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There’s a growing trend across cold-climate markets, places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, where builders have started moving away from basements and toward slab-on-grade construction. This shift has accelerated over the past decade, driven largely by cost and cycle time pressures. On paper, it makes sense. Slabs are faster to build, less expensive, and simplify construction. For production builders, that’s hard to ignore. But from a building science perspective, this

You may have heard that the HVAC industry is going through a big refrigerant change. What does this actually mean? A refrigerant is the chemical inside your air conditioner or heat pump that moves heat from where you don’t want it, to where you do. It’s what makes cooling possible. The new generation of refrigerants (like R-454B) have a much lower global warming potential. In fact, it’s about one-quarter as potent as the older R-410A. Because refrigerants contribute significa

Have you ever been sitting on the couch and felt a cool draft along an outside wall? Or noticed that one bedroom is always hotter in the summer or colder in the winter than the rest of the house? In many cases, the issue isn’t your HVAC system, it’s air leakage. Homes naturally have small gaps and cracks in their exterior shell. When outside air slips in (and indoor air slips out), it affects more than just comfort. In winter, that moving air makes rooms feel colder. In summe

When water gets behind exterior cladding - and it will - it should hit a reliable weather-resistive barrier. In most homes, that barrier is housewrap. Choose the wrong one, and you could be inviting long-term moisture problems, callbacks, and durability issues. So what’s the difference? Most synthetic housewraps are made from polyolefin, and they come in two main types: woven and nonwoven. Woven wraps use long interlaced strands, similar to cheesecloth. Nonwoven wraps use sho

This year, I set a goal to finally tackle a few long-overdue home efficiency upgrades, and at the top of the list was my attic. If you’re looking for one of the most impactful places to improve your home’s efficiency, start here. It’s not glamorous, but it makes a big difference. If your home has uneven temperatures between rooms, high heating and cooling bills, drafty spaces, or even ice dams in the winter, there’s a good chance your attic is part of the problem. It’s one of

After nearly a decade as a site superintendent, I’ve led countless new home demos and pre-closing walks. I’ve had this conversation with many peers and construction managers over the years, and one area consistently rises to the top as the most challenging: the attic. Whether it’s a single-story or two-story home, attic access is rarely simple. If it’s a scuttle hole, you need the right ladder. If it’s a pull-down stair or small door, it’s still not exactly convenient. The sp