And putting batts between light steel framing is not a good option as discussed below. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say/building-code-update-consultation-november-2019 The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has found that thermal bridging in a wood-framed wall lowers the effectiveness of cavity insulation by 10%, but performance drops a whopping 55% in a wall framed with steel. https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-005-a-bridge-too-far “But from a hygrothermal standpoint, I can only add …
27 August 2019 The Fifth Estate’s Poppy Johnston: NSW gets its first Certified Passive House homes
Congratulations to Joe Mercieca of Blue Eco Homes for Sapphire Passive House in the Blue Mountains and Andy Marlow of Envirotecture for the Thornleigh house. The article states that “The certification of these two buildings brings the total number of Passive House Certified buildings in Australia to 18. ” with a “a pipeline of hundreds of Passive House buildings in various …
2019 August 20 – Passive House Institute: More Passive Houses in Paradise
I was looking for several examples of apartment buildings on the PHI website when I came across this colorful interview of New Zealand’s Passive House champion Thomas van Raamsdonk. When Thomas was asked ” What is the current situation? “ His reply was: “To date, there are over 20 certified Passive House buildings in New Zealand. Many more projects are underway or …
19 August 2019 BMJ Journals: Damp mouldy housing and early childhood hospital admissions for acute respiratory infection: a case control study
Damp mouldy housing and early childhood hospital admissions for acute respiratory infection: a case control study Bottom line for the Wellington Region alone 1710 hospitalizations per year for children under 2 years old would be prevented if all housing were free from damp and mould!! “This paper presents the largest ever case–control study of the association between housing quality and hospital …
19 August 2019 SunLive: Crank up the heat on someone’s winter
Yes sometimes even sick folks living in cold homes don’t realize how it impacts their health. “Two weeks ago, the temperature dropped to zero or one degrees inland where a woman with cancer was living. Her nights were a struggle, her breathing was laboured and each day she woke up exhausted. Healthy Homes chatted with her about the importance of …
15 August 2019 News Hub’s Mel Logan & Dan Satherley: Damp, mouldy homes blamed for high rate of kids with respiratory infections
1600 extra death per year 20% of serious respiratory infections prevented. Seems like warm dry healthy homes would cheaper than what we do now. Content by News Hub.
AIRAH Ecolibruium August 2019 Feature
One of our newsletter articles was published in AIRAH magazine. AIRAH Ecolibruium August 2019 https://www.airah.org.au/ EcoLibrium/2019/Ecolibrium_August_2019.aspx When asked where he learned this Jason pointed out it was from Joe Lstiburek in Westford Massachusetts way back in 2014 and from Kara Rosemeier in 2012 but with less swearing. Read more here.
13 August 2019 Voxy: Energy company looks at health effects of cold homes
“The WHO report found that cold indoor temperatures have been associated with increased blood pressure, asthma symptoms and poor mental health. Cold homes contribute to increases in deaths and disease. It is estimated that in New Zealand 1600 additional people die each winter, with respiratory and cardiovascular disease highly prevalent in these alarming statistics. Elderly people, children and those with …
12 August 2019: Seriously the mould is a design flaw not the tenant
Humorous comment that matches my maxim of buildings should be durable without requiring crazy intervention from the occupants. I still remember one of mates telling me the reason for mould in one of their rentals is the tenants closed the windows while sleeping – seriously he expected them to open their windows while sleeping all winter long in a neighborhood …