The more you know...

(by Polly Wheeler)

Building Science is more important than ever, not just to a limited few architects and energy nerds, but to building owners throughout Vermont.  Local ordinances, market demand, and more stringent energy codes require buildings in Vermont to be more efficient.  One way to do that is through insulation, yet a recent article in Vermont Digger shed light on the problems caused by lack of understanding of spray foam insulation. 

For commercial and multi-family residential construction in Vermont, construction drawings stamped by an architect and/or engineer are required for most renovations in order to get a building permit, and the Vermont Commercial Building Energy Standards (CBES) apply.  For multi-family houses, every renovation project gets reviewed by multiple building professionals before and during construction (or it should).  This helps reduce problems such as those indicated in the Vermont Digger article.  For one and two-family homes, however, there is no requirement for review by any building professional – architects and engineers are optional, and inspectors and code officials are non-existent in the residential building world in most areas of Vermont (cities like Burlington and Montpelier are the exception).  Homeowners have the freedom, and risk, of figuring it all out for themselves.

If you are considering renovating your home (or any building) to improve energy efficiency, you can start by educating yourself.  The basics will go a long way.  We recommend starting by reading “Pretty Good House – A Guide to Creating Better Homes” by Michael Maines, Daniel Kolbert, Emily Mottram, and Christopher Briley.  This relatively inexpensive and not too long book will give you a basic understanding of how buildings work and what to watch out for.  If you want to dive a little deeper, check out www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/ or https://buildingscience.com/.  These sites include decades of articles on building science, mostly geared toward New England (but not entirely) and are a great resource if you are looking for information on a specific topic (e.g. how to insulate a basement).   The information on these sites also applies to commercial construction.  To us at BRD, an educated client is a good client – knowing more about building science will help you make better decisions about your construction project, whether you are a homeowner, a business owner, developer, or building committee member.

Once you know a little, you can be a better judge of when you need help.  You also will be able to ask better questions to make sure the contractor or designer you hire to help you is knowledgeable enough to do the job well.  Some situations are tricky, especially if they involve how your building dries (or doesn’t dry).  You should definitely hire a professional with building science knowledge in the following cases:

• you plan to use any insulation above grade that does not let moisture through – this means foam of any kind;

• you think you need to eliminate venting in your roof (you probably shouldn’t);

• you are doing significant air sealing (such as aero barrier, full spray foam, or new zip sheathing) and don’t have a ventilation system;

• you are adding insulation to an existing masonry wall;

• you want to insulate and heat a barn;

• you want to insulate your old building with a damp basement; or

• any other case where you are trying something new to you.

Mistakes that result in needing to later replace materials (or entire buildings) because of condensation, rot or mold are not only costly in dollars but costly in terms of our global climate goals – there’s a lot of embodied carbon in your house (and your school, office, town hall, etc.) and we want to make sure that isn’t wasted. While hiring an architect may seem onerous at first, depending on the project, you may only need just a few hours of consultation.  We believe you’ll find it is money well spent.