Green Homes News

Question about roof ventilation for a garage with house partially above it. For the 10' gable at the front, ridge ventilation could be added but not the back 16' as…

Dear GBA Crew,We're building an elevated single family home in Brooklyn, NY, climate zone 4A, humid, subtropical, FEMA A Zone,  about a quarter mile from NY Harbor.  Per NYC code…

I am in the insulation phase of an addition project to my house and ran into a question regarding the daylight basement insulation. The below grade walls are furred out…

A dehumidifier produces heat. A heat pump water heater consumes heat. They're a pretty good match for each other when you put them in the same room, because they kind…

HiI’m having new windows installed at my home in Omaha, NE (zone 5A). I’m an amateur DIY’er, but I’ve never installed windows before so my contractor is doing the installs.…

We are building a house near St. Paul MN and we have a double wall consisting of 8" SIP panels with Neopor GPS on the outside (R40) and a 2x4…

Building an outdoor sauna with therm mod siding over a rain screen.  My question is about attaching the furring strips. I will be using 1/2" by 3" furring strips over…

I was going to use hurricane ties for roof trusses on my workshop. They're not required by code, but I figured for about $100 in materials, why not? The framer…

GBA's new editor tries to prove he's up for the job (spoiler alert: he is).

In this article by Martin Holladay from 2017 https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/insulation/exterior-rigid-foam-thin (see attached image), he shows a diagram with R19 batt and min R 11.25 outside with the dew point landing in…

These questions may seem very nit-picky, but I want to finish this project right.I have a relatively large steel building (zone 4) that will partially be used for "living" space. …

Thank you in advance for reading my wall of text below.I'm currently in the process of re-finishing the poured concrete basement in my 1979 Southern New Hampshire home. The basement…

Hi all, I’m installing European style flangeless windows (in the middle of the wall) and my plan is to prep the RO with a beveled sill (only the portion under the…

Hi AllI have searched extensively online, and I feel the following would be the best strategy to have a good air and water sealed "middie" windows in my planned thick…

Hello I live in Los Angeles, Inglewood to be precise. Our house was built in 1940 and had a gas furnace. We are in the process of putting in a…

Hello I just came across a project that listed Zip R for sheathing, and then flash & batt in the cavity in a Zone 4A application. I have never come…

Good afternoon! I'm an architect looking for a sanity check on this load calc and equipment selection for my own house before pulling the trigger on a furnace to cold…

Hi! Long time lurker who's excited to make better use of this great resource. We are in the process of slowly updating/renovating a 1000 sq/ft 1980's ranch-style home in Midcoast…

With 1x4 studs 5/8" & CDX sheathing, should we place the 1/2" PT furring strips on the location of the studs or (roughly) midway between the studs?Siding will be 1x6…

I took down an 150 year old barn and rebuilding to a livable space. Im not sure what to do about vapor barrier. Since beams and old siding are up…