A Prequel To Evaporation

Let me preface this by saying most professionals in the trades (inclusive of home inspectors, building inspectors, consultants) are not chemists, physicists, or molecular specialists. If you don’t get the concepts herein, or I fail to enumerate their conditions properly, that’s okay. There’s a world of chemistry out there that needs and requires specialists – we don’t need to be them; I just want to expose more of us to very basic premises that can and should help decision making when designing, building, or inspecting structures.

In the physical world, where materials are felt and cut and manipulated, it’s hard to pay attention to what is right there but not readily visible – namely, gases and chemistry. So, this is a walk-through (for me, as well) to create awareness of how a solid, liquid, or gas responds to another solid, liquid, or gas related to material performance.

Perhaps the most accessible and best starting example would be liquid and tape flashings. In modern construction, we have become very reliant on liquid and tape flashing for helping to limit air and moisture (and pest) infiltration into our structures (because, don’t forget, our aim is to control the inside and keep the outside out when it comes to building a structure). Well, not all builders/trades professionals are on this bus yet; but, each year the ranks do appear to be increasing.

These are not the tapes with which you seal…wall, floor, and roof assemblies

When a liquid or flashing tape is used, it relies on a chemical bonding of materials – adsorption; this is one of our key terms. Adsorption is the accrual of atoms, ions, and molecules on another surface in a bonding method. When liquid flashing is applied, the chemical concoction adheres to the surface of the other material. The liquid flashing does not fully penetrate or incorporate into the other material, but bonds at the surfaces. This is adsorption for building materials. The other really important take-away relates to too much of the adsorbate – the liquid flashing – being applied to the absorbent – the other material to which it is adhering: There is a finite layering that can be productive before the liquid flashing stops its intended adhering. Basically, you don’t have to apply (nor would it perform properly) three inches of liquid flashing along the sill/sheathing joint of a wall/foundation assembly.

Think of it like holding hands…but much, much stronger and “wetter”

If we look at flashing tape and adsorption, the same premise applies but a bit differently. You know how you may have heard, “You have to roll the tape,” by flashing tape manufacturers? Well, that’s because the rolling of the tape creates a sorption process whereby the chemicals of the adhesives in the tape “wet” into the tiny pores of the material to which it is adhering. In other words, the mechanical process of physically (think energy usage) wetting the tape by rolling helps to induce the adsorption of the adhesive onto the material at hand – wood, concrete, etc. The tape’s adhesive does not penetrate into the surface, but bonds at the teeny-tiny level to create the “long-term sticking.” This is the same thing that happens when activated charcoal filters your water.

Now, perhaps you do a lot of reading and listening and have heard the on-going rumblings of those nay-sayers that are afeared of failure when relying on liquid or tape flashing. Chemically speaking, this would be desorption; for adsorption and surface bonding, it is the premise that what adheres can also come loose (with an investment of energy). Technically, this is an accurate fear; on-going testing of tapes and liquid flashings continue to help determine long-term chemical bonds and what sort of stressors (think energies) can break those bonds and cause failure in flashing-related protections which could lead to water infiltration and unhealthy issues developing in a structure. This is why the manufacturer’s literature is so vital – the manufacturer literally tells you what you can use their product with and how it must be used and when it will fail. If you don’t follow the recipe, don’t be surprised when your crepe eats like a pancake. As both a home performance consultant, and a licensed home inspector, I cannot begin to extol the merits of reading all that tiny print. That’s my soap box.

Seriously, read the fine print from the manufacturers. It’s good stuff!

The other key term I intended to confuse and befuddle you regarding is absorption. If adsorption is surface adherence, then absorption is full-on “I’m going to gobble you up and put you in my belly.” Think, alligator and a doe at the water’s edge. The doe goes in the alligator, not onto the alligator. A very crude metaphor, yes, but one that helps to express the point – the deer doesn’t adsorb to the alligator’s skin, although that would be interesting. Absorption is the process by which one material is fully incorporated within another, sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently.

For building science and trades, think of moisture in a wall assembly, or in a floor assembly for those of us accustomed to wet crawlspaces. Unlike caulk, which only adheres (adsorption) to a surface, water can absorb into a material – wood or concrete, for example. Ever seen composite cement fiber board improperly installed and exposed to water? The rate is not fast, but absorption eventually reaches a point of equilibrium/saturation (a max concentration of sorts) that the material was never intended to manage and the related energies and stressors exert so much antagonism on the material that it starts to flake apart in these thin layers. That process starts with absorption and is one of the reasons why wood and cement-based composites are intended to be primed and sealed and separated from ground and roof surfaces (well, we have to introduce capillary action in here to really explain it properly…we haven’t enough word space remaining in this article).

