{"id":456,"date":"2021-04-08T17:50:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T17:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/?p=456"},"modified":"2022-02-15T19:22:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T19:22:09","slug":"building-envelope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/08\/building-envelope\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Envelope"},"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 the “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,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-building-envelope","9":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/img_dressed-for-spray-foam_zoomed.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/26\/net-zero-energy-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":0},"title":"Our Net Zero Energy Journey","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to our website where we provide a little window into our attempts to transition to a Net Zero Energy life. We aim to provide practical tips and insights so others attempting to make the transition can find answers as well as some inspiration! \u00a0Net Zero Energy means that over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar house, Electric car","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NZE-life.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NZE-life.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NZE-life.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":575,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/07\/windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":1},"title":"Windows","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 7, 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":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/category\/windows\/"},"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":[]},{"id":463,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/08\/our-solar-powered-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":2},"title":"Our Solar Powered Life","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Over time, we have installed 4 solar systems, all of which are different types of solar, the first one uses building-integrated tiles which means they look just like a regular concrete tile roof but \u201cshiny\u201d (see below for pics from the installation), the second array is a traditional solar panel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar"","block_context":{"text":"Solar","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/category\/solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Building Integrated Solar Tiles on front of house","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Solar-Intro.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Solar-Intro.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Solar-Intro.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":466,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/04\/resources\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":3},"title":"Resources","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are a few links to resources that we have found helpful over the years. A lot of what we have learnt and implemented on the house has come from reading websites such as Building Science and Green Building Advisor. If there is a mistake, don't blame them, it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tools-864983_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tools-864983_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tools-864983_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tools-864983_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tools-864983_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":713,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/06\/reuse\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":4},"title":"Reuse","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The old adage, \u201cReduce, Reuse, Recycle\u201d is true. And it correctly places \u201cReduce\u201d and \u201cReuse\u201d ahead of \u201cRecycle\u201d. Our primary objective needs to be to REDUCE \u2013 first at the industry level and then at a personal level. It stops consumption and waste right at the source. Before we make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Resilience"","block_context":{"text":"Resilience","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/category\/resilience\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200913_152437.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200913_152437.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200913_152437.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200913_152437.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200913_152437.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":637,"url":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/2021\/04\/06\/what-we-grow\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":5},"title":"What We Grow","author":"Mark Bartosik","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh the joy of popping a cherry tomato warm in the summer sun right off the vine and into your mouth! Or the sharp smell of fresh turnips when dug out of the earth just ready to eat! Or the juicy sweetness of berries bursting into your mouth when picked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Food"","block_context":{"text":"Food","link":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/category\/food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200627_161002.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200627_161002.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200627_161002.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200627_161002.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20200627_161002.jpg?fit=1152%2C546&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/459"}],"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=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netzeroenergy.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}