{"id":164,"date":"2021-04-06T19:28:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T19:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/?page_id=164"},"modified":"2021-04-08T17:40:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T17:40:04","slug":"building-envelope-introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/building-envelope-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Rationale behind proper Air-sealing and Insulation<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our biggest effort has gone into finding the weak spots of the house in terms of air-sealing & insulation and beefing them up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we did this work, the house was so inefficient that when the wind blew, the interior doors swayed with the wind. Well, it was either the wind or the ghosts! But since it stopped after we did the work, we think more likely the wind! \ud83d\ude09 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s quite a task to find and plug all the air leaks and its definitely more disruptive to add 4 inches of insulation to the exterior of your walls. Here\u2019s an easy analogy\u2026imagine a bathtub you are trying to fill, the water represents the energy you need, the faucet that supplies the water represents your solar panels. Just like you need to put a plug in the drain and not just turn on the faucet, you need to plug the gaps and cracks that have not been air-sealed and upgrade the poor insulation. BOTH are important.  Otherwise you can keep pouring water into your bathtub and you still won\u2019t get a comfy bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this “Building Envelope<\/a>” section, you can read all about our efforts to “plug the drain” and bulk up insulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also keep a careful eye on our \u201cphantom load\u201d; energy that is sucked away be devices during standby mode. We are great fans of a small gadget called a Kill-A-Watt<\/a> which helps us find and “kill” or unplug such devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also monitor our power consumption using a device called \u201cSense\u201d<\/a> (think common-sense!) so we can quickly spot sudden changes in our consumption and re-calibrate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rationale behind proper Air-sealing and Insulation Our biggest effort has gone into finding the weak spots of the house in terms of air-sealing & insulation and beefing them up. Before we did this work, the house was so inefficient that when the wind blew, the interior doors swayed with the wind. Well, it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":450,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-164","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":167,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/insulation\/","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":0},"title":"Insulation","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Another example of building out a wall to beef up insulation is a project we took on a couple of years ago to beef up our entire north wall. The rooms on the north side of the house were always somewhat uncomfortable in the winter. So, one summer, we dug\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20151102_090123.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20151102_090123.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20151102_090123.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20151102_090123.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20151102_090123.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":169,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/basement\/","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":1},"title":"Basement","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Basements are often cold and damp, so beefing up insulation and good air-sealing makes the space more usable and livable. First we insulated from the inside, with interior insulation it is important for areas that likely to be subject to hydrostatic pressure (water -- think more than 12\" below grade)\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Basement-insulation.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Basement-insulation.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Basement-insulation.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Basement-insulation.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Basement-insulation.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Basement-insulation.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":165,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/walls\/","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":2},"title":"Walls","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Original Wall The walls are typical 2x4\" construction. Since this house was built back in 1960 the level of insulation was poor, when we cut open the sheet rock we found 2\" thick insulation in a 3.5\" cavity. We guess that we should have been lucky to have any!\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wall_cross_section_sill-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wall_cross_section_sill-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wall_cross_section_sill-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/air-sealing\/","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":3},"title":"Air Sealing","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A good way to start air sealing your home is to do a Blower Door Test, which determines the air infiltration rate of a building and the areas that leak energy can be found by holding a smoke \/ incense stick close to potential leak sites while the blower door\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_164413.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_164413.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_164413.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_164413.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/attic\/","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":4},"title":"Attic","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Attics are other big sources of air leaks, so we have done some work there too. Attic Hatch with rubber gasket and sprung clips for tight seal We have blown-in as much insulation as the attic could take! Not snow but blown-in Fiberglass!","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_163347-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_163347-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_163347-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_163347-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_163347-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":551,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/windows-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":5},"title":"Windows","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We have quadruple glazed windows with a center of glass insulation rating of nearly R10. The outer glass is laminated for strength, then there are two suspended Mylar films instead of glass to keep the weight down, and an inner regular glass layer. Each of the 6 interior surfaces has\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_162424.jpg?fit=1008%2C477&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_162424.jpg?fit=1008%2C477&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_162424.jpg?fit=1008%2C477&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210408_162424.jpg?fit=1008%2C477&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/164\/revisions\/458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}