Another ready example would be manufactured adhered stone veneer (a cement product) or brick veneer – both claddings (unless painted/sealed) readily absorb moisture from their exposed surfaces. The veneers will continue to absorb moisture until they reach an equilibrium. Then, either it stays (if it is raining) in the material, or it may begin to exit the material in the direction of less water. If the wind is driving the rain to the brick from the exterior, water may leave the brick on the interior side that faces away from the rain (more to less). And what’s on this side of the brick? The wall assembly. If this assembly lacks proper configurations to manage bulk water, the water may then begin both the adsorption (weather resistive barrier) and absorption (wall sheathing) processes all over again. We all know what water does in wall assemblies, right? Right.

If you guessed you’d find a mocktail therein, well…you are a cheery bloke, ain’t ya?

To further convolute, solar drive is an energetic process whereby the sun’s radiant heat physically forces the water onward/inward, which can have detrimental consequences for a wall’s performance. But, solar drive is not absorption. I am no chemist, but I suspect it is a variant of desorption since energy and heat are involved in altering the chemical relationships and driving one material out from within the other.

Please, don’t take my word on any of this. Check with your local, friendly, neighborhood professional chemist. We all have those, right? Remember, you don’t have to be a chemist and you don’t need to be able to write a dissertation on any of this. What you should be able to do is have an inkling of an idea how this stuff works so you can make informed choices as a professional, so you can properly cite deficiencies or discovered issues, and so you can proficiently communicate to the client/consumer thereby being respectful of their time and money.

Our Southern Homes and Water Vapor

Prologue

Writing, for me, is synthesizing ideas, concepts, and facts into understandings of my own words. This creates meaning for me as a professional and, thus, helps me to be a better professional for my clients.

Writing helps create meaning…which has to be read…to create meaning

Recently, I was re-reading Dr. Joseph Lstiburek’s 2004 article, “Insulations, Sheathings, and Vapor Retarders.” In my best moments, I try to touch one of his articles once per week. His material is dense, but accessible and witty. It really satiates my brain. But, I find that the information does not self-retain in my noggin – there is no adsorption or absorption for all of what Dr. Lstiburek freely disseminates. So, I have to re-read things continually to overcome my mutton-headed ways.

In the above-mentioned article, vapor in walling (and technically, roof and floor) assemblies is discussed in terms of thermodynamics and chemistry. At one point, the article talks about how vapor will diffuse to the lower vapor pressure and/or temperature side between two sides, regardless of air pressure. For our southern, humid climate this means that the water vapor that is outside in the warmer months will migrate inward for two reasons – our air conditioning “usually” is pulling moisture from the air inside our homes while simultaneously cooling interior surfaces. So, the inside has less vapor pressure (fewer water molecules inside than outside) and cooler surfaces. Vapor moves from high concentration to low concentration (inward in warmer months in our region) and from warmer to cool (inward in warmer months in our region).

Our Market

Now, the most common wall assembly configuration in our market is 2x4 studs, OSB wall sheathing, and a weather-resistive-barrier from DuPont (although competing brands are starting to show more frequently, but they mostly perform the same). These WRBs are not air barriers if not fully sealed (they never are in our market) and they are not vapor barriers as they are usually semi-permeable. Basically, they are designed to manage bulk water, but can’t do much for water in gaseous form (if you live here, you know we have a ton of water in gaseous form for at least 7 months each year).

A representative example for homes in our region which usually look modern-pretty from the cladded finish side

So, our wall assemblies are deplorable, historically, at managing water vapor. In older homes, like one I was in last year, this results in saturated fiberglass battens and some fungal growth on the battens’ paper-facing and the backside of the finished walling. The assembly configuration is uber common, even in new homes here – brick veneer, a banal WRB, sheathing, battens, interior wall finish (paneling and drywall in this instance). Now, this home’s walls had not rotted, but insulation was ruined and there was the fungal growth. So, what gives?

The walling was disassembled from the interior for renovation during the summer months. The previous owners had kept the home at 68 degrees F. up until it sold to the new owners. When we got into the walls, we saw thermodynamics at work – the interior temperature of the walling materials were at least 20 degrees cooler than outside temperatures. That undeterred, hot and humid air was like Garfield at a lasagna dinner – “Gimme, gimme, gimme!”. So, the vapor moved inward to less density and cooler surfaces whereby we happened to hit dew point due to Delta T and, Ta-da! Wet stuff.

Where’s the Mush?

