From the category archives:

Building Science

Permeable Pavement Options for LEED Projects

December 8, 2010

We have started to explore larger projects with our development company in Philadelphia that include shared off-street parking lots with a common driveway. This provides a new opportunity to explore more sustainable pavement options than the traditional blacktop used in most projects. Part of our research, as always, is devoted to finding the best mix [...]

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Wireless Light Switches + Floor Outlets = Tighter & More Insulated Home

October 15, 2010

Earlier this week we posted on cutting labor costs associated with Cellulose insulation installs. It occured to me in some of the comments that we have never posted on our “magical” electrical strategy to help improve the insulation and air tightness of our homes. The truth of the matter is that we actually don’t use [...]

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Cutting Cellulose Insulation Install Costs?

October 12, 2010

As you may well know, we are big fans of cellulose insulation. The Skinny project was the first time we used cellulose and we learned some valuable lessons that we plan to apply to future projects like Avant Garage that Nic has been telling you about lately. As always, we are attempting to continually improve [...]

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Energy Star Home – The Hybrid Construction Way

September 8, 2010

Over 1 million Energy Star Homes have been built to date in the US. Compare this to just over 6,500 LEED Certified homes and probably less than 20 Passive House Certified homes in the US. While Energy Star is much less stringent than the latter certifications, it is easy to see which standard the bigger [...]

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Blown In Cellulose – The Ultimate “Green” Insulation?

August 16, 2010

In my last post about super-insulated wall assemblies, I referenced a future post about the superiority of Dense-pack Blown-in Cellulose insulation over other insulating products. Well, this is that post. We’ve talked about insulation in the past, but after extensive research and pitches from other insulation fanatics we’d like to put Cellulose in the spotlight [...]

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Most Affordable & Effective Super-Insulated Wall Assembly?

July 16, 2010

You know by now that we’re all about finding the best bang for our buck when it comes to energy efficient construction. That’s how this whole thing started. It’s been a while since we’ve posted on advancements in our building philosophy, so why not talk about our next super-insulated wall assembly that we think could [...]

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The Vented Rain Screen via Furring Master

May 14, 2010

It occurred to me that we haven’t really written a good post dedicated to vented rain screen assemblies. A rain screen is basically a gap created in between the sheathing of a house and the exterior cladding. It is considered by most building experts to be the most durable method of building an exterior wall [...]

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ZIP & SIS – Multi-Functional Sheathing

May 3, 2010

If you’ve been following us for a while, you probably know we’re big fans of building products that serve multiple purposes. Today we look at versatile sheathing products that go beyond simple structural support and contribute to the “Hybrid Prefab” method of building that we continually strive for. We’ll take a look at two products: [...]

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Quick Air Sealing Strategy Notes

April 8, 2010

As we build the Skinny Project, we are taking care with all of our air sealing details and making notes on possible changes to reduce labor and complexity in all future homes. One of the key notes I picked up at last year’s Passive House Conference was that those who had been actually building these [...]

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Moving from SIPs to Double Stud Walls in Skinny

February 25, 2010

In our first few projects at Postgreen, we used EPS SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels) for our exterior walls and roofs which were very popular with the kids. We have decided to move away from SIPs in the Skinny Project in favor of using Advanced Framing Techniques and a Double Stud Wall design. Many of you [...]

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