are less forgiving than the air barrier. Where to install an air barrier: A building envelope should only ever have one vapour barrier, and it goes on the warm side of the insulation. Air barriers on the other hand, can be anywhere in the wall assembly and as plentiful as you like. It is highly...

...buildings. This cult is responsible for many more building failures than building successes. It's time that the cult deprogramming started." - Joe Lstiburek, Principal of Building Science Corporation The USA & Canada has many climatic zones, so there is not one building envelope that can possibly serve them all. Th...

...Building practices should always be determined by the climate in which you are building. How water vapor travels: There are two main ways moisture will pass through your walls that you should be concerned about — air leakage and vapour diffusion. These are two completely different things, with two completely separate s...