So, why wasn’t it all mush? Why aren’t all our homes mush? Well, honestly, my best guess is that because we spend almost no time on air sealing, the walls are drying out – in the summer from heat and convective air movement; in the summer from vapor moving into the interior and the A/Cs reducing some amount of said moisture load (hello, utility costs…!?!); in the winter from being generally more dry outside while also being dry inside (a equilibrium of sorts). Inefficiency has saved us. Quick, ditch all that damn wall insulation…inefficiency saves us!

Except, maybe not. Utility costs continue to rise (TVA announced plans to raise their rates by 4.5% this fall). Building materials are not coming down in price to pre-COVID numbers. Home prices and mortgage rates also remain elevated. Oh, and let’s not forget the changing of weather that adds more strain to our structures. Maybe inefficiency shouldn’t remain our rule of thumb.

The flipside scenario also is not the answer – in several new homes in the last two years I’ve been called out related to moisture (relative humidity) being too high inside and under the home. Usually, these homes were built with modern materials and slightly better air management details. Slightly. We haven’t increased the R-value of our walling beyond an R19 (not regionally enforced), nor are we sealing our sheathing or WRBs, nor air sealing dissimilar assembly joints. We are starting to use integrated air/moisture management systems, but not properly executed. So, water vapor is still getting in via diffusion and air penetrations. And then it gets trapped with nowhere to go from the inside of the home (except the attic sometimes…not good in winter…unless we also are leaking heat to dry the moisture (heat from the sun and heat from our houses)…inefficiency is such an efficient cycle).

We Are Not In The Clear

What we can’t see within pretty exterior and interior finishes may pose issues for our younger homes in years to come…

In none of these newer homes have we been allowed to perform surgery to see what the innards look like. I’m hopeful, but not delusional. What creates deficiency in one direction can create it in the other direction, seasonally speaking. As most newer homes are drywall and latex-based painted, unsealed penetrations for conditioned winter air to move outward are going to be somewhat limited to man-made holes for electric and finish features. Vapor diffusion, moving outward, shouldn’t pose an issue due to proper paint finish on the interior side; plus, during the day the exterior materials are warmer which may escape the dew point (except shaded sides) and vapor isn’t trapped by vapor semi/permeable sheathing and membranes which is mostly what we still use. So, our winters mostly should harbor fewer issues than summers when warm air and higher vapor concentrations hit the cooler/dryer backside of drywall.

Trades Industry Sherpa For Consumers

There was a time when good work was in short supply, but good workers were not. Then, by various triggers that would require a top-ranking economist to explain and chart, good workers started to be in short supply and good work plentiful.

“…good workers started to be in short supply and good work plentiful.”

Then things got even more strange. People who performed the work started charging more money while more consistently performing a mediocre service or finished product. It seems, to my lint-filled pockets, money has lost its holding value for consumers. This is where the home diagnostic and consulting skill sets sweep in to save the day.

If you at all listen to The Unbuild It Podcast, or follow Home Diagnosis, or any of the plethora of available resources out there, you should be aware that the trend for ensuring what is built performs to a standard of today’s global and economic climate, and NOT a standard of past-home-building-decades, is becoming more common. Trade schools have been catching on over the last 10 years, industry figure heads (mostly via social media) have been adopting, adapting, and espousing these principals, and titans of the performance industry – Building Science – have freely shared so much technically difficult and yet simplistically executed information that there is no reason our buildings aren’t healthy, durable, and safe. If you have never taken a course with Joe (see previous link), then you just don’t know.

Unless you are a consumer.

Consumers don’t follow these channels. Consumers are living their lives, focused on their professions, and paying our trades professionals on the assumption that we will execute to a level worthy of the money they pay.

Consumer’s are a valued commodity by businesses.

How can consumers claw back the value of their money?

That does not happen, yet. Most general contractors, trades partners, and laborers work from a set of game plans that are based on requirements from the local jurisdiction having authority (if there is one), which means standardization is not standard across our states and even within any one state. This means the local business and trades culture shapes and reinforces skill sets, habits, and practices. There’s more truth to, “Well, that’s how my granddad taught me and the homes he built are still standing,” than many realize. Like the paths cut through a forest by furry creatures, we humans blindly follow that which provides the least impedance.

