When considering a building standard there are eleven complimentary reasons to choose the Passive House Standard. 1. It fundamentally addresses the climate crisis imperative. To mitigate the worst effects of climate change we are required to decarbonize our economies while meeting the demands of global development. Passive House does this by providing the same low…
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Hurricane Michael. Superstorm Sandy. The Phuket Tsunami. The Nepal Earthquake. Super Typhoon Haiyan. Whenever and wherever a natural disaster wreaks havoc in the world, sustainability and building resilience, a.k.a. resilient design, becomes the topic of conversation amongst architects, builders, and contractors. Yet the two, while equally important, are not synonyms. A newsfeed populated with catastrophic images of death and…
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CORELOGIC, the CoreLogic logo, RQE and PXPoint are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its 2019 CoreLogic Storm Surge report, which shows more than 7.3 million single- and multifamily homes along the…
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Closer analysis of total cost leads to the ultimate concept of “total value” in home building After working a variety of construction jobs and for a large commercial lumber dealer in my youth, I cut my teeth after college at U.S. Steel, then Motorola—low-tech and high-tech manufacturing, respectively. I truly saw the good, the bad,…
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Most builders and component suppliers do a marginal job of calculating true, fully loaded, total cost when comparing various methods. It’s time to remedy that The articles, columns, seminars, and social media posts describing how off-site construction methods will revolutionize home building continue unabated. With labor shortages once again polling near the top of home builder concerns,…
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At BuildSMART, we believe that higher expectations for building performance, durability, and occupant health make building today more challenging than ever before. Take for example the 2000 IBC, which increased the possibilities for wood construction by (among other things) officially recognizing additional fire protection strategies for wood frame buildings. As the IBC continues to evolve…
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R-Value/SIPS Panels Information The type of insulation you choose can result in thousands of dollars saved in utility bills over the life of your home. Insulation is rated by R-Value, which measures a material’s thermal resistance. Insulating materials with a higher R-Value correspond with increasingly better performance. However, studies have shown that determined R-Values have…
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With demand for Passive House-quality panels and modules on the rise, the factories producing these goods are expanding in number, capacity, and production. Most are new businesses producing Passive House-performance exterior wall, floor, and roof panels. Yet a strong contingent of existing businesses are also growing their product lines to include higher-performance, thermal-bridge-free Passive House…
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