I know something new. I know how to design and build homes that are dramatically better than any I’ve ever built. What I know is radically simple. It is systematically measurable and therefore proven. It …
Read the full story »Then think again. It’s time to ask some fundamental questions. Sometimes all over again. It’s time to think clearly. Then act!
Design matters. When we learn to use all the tools in the design toolbox we discover more and make smarter choices.
Build better. Its time to make smart choices about how we build and the materials we choose to build with.
And energy sense. Our future literally depends on our ability to understand and use energy wisely.
Experience. Imagination. Familiarity. We depend on the sum of these part to offer and make good decisions.
My career started in the 70’s as a house painter. A painter touches the surfaces of each project three times: Prep. Prime. Paint. Over dozens of projects I saw and touched every finished part of a house, inside and out. As a result I got to know the parts and how they’re assembled pretty well. And as I worked I witnessed how they fail and how they last.
As I moved on to remodeling I got to take apart and reassemble all the pieces that don’t get painted. Over many years I’ve come to know every piece of a house pretty intimately: how they’re assembled and again, how they last and fail.
I’ve worked on every era of New England home, from neo-colonial to actual colonial, Victorian to ranch, homes built in the last few decades and the last few centuries, including a few we’ve designed and built ourselves. Remarkably, give or take their formal arrangement and the changing fashions of surface decoration, they’re all constructed in the same basic way. And despite some improvements in insulation and efficiency in equipment, they all leak air and energy (and yes, some more than others) in the same basic ways. And in that regard, as they have lasted, they are failing us.
That changes now. How our homes perform suddenly matters much more. Performance is an exciting new dimension to how we think about, build, and remodel those homes. As much as I love them, the same basic way all those homes were built is obsolete. It’s time to build different. It’s time to build better.
No more leaks as the source and mechanism of ventilation. No more big equipment to make up for lost heat. No more thin walls (yes, a 2×6 is a thin wall). No more ducts in the attic. And no more being a bit uncomfortable to save on fuel.
When we have the chance, we’ll work to overcome the liabilities of all those homes built in the same basic way. And everything new that we build will perform in a whole new way. Better thermal comfort. Better health. Better durability. Better stability for a decidedly uncertain future.
Newly aware, we know to stop building in the same basic way. Homes that fit are homes that work.
Built Different. Built Better.
That’s the complaint.
We stand at the refrigerator and stare at the contents. We rummage through the boxes and cans and bottles and jars in the pantry. We open drawers of spices and grains and close …
We are inclined to tolerate conditions that are less than ideal. When we end up sick, or too cold or warm, or find our homes too dry or maybe growing mold, we employ these readily available workarounds. Offered the opportunity to take actions to eliminate the conditions that create these maladies, whether in our existing homes or when contemplating constructing new, we become daunted by the necessity to make up front investments in perpetual relief from these intolerable states.
In answer to one of my many “why?” questions about how poorly we understand energy, engineer Marc Rosenbaum explained, “Honeywell put us to sleep!”
What did he mean?
Not that long ago when it was cold out, …
Here’s a thought exercise: Imagine 147 fit athletes pedaling bikes uphill – call them our energy slaves – to create the energy we depend on to live.
Our houses have habits. And we learn them.
Next thing you know you’re adapting your behavior to the way your home doesn’t work. There’s no place to organize the mail, so it lands on the kitchen …
I know something new. I know how to design and build homes that are dramatically better than any I’ve ever built. What I know is radically simple. It is systematically measurable and therefore proven. It …
We like things simple. And relatively immediate. Safe is nice too. Sacrifice? Hopefully not.
That’s what makes an abstract idea like climate change and the prospect of literal sea changes such an uninviting topic. The scale …
I was born in 1953. Growing up, we mostly drank milk and water. Sometimes Kool Aid. And having a glass of orange juice was a treat (and it was a small glass!). Having a coke …
Next week CLEAN FOOD author Terry Walters and I will be cooking together at one of the homes featured in Not So Big Remodeling (JOIN US). Terry inspires me. Terry has a message that we …
What’s next?
Here’s a premise: The next twenty years are going to be nothing like the last twenty years. It’s time to adjust.
As the economy has provoked the building industry to take a pause its been …
My career started in the 70’s as a house painter. A painter touches the surfaces of each project three times: Prep. Prime. Paint. Over dozens of projects I saw and touched every finished part of …
That’s the complaint.
We stand at the refrigerator and stare at the contents. We rummage through the boxes and cans and bottles and jars in the pantry. We open drawers of spices and grains and close …
Here’s a thought exercise: Imagine 147 fit athletes pedaling bikes uphill – call them our energy slaves – to create the energy we depend on to live.
Next week CLEAN FOOD author Terry Walters and I will be cooking together at one of the homes featured in Not So Big Remodeling (JOIN US). Terry inspires me. Terry has a message that we …
We are inclined to tolerate conditions that are less than ideal. When we end up sick, or too cold or warm, or find our homes too dry or maybe growing mold, we employ these readily available workarounds. Offered the opportunity to take actions to eliminate the conditions that create these maladies, whether in our existing homes or when contemplating constructing new, we become daunted by the necessity to make up front investments in perpetual relief from these intolerable states.