“Three hundred and sixty-six words in, this piece really is to say I shouldn’t be needed. But, there is such a chasm for consumers looking to understand their homes and spend their money wisely versus the trades professionals that perform said work…”

The beauty of what an entity like myself does is amalgamate overlapping fields of knowledge and practices to the benefit of the consumer. You have to know the basics of construction and related processes, materials commonly used in your region and their performances, typical trades practices within the field, a modest amount of building science, how to investigate, how to test, how to communicate, and how to listen. Entities like myself once were unicorns – now, we’re growing in number because there’s a need for us – we’re usually reasonably educated, experienced, open-minded to problem solving and willing to say we may not know the answer on the front end, and understanding that the consumer is not a trades professional and a trades professional is often limited in what they know or do (that whole worn path thing, again).

Some of us, like TNergy Services LLC, have chosen to act as consultant in order to properly guide consumers toward competency of decision making. It’s not my job to make choices for my clients – my job is to help my clients step from one stone to the next until they get to the end of the path and can choose their own way. My job is to listen to their choices and help them facilitate their needs and wishes to a contractor in language relatable to the contractor. This is the only way to deviate from the “norm” of trades practices that often leave consumers short for the value of their money spent.

Okay, so no cape and cowl.

But, consumers still deserve a means to make empowered decisions related to how they spend their money.

Having an entity such as myself makes sense – I have no dog in the fight. I don’t perform the work. I don’t cherry pick the contractor. I acquire information for the consumer, I gather bids for the consumer based on decided scope of work for an intended outcome, I help interpret said bids for the consumer, and I add an informed eye toward work performed to ensure proper execution. All of this is done without any sort of kickback from contractors or materials manufacturers. Yes, I get paid, but I get paid because I am hybridized, I am specialized, I am communicative, and I am a guide. Entities like myself are the sherpas of the trades industry for consumers.

I want my world to be better. I want my community to be better. I want our homes to be safer, healthier, and longer-lasting (one of Mr. Baczek’s common refrains is “long live our buildings”). I want to do more than just say, “I want.” This is me executing, trying, working to help our communities be better by assimilation of information that’s out there. The truth is out there (anyone interested in this last reference may be interested in this tidbit of fandom).

The Pains of Progress

After a recent conference, a seat-filler proclaimed – “The presentation was good enough. But, I think some of these ideas are suspect. Maybe 20% is accurate, but I bet other industry professionals would say he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”

Slowly We Go…

The subject matter related to how to quantify home performance and help homeowners live in and keep a healthy home. This is the realty of our industry. There is an HVAC-ton of apprehension and willful refusal to change understandings and habits (see what I did there with that HVAC ton…I’m a quick one, I am…). Larger, more youthful areas of our country likely have an easier go at this. Rural, more aged and conservative communities likely are slower in acceptance.

Building science is not rocket science…common knowledge among building scientists

Building science is not high-level physics. It can be, but most of what practitioners need is not high-level. All building science really does is incorporate the “why” into the “how.” The other thing building science does is provide on-going advancements in testing to confirm – confirm performance, confirm deficiency, and even resolve deficiency. And everyone appreciates resolution, right?

Err, maybe not so much. Turns out, without active and prolific enforcement, many regions of our country remain happily humming along executing at the “same old, same old” quality of construction and home performance. Don’t believe me? Listen to any number of trades-related podcasts – the subject will and does come up routinely. We know what we know and we do what we know and we won’t do what we don’t know unless and until someone else makes us know it (eat my biscuits, Dr. Seuss!).

Hitting Home

In the south, TVA remains king which affects attention to energy consumption

For my business in the conservative South, where TVA still reigns king and electricity remains less expensive per kwh than many other regions of the country, getting anyone to see me as anything other than crazy is not easy. The thing is, there’s no motivation for anyone local to see the merit in using my services – if consumers don’t ask for it, and codes departments don’t require any of it, then what compels any one builder or contractor to learn and do better? Literally, there is no competitive edge in doing so in our market. Yet.

See, that’s my hope. There are a few builders in our region who are doing “some” portion of a pretty good house detail, but no one builder has started to build exclusively with the total details package. I’m hopeful that the trend will continue. Hell, I’m even starting to kick around the idea of doing it. Licensing isn’t that large of a hurdle. If I can understand the building science of a home, and how to test for performance, then surely I can manage a license exam. Based on what I have been seeing for the last decade, I shouldn’t have an issue. Boy, I’d be embarrassed if I did.

New Year Feel-Goods

Going into the new year, I’m hopeful I can begin to find a way to better access the existing housing market and help owners and builders begin to make choices that benefit everyone. As a builder, if you work to change some practices – be it materials used or methods of construction – then you could see improvement in your profit, in your product, and in your client interest. As a homeowner, if you demand better conditions from your home – more than the aesthetics of the kitchen or baths – you could see less money spent on utilities, healthier indoor air quality, and a greater longevity of the home itself. There are many reasons why understanding how your home is failing could help you take control. Such control yields more value for the money and time spent on and in your home.

