Insights

Building Science Insights

BSI-001: The Perfect Wall — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/17

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. The perfect wall is an environmental separator—it has to keep the outside out and the inside in. In order to do this the wall assembly has to control rain, air, vapor and heat.

BSI-002: The Hollow Building — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/21

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Buildings today are hollow and multi-layered with numerous air gaps or void spaces. Chases, shafts, soffits and drops abound. Everything is connected to everything else, typically unintentionally.

BSI-003: Concrete Floor Problems — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/06/29

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Perhaps it was the drug culture of the 60’s that turned brains into coleslaw but it is hard to understand the lunatic practice of placing a layer of sand over the top of a plastic ground cover under a concrete slab in California.

BSI-004: Drainage, Holes and Moderation — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/21

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Ever wonder how we can build a 50 story glass tower that doesn’t leak, but we can’t seem to build a two-story house that doesn’t leak? The answer is a little bit of counter intuitive thinking.

BSI-005: A Bridge Too Far — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/21

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Thermal Bridges—steel studs, structural frames, relieving angles and balconies.

BSI-006: Can Highly Glazed Building Façades Be Green? — by John Straube — last modified 2009/05/22

When I see a fully glazed, floor-to-ceiling commercial or institutional building, I see an energy-consuming nightmare of a building that requires lots of heating and cooling at the perimeter just to maintain comfort. The result, on a cold winter day, is that offices exposed to the sun require cooling, while those in the shade need heat.

BSI-007: Prioritizing Green—It's the Energy Stupid* — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Many “green” buildings don’t save energy. Why? They have too much glass, they are over-ventilated, they are leaky to air, they are fraught with thermal bridges and they rely on gimmicks and fads rather than physics.

BSI-008: The Building Science of Bourbon — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this article was first published in the ASHRAE Journal. I have loved bourbon for a long time. I like the history. And I like the independent spirit of the folks who make it, their sense of tradition, and their willingness to continue to experiment. Even now after two hundred years of history, they experiment mostly by trial and error rather than by computer simulations. I have often thought that if engineers were in the liquor business, bourbon would be the liquor they would make.

BSI-009: New Light In Crawlspaces — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Think of the good old days—the Civil War, WWI, the Great Depression, WWII—crawlspaces were uninsulated. They were ventilated and they didn’t have ground covers—and they didn’t have problems. Why?

Mis—LEED—ing — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2008/11/12

Sidebar information for BSI-007: Prioritizing Green—It's the Energy Stupid.

BSI-010: Wine Cellars — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this article was first published in the ASHRAE Journal. In this Building Science Insight, Joseph Lstiburek discusses fundamental building physics applied to wine cellars and the storage of wine.

BSI-011: Capillarity—Small Sacrifices — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/02/21

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Water causes enough trouble by itself, but when we add salt we go to a whole different level, especially where porous materials are concerned. What is the deal with porous materials? Simple, porous materials are capable of wicking water large distances due to capillary suction. And when water can move large distances only bad things can happen.

BSI-012: Why Energy Matters — by John Straube — last modified 2009/07/28

This article was first published in "Perspectives," Volume 17, Number 1. Spring 2009. The on-going consumption of energy to operate, condition, and light a building, as well as the energy embodied in on-going maintenance is the largest single source of environmental damage and resource consumption due to buildings. Reducing the operational energy use and increasing durability should be the prime concerns of architects who wish to design and building “green” buildings.

BSI-013: Face Lift for Old Buildings — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. So what do you do when you have an old building and the walls aren't doing their job? What do you do when the walls look bad, leak and are falling apart? You give them a face-lift.

BSI-014: Deciding on Energy Priorities When Building New — by John Straube — last modified 2009/05/22

The future is uncertain. This is a truism, and yet, when we design and construct a new building, we need to make decisions in the present or very near future. In fact, this is one of the critical distinctions about designing buildings: they are expected and likely to last 50 to 100 years, but we build them now. The challenge of designing for the future is no more acute than in the current choices facing the designer of an environmentally friendly building.

BSI-015: Top Ten Dumb Things To Do In the South — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/02/20

Joseph Lstiburek's classic list of building practices not recommended for hot-humid climates. This list was first posted on Building Science Corporation's website in 1997.

BSI-016: Top Ten Issues in Residential Ventilation Design — by Armin Rudd — last modified 2009/04/15

This Insight is an excerpt from Armin Rudd's "Ventilation Guide." This publication can be ordered online from www.buildingsciencepress.com. Experience is a great teacher, but much bad experience can be avoided through education. That is the goal of this Insight. Following some basic, uncomplicated design guidelines can go a long way to avoiding most trouble spots.

