Fixing water in buildings doesn’t make for very pretty pictures. Here are some progress shots from a recent job. Photo above shows a fairly recent repair to the chimney. Key to fixing water problems is ensuring that there’s no opportunity for water to pool against the building, for instance, at chimneys. New flashing is kerfed into the chimney and caulked. […]
All posts in News
People who don’t pay your utility bills, #1
The US census bureau puts the world population at just shy of 7 billion people. Of these 7 billion, the number who will pay your utility bills is probably even smaller than the number who have been in your kitchen. Today we’re going to kick off the first in a series looking at people who don’t pay your utility bills, […]
Category Construction, News
Tags Bad, Energy, Performance
New Jersey Home Performance with Energy Star
Just over a year ago, Tay River Homesmiths (that’s us) became one of the participating contractors with the New Jersey Home Performance with Energy Star (NJHPwES) program. There’s a program rebate page link on the right. A lot of people haven’t heard of the program, so the purpose of this post is to review the program and our role in […]
Category Energy Efficiency, News
Tags Efficiency, NJHPwES
Special
“You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else.”* I’ve attended dozens of building science training sessions. For the most part these are excellent. Usually hosted by folks with a lot of experience. However, one of the most irksome aspects to these sessions is the tendency of otherwise […]
Category News, Process
Tags Philosophy
What the heck is attic air-sealing?
What the heck is attic air-sealing? We get that question a lot. The striking thing about attic air-sealing, is that it’s probably the single most beneficial thing you can do to your house. Per dollar spent, air-sealing will result in the biggest energy savings. It will also improve comfort, by reducing the temperature discrepancies between floors and across rooms. By […]
Category Construction, News
Tags Air Sealing, Energy, Insulation, Performance
Testing Accuvent Cathedral Baffles
Here’s a video we made of us testing accuvent cathedral baffles. Pretty fun day, but we’re probably not going totally viral with this one. Nevertheless, building geeks might find it interesting. Prior to the test, I really thought that the baffles would crumble. Not the first time I’ve been wrong. You may notice a little bit of cellulose seepage on […]
Category Construction, News
Tags Insulation, Performance, Stuff
Put that in your energy modeling software and smoke it!
Here’s a photo I took a few months ago during an energy retrofit. Yup, that’s 110F supply air from the furnace being dumped into the unconditioned attic (for thermal purposes what we call “outdoors”). The most plausible explanation is that this was an attempt to fix a cold master bedroom a few feet away. To make matters worse, the duct […]
Category Construction, News
Tags Bad, Cooling, Energy, Heating, Performance
3D modelling an addition
The owner finds this room uncomfortably warm in the summer, uncomfortably cool in the winter, and generally uninspiring year round. It is an important room as it is open to the kitchen, the busiest place in their home. To get a real feel for the existing conditions, I import photos into Sketchup and create and ‘Existing Conditions’ model. Then I […]
Category Energy Efficiency, News
Tags Comfort, Efficiency, Residential
Stuff We Like – Dryers
Here are two products related to dryer venting. 1. We’ve installed a couple of dryer boxes. The dryer box saves you from having your dryer duct turn into a kinked up nightmare. 2. The Heartland dryer vent closure is wicked ugly. But it does an excellent job of sealing against air leaks, not to mention gross critters. The good news […]
Category Construction, News
Tags Dryers, Stuff
Some Guy Goes Green
This one’s a rant. Unfortunately for environmentally conscious builders, the rising publicity surrounding ‘green’ building has coincided with the collapse in building construction across the planet. Usually I don’t think that personal experience can really indicate a trend. Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the fact that 2 years ago, ‘Some-Guy Construction’ was throwing up (almost literally) speculative pseudo-home junk with […]