May the end of year bring you blessings and peace

TNergy Services wishes all of you a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Whether you travel, stay in place, hang out with copious amount of people, or cuddle up with a few good books – may stress not be a mitigating factor for choices made. And, in the new year, if you are ready for a new adventure and to take control of your home, give me a call. I’d be honored and humbled to be of help.

Codes Are Not A Low Bar, People Are

What do building standards stand for? If you operate in any overlapping category of real estate and the building trades, then you have heard the phrase – “it meets code” – at least once. Maybe twice? Well, what does that mean?

Code gets a bad rap not because it’s bad, but because it requires humans

In our Middle TN region, it tends to mean one thing the closer you are to Nashville, Knoxville, or Chattanooga, and quite another in lesser populated areas in between. It also depends on which code is being referenced – International Building Code, International Residential Code, International Energy Conservation Code, International Plumbing Code, International Fuel Gas Code, National Electric Code. Each of these tomes is generated by a dizzying array of academic, professional, and trade specialists, combined with governmental, and sometimes lobbying, entities.

Again, the context of where you are entirely dictates the rules of the game. This is, unfortunately, a glib way to summarize the situation. In reality, what tends to happen is because humans create, adopt, and enforce the codes, inconsistencies and errors are very common. This is not to point toward corruption (perhaps another article…?) beyond the corrupt imperfection of humans. And, you know what humans really dislike – chaffing and cold water, yes, but more than that…change.

We tend to shy away from change more than from exercise or house cleaning.

We humans love to stomp our paths into ruts. Ruts are easy to follow. Ruts can guide newbies. Ruts are convenient because they can be followed whilst paying attention to something else. Ruts also tend to be hard to escape after decades of stomping and following. And so, we come to homes built fresh atop newly sectioned-off lots that cost more than four times (yikes!) what our folks paid for and yet perform very similar to those same homes of yesteryear.

When I say perform, I mean: Put together with the same methodologies related to air, water, and pest management. These are the three horsemen of the home apocalypse and are very much understated in their presence until it may be too late for the home. There is no reason for a home built in our modern era to perform the same way a 1950s home does when it comes to a blower door test (feel free to email me if you don’t know what the scientific simplicity of a blower door as a measurement tool is). We don’t accept new cars that perform like cars from the 1960s. Why do we do it for homes?

Seriously, think about it – how much material is spent in making a home? What about the average carbon footprint (folks, it’s pretty bad what one home contributes to our atmospheric pollution, let along our landfills) for making a home? Why are we okay with following standards for building said home that will result in said home making its way to a landfill in 30-50 years? Why wouldn’t we simply adopt a slightly different set of practices and standards that allow said home to last for 100+ years? Change.

I don’t like it, change that is! Keep it away!

Change for humans is like Shere Khan from “The Jungle Book” faced with fire. You wave change in our faces and we hiss and retreat. In our market, this looks like resistance to better building standards by most (not all) general contractors; this looks like local building codes departments slow or unwilling to adopt modern codes that require trades professionals to put the pieces together differently; this looks like homes being built without any verifiable testing for performance (again, would you buy a new car today that didn’t have safety ratings from crash testing?).

Building a new home to “code” should be a badge of honor and pride garnering respect. Unfortunately, it historically has trended toward the other end of the spectrum. In my market, that same phrase usually is used to excuse such errors as water and fungal growth in a crawlspace, or HVAC return duct plenums built by voided framing space. In my market, that same phrase usually is used by trades and real estate professionals (oh, the stories I could tell…) to argue against a home inspector or building performance specialist who has advised clients of information that makes said clients have higher expectations for the home.

I am convinced that “it meets code” is merely a crutch on which to lean against impending change. The dirty little secret is that most current iterations of code – any of the code entities out there – really do afford for well-performing homes that keep occupants safe and healthy, as well as keep the home intact for many more decades, if not generations. Codes and standards have evolved quite well. It’s the people who remain resistant to change. It’s the people who continue, with the help of special interest groups (ever stop to wonder what’s so special about those interests – ahem, money, ahem…) to carve out the sections of code they choose not to adopt or enforce.

Codes have changed for the better (enter “Wicked” song here…)

With a wink to irony, it’s also people who are leading the change. It’s the high-school education programs teaching students building science; it’s the social media presence of trades professionals sharing what they learn from their failures; and its professionals like home inspectors and building performance specialists taking up the mantles of educator and consumer protector. Yes, it’s a tall order. Yes, there are so many forces pushing against change. Yes, making these choices means upsetting some local trades professionals and losing some business. I’m doing it. Others are doing it. We’d love for you to join us in making our homes, our neighborhoods, and our communities better and healthier for family and friends.