BSI-017: Blame It On Star Trek—Solving IAQ Problems — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Whenever there is a complaint about air quality in a building the first thing folks want to do is test the air. That is absolutely the worst thing to do. You do not start with air testing. I blame Star Trek. We grew up watching Spock go into a shuttle bay, do a tricorder scan and figure out that a tachyon field was causing the dilithium crystals to break down and that’s why Uhura had a headache. In Star Trek you could measure everything and anything. That’s not the way the real world works.

BSI-018: Westford House — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. You have got to love salesmen. They figure things out way before physicists, usually before engineers and certainly before greenie weenies. They found, what we should all know, that it is much more cost effective to fix the enclosure so that the actual system that you need is small and therefore does not cost much to install and does not cost much to operate. Oh, by the way, this approach also saves energy. Who knew?

BSI-019: Uplifting Moments—Roof Failures — by Josesph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Over the years the big white Superdome roof that dominated the skyline of New Orleans apparently proved to be an irresistible target for folks with weapons. Hundreds of bullet holes were found when the roof of the Superdome was replaced after Hurricane Katrina.

BSI-020: Energy Security (and Saving the Planet) — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/05/26

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Energy security is pretty easy to get a handle on—don’t buy oil from the Middle East, Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela. The problem is that it is not cheap energy and it is not clean energy. We can make it clean, and we will, but it will be even more expensive. And actually that is good because we won’t waste it when it is expensive.

BSI-021: Thermodynamics: It's Not Rocket Science — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/08/02

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Sometimes things are so obvious we miss them. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is like that. Most of us get the heat goes from warm to cold thing. It’s the other simple applications of the Second Law that we miss.

BSI-022: The Perfect HVAC — by John Straube — last modified 2009/07/17

All space-conditioning systems are intended to provide a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. But the fact is, the the most popular residential furnace/AC systems and commercial VAV systems are fundamentally flawed from their conception.

BSI-023: Wood Is Good . . . But Strange — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/08/28

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. If someone invented wood today it would never be approved as a building material.

BSI-024: Vocabulary — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/10/10

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. What we call things tells us a great deal about how much we understand things.

BSI-025: The Passive House (Passivhaus) Standard—A comparison to other cold climate low-energy houses — by John Straube — last modified 2009/11/18

This Insight reviews the Passivhaus (PH) low-energy house standard and briefly compares it to other cold climate low energy house standards, such as the Building America program, Energy Star, and R2000 homes.

BSI-027: Material View of Mold — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/11/10

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Mold is pretty easy to understand. No water no mold. Any questions? Well, there are a few. For one we have more mold today, but we don’t have more water. What’s with that?

BSI-026: PassivHaus Becomes Active—Further Commentary on PassivHaus — by John Straube — last modified 2009/11/18

This Insight is in response to questions from clients and interested members of the public and academia, I have recently written about some aspects of the German PassivHaus housing standard as it applies to cold climates.

BSI-028: Energy Flow Across Enclosures — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2009/12/01

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Higher levels of thermal resistance and reduced heat gain across building enclosures has forever changed the performance of buildings—and not necessarily in a good way.

BSI-029: Stucco Woes: The Perfect Storm — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/01/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Stucco was once viewed as a cladding system that solved moisture problems—it is now viewed as one that causes moisture problems. What happened?

BSI-030: Advanced Framing — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/03/10

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. The current industry standard wall is being replaced by a 2x6 frame at 24-inch centers with single top plates, two stud corners, no jack studs, no cripples and single headers (and in many cases no headers at all).

BSI-031: Building in Extreme Cold — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/16

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. North of the Arctic Circle there are only two seasons—this winter and last winter. Who would ever want to live there?

BSI-032: Extreme Heat—A Tale of Two Cities — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/16

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Two of the hottest places in the world, where no one with any sense should build, are Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Las Vegas in the United States. Who would ever have thought that Dubai could learn from Vegas?

BSI-033: Evolution — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/18

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Wood frame walls are pretty impressive technological creations. How come they look the way that they do? How will they look in the future?

BSI-034: Arrhenius and the Mayor—Dezincification — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/19

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. In a strange world with strange connections one of the strangest connections of all exists among Jan Laverty Jones, John Rushworth Jellicoe, British Dreadnoughts, German U-Boats and Svante Arrhenius.

BSI-035: We Need to do it Different This Time — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Those of us who are no longer young remember how easy it was going to be to save energy by caulking and insulating.

BSI-036: Complex Three Dimensional Airflow Networks — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/19

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. You build things that seem like they are obviously going to work and then the real world intrudes and reminds you that you are not as smart as you think.

BSI-037: Mold in Alligator Alley — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Spain gave Florida to the United States in exchange for the United States giving up any claims on Texas. Nobody really wanted to live there except the Seminoles until air-conditioning was invented.

BSI-038: Mind the Gap, Eh! — by Joseph Lstiburek — last modified 2010/02/22

An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Sheathing does more than deal with wind. Sometimes it doesn’t even deal with that. It wasn’t always that way.