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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-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-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.

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-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-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-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-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-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-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?