No Flashing Where It Counts

Case Study – Flashing at Dissimilar Materials Joints

In roof framing, it is widely understood that those areas of most interruption, or planar differences, pose the greatest risk for leaking (think valley, or greedy dormer). Ergo, the more complicated a home’s roof line, the greater risk for leaking. How do professionals (not you, Grandpa – real, actual professionals industry trained with real world experience) manage this? Flashing.

Now, let’s move that concept down from the roof to the wall assembly. If you have a wall made of wood, that wooden wall will inevitably end. In our middle Tennessee region, it usually ends on the foundation (concrete blocks aka CMUs), but slabs are becoming more prevalent and we do have old housing stock (stone and brick foundations).

Where that wooden wall ends (you have to picture the wall naked – of siding/cladding here) the materials are dissimilar (usually wood and concrete or masonry). Dissimilarity, in home performance, is the ideal location for issues to develop – usually via air, moisture, and pest. The solution would be, like roofing, flashing. The problem is flashing of wall assemblies and components is not a highly regulated area of home production in our region and, based on what I see often, there is a wide spectrum of understanding and skill by those performing the work.

Where a wall meets a foundation, or any transition, merits your attention — where is it here?!?

Often times, wall flashing is overlooked, or under executed. In some of our housing stock, the home survives with deficient wall flashing purely because the interior enclosure is so very much perforated (read, not air-tight) and the walls can dry. But what happens in our younger homes? Let’s see.

The Home

This home was built in the mid-2000s and likely was intended to be a moderate-to-high-end home based on materials used and aesthetic finishes. Composite cement fiber product was used for siding. Concrete cast stone veneer (lick and stick as it is so lovingly referred to here) was used for both foundation veneer AND some areas of siding. Where the cement boarding terminated and adjoined the stone veneer, there sat a shelf. A very flat, flat, shelf (see photo above).

As best I could tell, there was no flashing beyond a typical weather resistive barrier installed along this common joint line (which ran around the entire perimeter). And, this is for yet another article, the concrete cast stone veneer appeared to be adhered via thin-set directly to the wall assembly over the WRB with no adequate separation and this negates any water management ability…but, I digress.

Our flat joint had no special flashing installed. Flat surfaces hold water, or at least don’t let it drain away and off. When water is held flat, it will follow capillarity (think trees) and find other points by which to travel – up, down, sideways. At our dissimilar joint with no special flashing, the water readily accessed a percentage of the walling assembly over time. Time and moisture vs. OSB. Which do you think wins? Hint: pick moisture.

This is NOT how the rim joist should be looking — if only there had been flashing…

This home that was less than 20 years old, was set up for disaster from the onset of construction. With no attention to flashing detail, and no apparent understanding of needing to protect engineered laminated products (OSB, manufactured I-joists which were the substructure framing), this home started rotting very soon after construction. And unlike old housing stock that was more drafty, this home was less drafty (still drafty, just less drafty). Less drafty means less drying or longer drying time. Prolonged exposure to the moisture delaminated the resins/adhesives in the engineered materials, primed the wooden fibers for pest snacking, and degraded the general strength of the framing.

ENTER ME

By the time I came on the scene, the murder had already occurred. The un-flashed joint work at the exterior was my first clue. My knowledge of the abhorrent installation practices of concrete cast stone veneer in my Tennessee market was my second clue. A very pervasive and present musty odor in the garage was my third clue (have we talked about garages not being air tight and communicating air with crawlspace and interior space?!?). My fourth clue was degrading or already deteriorated rim joist, I-joist ends, and sill plates around the perimeter of the structure. Only along the perimeter of the structure in these areas.

If you had a probe, and lightly poked, you would find this wood readily gave

Some Science

Wood is comprised of polymers (like most things, glucose is king at the molecular level for form and energy). Some of those polymers form cellulose and lignin, the two components that help wood in its natural form withstand biodegradation for an extended period in the natural world. However, we’re talking processed wood here and wood that has had moisture removed (and likely some of the lignin) as part of the engineering process. If you take out the water in the wood fibers, then the degradation slows down even more. Guess what happens if/when you reintroduce continued cycling of wetting to those same wooden fibers that were mechanically dried out? If you said it speeds up the microbes that “eat” the wood, you are correct. Additionally, we get oxidation of the wood fibers which lends to the very darkening of wood coloring. Oxidation also is a decay process. **See this 2011 MIT paper for a brief explanation of wood and moisture.

