As both a green and custom home builder, Eddie Fort of PD & M Contractors has a client base that is affluent and knowledgeable about energy efficiency. Fort, winner of the 2015 EarthCraft “Home of the Year,” award, builds shorefront properties in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, near the geographic center of the state and adjacent to Lynchburg. At a...

Insulation Institute has been focusing of late on the topic of air sealing and what it takes to construct a home that is airtight using the “3 Ps,” -- People, Practices and Products. Proper air sealing is critical for meeting stringent air change rates required for green building targets such as HERS, Energy Star, Net Zero or Passive House. While...

Energy Efficient homes are in high demand among consumers and are a business imperative for builders who want to remain competitive. Air sealing is critical to achieving energy efficiency. But, when it comes to air leaks within a home, all points of entry are not created equal. Big holes in a building enclosure are easy to avoid, identify and fix,...

A new study from Re:Vision Architects draws attention to a common flaw in research of products for the build environment: materials research and product selection typically focus on single-product performance, when very few building assemblies are composed of single products, but rather a combination of products. This simplistic approach led...

In the first of a two-part series for Builder Online, Owens Corning’s Clarke Berdan details the implications for builders (more choices!) following two sets of code changes approved during the April International Code Council Meeting. One new change enables builders to use air permeable (fiber glass) insulation in unvented attics. Previously, the...

One of the things that impressed me most as a first-time attendee of the RESNET conference in March of this year was the caliber of the speakers – they all seemed knowledgeable, credible and more often than not, entertaining. I’m a big fan of soundbites, and I usually leave a meeting with a few good ones that I think capture the essence of those...

Fast, Good and Cheap: Enemies of Quality Installation

Sound is everywhere and it has the ability to affect your mood, productivity and wellbeing. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the workplace, yet, many times, controlling for sound within the work environment is ignored. Insulation Institute spoke recently with Jeremy Luscombe, Marketing Executive for UK-based Resonics, a leading acoustics...