The best tiny house we’ve seen so far
How to install cladding so your walls can dry
The walls of your home are an environmental separator. Their job is to keep the inside in and the outside out. Exterior cladding is your first line of defense against weather elements, and its job is to allow the control layers – like your vapour barrier, air barriers and insulation to do their jobs without being assaulted by wind, precipitation and UV rays.
By Mike Reynolds
Continue reading “How to install cladding so your walls can dry”
The Ecohome Demo House
Stage One: Slab-on-grade construction
The Ecohome Demonstration House is well underway, the following page chronicles the first stage of constuction, building the slab-on-grade. The house is oriented facing south to maximize passive solar heat gain in winter, but will be shaded in the summer by deciduous trees, wall mounted sun shades and a large overhang to prevent overheating.
By Mike Reynolds
Tips from the field
A builder expert’s essentials for a green home or reno
“Green” has been a buzzword over the last few decades. We are bombarded with reality TV shows, websites, magazines and product descriptions that often give conflicting information about their green claims. For builders, sorting through these conflicting claims can be challenging. For home owners, it’s worse. It can be both confusing and discouraging.
By Roy Nandram
Building better basements
Comfort, durability and healthier indoor air
The musty basement smell that we have come to accept as unavoidable is actually quite avoidable. The solution is really very simple – don’t build below grade with walls that were designed for above grade, because they can’t possibly do what you want them to do.
By Mike Reynolds
Insulating walls with dense pack cellulose
Time for some respect
In 2005, Metric Homes of Carp, Ontario designed and built Canada’s first Energy Star labelled home in Canada. This home was built with dense-packed cellulose as the wall insulation of choice. Their intent was to produce a better built home with a goal of creating “a proper balance between additional efficiency and price such that it would be attractive to future clients “.
By Phillip MacCallum
Continue reading “Insulating walls with dense pack cellulose”