Does Your Brain Hurt?

Okay. Okay. Let’s jump ship from chemistry. I usually don’t bring up chemistry with clients or in field reports because it’s confusing and usually unnecessary. And in truth, I usually have to “refresh” my own understanding routinely. The simple explanation fits well – you can’t take a material that was intended to be dry post-processing and allow it to repeatedly get wet. It degrades and anything it was supporting no longer is supported as well. Ergo, you must protect this dry product and keep it dry. Dry from the exterior wet world and dry from the interior (crawlspace) wet world. When you fail at this, the material(s) fail and you get unhappy homeowners, or shocked buyers who no longer want the otherwise pretty home.

All of this – and I mean all of it – could be avoided by well-executed flashing. But, then again, you can’t execute flashing installation well IF the installer doesn’t understand the basic principles of building science and why they should flash, where they should flash, and how the flashing should be designed (ahem, to shed water…).

I’m not the best artist, but you can “see” the idea here — if the home had this flashing, there wouldn’t be this problem so early in it’s life.

Being a Home Performance Marketer

When you own and run a small business one of the primary tasks is an on-going need to let be known who you are and what you do. I once had a marketing manager for another business I own who loved motivating based on books he read. He was very fond of “top of mind,” and because of that, TOM is ingrained in my choices to this day.

The “top of mind” concept focuses on advertising and marketing with a mind’s eye toward getting your brand to the top of the consumer’s mind when they are in search of your product or service. I really like this concept because it removes the pressure of marketing for immediate result – if I spend $500 on advertising, I can focus on trying to generate top of mind benefit and not immediate conversion. Conversion can be profoundly sad when numbers are low. As best I can tell, most conversions are pretty low on average. So, if I can teach you to associate my name with a set of services, then when the time comes and you are in need of said services, your mind will do the rest.

“Homes are multi-faceted spaces made from organic and non-organic materials with the intent of keeping the inside in and the outside out. ”

— Greg Johns

And Then There’s Mindset

Another concept I like pertains to mindset. How do I get you, the consumer, to care about the services I offer? Why should you care that I am certified for blower door and duct testing? Or that I can help diagnose deficiencies that are plaguing your home or your physical person? Or that I can help guide you through the processes of renovation in a manner that helps you know how best to spend your money to get the most out of the work performed? Those be lots of words and concepts. It can be hard.

But, if we focus on mindset, all of this seems much more approachable. If I can write in a manner that helps you change your mindset toward your home, how it feels and performs, and get you to subconsciously think you can actually be in control of its issues and quirks, then perhaps you start to think this stuff matters.

For anyone who wants more related to mindset, I highly recommend a few podcasts from Hidden Brain that focus on the psychology of mindset and the serious power of mindset for all of us plebian peeps (here’s the first episode and here’s the second episode and here’s a related episode about another more scary angle for mindset).

Mindset Matters for Our Homes

As I am interested in how to use these ideas in relation to building my business and brand awareness, I feel sharing helps develop said brand awareness. So, one of my main goals in advertising for this business is to help consumers begin to understand their homes are not stagnant “things” that are beyond their management aside from hiring professionals to service their homes. Homes, like our bodies, are wholistic systems with integrated components that all work together. If my marketing repeats this message in a variety of formats, eventually people will more readily associate my business with these concepts.

Our homes are more than the finishes. IF we can see them as integrated systems, perhaps we could better understand they are not stagnant or uneventful.

So, if you are reading this blog – well, firstly, thank you for reading. But, also, consider the concept that homes, yours or one you are working on, are more than just “the largest investment in our lives.” Homes are multi-faceted spaces made from organic and non-organic materials with the intent of keeping the inside in and the outside out. That’s what I help do. I help teach you – homeowner or contractor – how to see what’s out and what’s in and how to fix it. My other goal is education with a mind toward consumers and contractors exacting positive change for our homes and the environment at minimal cost. It is possible.

I’m around when you are ready for a conversation. Cheers!

A Moment With Unvented Conditioned Attics

Our eyes are amazing organs. They filter something we can’t otherwise perceive and allow us to perceive the worlds which we see. But, what happens when we pay for a service that addresses what we can’t see with our eyes? How do we know we are getting what we pay for? Or, if we’re the contractor, how do we really know what we’re doing is effective?

We test.

In our middle TN region, we don’t have many homes that are built with unvented conditioned attics, or are converted to unvented conditioned attics. To my knowledge, we also don’t have a hardy education for trades professionals regarding the building science behind vented unconditioned attics vs. unvented conditioned attics. So, our line of ignorance places us in a precarious position as home owners and builders.

