Geothermal heat pumps. Tankless water heaters. Spray foam insulation. Because of all the hype around 'green' products, it's easy to focus on the details and miss the big picture. Geothermal heat pumps. Tankless water heaters. Spray foam insulation. Because of…
I realize that the deck is stacked against me, but I'll make another plea for HVAC contractors to stop putting crappy ducts on high efficiency heating and cooling equipment. Last week I looked at this issue with my in-laws' house.…
In the past two years, I've helped my parents-in-law make dramatic improvements in their home. Two years ago, I tackled their building envelope, encapsulating the crawl spaces, sealing the air leaks, isolating the mechanical room, and adding insulation. One year…
In 2003, I finished building a high performance home and moved into it. Shortly thereafter, I enrolled in a HERS rater class and got myself certified as a home energy rater. So, with all that experience plus my background in…
When I wrote about my trip to the Southeast Building Conference (SEBC) in July, I mentioned how some products on display there really annoyed me because they're either bad to the bone or overhyped. The main one in the latter…
My grandfather (yes, the first of this line of 3 Allisons!) was an electrician, plumber, and HVAC contractor, and I had the great fortune of being able to spend a month or two every summer from the time I was…
I've been spending a lot of time at the drafting table lately. In fact, I've worked up about half a dozen floor plans in the past week alone. I'm gearing up to release a series of pre-packaged construction-ready plans for…
Every once in a while I like to post some of my favorite pictures of atrocities I've seen in houses, for example the duct stump in the Little Shop of Duct Design Horrors. Today, the subject is HVAC filters, specifically…
Do you know how most HVAC contractors charge for installing HVAC systems, especially in the case of new home construction? By the ton of installed air conditioning capacity. If you've read any of my previous articles about Manual J and…
"Making something beautiful is one of the most sustainable things you can do." - Sarah Susanka, Author of The Not So Big House. "Making something beautiful is one of the most sustainable things you can do." - Sarah Susanka, Author of The…