In our region, what I see mostly is low density open cell spray foam installed along the roof line and eaves. In theory, this closes off the attic from the exterior environment extending the interior enclosure from the finished ceiling to the now-foam-filled roof framing. In theory.

In actuality, because our trades professionals aren’t regulated in relation to the depth of the installed low density open cell spray foam, often there are irregularities, voids, and gaps. These, individually, are no big deal. But taken as one larger whole (get it…?), they are a very big deal. Thermal imaging helps us see this clearly.

Further Complication

In addition to no real standardization of installation and resulting thermal intrusion and potentially moisture issues (for our immediate market), we would naturally need to worry about moisture issues anyhow. The biggest potential issue for unvented conditioned attics is moisture. Per this article by Joseph Lstiburek and Building Science Corporation, moisture is the most pernicious concern for unvented conditioned attics. Why is this so complicated?

Low density open cell spray foam in an unvented conditioned attic

Installation is key — the bright yellow indicates thermal inefficiencies which indicate questionable installation

Well, if it’s a new home, then there is moisture from the building materials. If it is an existing home, there is moisture (in our market) from deficiencies related to poor water management and indoor air quality. And then there’s our subtropical environment that tends to be hot, wet, and humid. This is why some building science folks argue for use of high density closed cell spray foam only — it blocks moisture getting to the roof sheathing/decking a bit better (when properly installed). But, it carries it’s own pitfalls.

So What’s To Say

In the end, I put my money where Lstiburek puts his decades of experience and knowledge — the man is a compendium of building science experience and testing. So, if you ask me I will tell you low density open cell spray foam is acceptable when properly installed. The problem, as this photo from a recent new build shows, is installation. Now, this particular home has an in-line dehumidifier in the basement which should help. I recommended further monitoring via hygrometer installation in the attic as close to the ridge line as possible. If the moisture loads are noted to be beyond ideal percentages, then the client can manage the unvented conditioned attic space in one of several ways. Lstiburek’s recommendation for balanced ventilation would be sweet to see, but in our region I suspect it might be too complicated for many professionals to get right without causing more harm. FYI, that article also has great information on walling and basement configurations, too. If that kind of thing tickles your fancy.

And So The Testing Begins, Sort Of …

Sorry You Got Lost :)

If you stumbled your way here, I’m sorry. But, not sorry. You should know I color myself humbled in relation to others in my profession. The thing about building science is there is always a new way to “see” something and always someone else who can “show” you something new to see.

While home performance testing is pretty straight forward, there is guess work involved and it isn’t always a hard science. Additionally, some of the set standards referenced in the industry don’t necessary have a poignant or purposeful origin. Home diagnostic testing becomes even less “hard science” as often you have to look at the system as a whole in order to find the chink in the armor. Yes, there are common and routine causes and known issues. But, each structure can be unique and so needs to be “seen” in a unique, open-minded manner that fits the client’s requested solution(s).

Let’s Have An Example

As an example, indoor air testing has been all the rage in recent years. There are oodles of products available on the marketplace for home owners, as wells as professionals. However, when we get a call for “mold” testing, I feel we have a responsibility to not just sell someone on a test to make money. The truth is, sometimes air testing is relevant and helpful to determine a particular contaminant. The bigger picture, however, is listening to what’s really being asked and then have a conversation regarding spending time reviewing structure systems to determine a deficiency and/or cause. In then end, does it matter knowing what’s in the air specifically for hundreds of dollars (the tests we use cost between $200 and $350 just for the test), or could we do other diagnostic work (that’s fancy speak for using our education, experience, and some shiny tools) and come away with a list for guiding repairs and/or modifications (read — resolution)? All a test will tell you is what you have in the air, and there are no agreed upon standards for concentrations, limits, or significance. And let’s not get into the quandary of knowing lab standards and practices…

Ruminate For Action

In the end, what you may need for your structure — be it commercial, or residential, or hunting cabin, or storm shelter — isn’t necessarily every test in the world thrown at it. Sometimes, the best answer may start with knowing how to ask “why?” Why is this happening? That’s what TNergy Services does for you and that’s where we start. Sometimes, you literally need a blower door test (new homes, e.g.); sometimes a blower door would be silly to perform when what you need is a site assessment to identify system deficiencies causing water (usually always water) related issues. We’re really good listeners. We’re really happy thinkers. We’re pretty good communicators. Give us a ring and let’s see how we can help make your home/business perform and “feel” better.