It's easy to augment your existing windows to keep the heat in better, but some "window attachments" are better than others.
Try this little perceptual experiment now: look at yourself in a mirror (or your computer or phone camera). Then look at your left eye, and then your right eye, and then back and forth several times. What do you see?
If someone else is around, ask them to look at you, and look back and forth between your eyes.
There are good ways to modify windows to prevent too much solar gain in the summer.
A few weeks ago I told a story in this space that was third-hand from Gordon Hayward. Well, a lot changed in the telling, and Gordon got back to me with what really happened.
Three aunts of a young man from Dorchester, Mass., came up to celebrate his graduation from a Vermont boarding school. They asked Gordon how anyone here ever slept at night: it was so dark and quiet that none of them got a wink. They thought there were at least three bears outside.
Most of us approach poorly performing old windows with a step-by-step exploration from one less-than-optimal fix to the next. Improving existing window performance shouldn't be that way, and it doesn't have to with new online resources.
Why isn't construction rebounding more? What is wrong with borrowing to get out of the Great Recession?
[Editor's note: This the tenth and final piece in a set of reflections by Vermont builder Robert Riversong. Links to the other nine articles are below. Enjoy, and let us know what you think! – Tristan Roberts]
As Massachusetts investigates the causes of three house fires that ignited while insulation contractors were installing spray polyurethane foam (SPF), observers ask if SPF is being demonized.
As an insulation product, spray polyurethane foam (SPF) has many great attributes that we've talked about on this website: easy installation in irregular locations, air barrier qualities, and moisture management potential.
Water moves in, on, and through buildings through the following four paths.
Poetry used to be memorized, not written down, and handed from bard to bard, memory to memory, down through the generations. Perhaps folks out there have memorized poems back when schools taught such things, or for personal interest.
Not counting things I have written, I know only one poem by memory, written by David McCord. As proof, I will recite it for you here.
Epitaph on a Waiter
By and by
God caught his eye.
LifeLine CS is chemical resistant and won't support bacteria growth.
[Editor's note: Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder, continues his 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns. Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]
There's already been a lot of excellent debate around the new LEED Pilot Credit 43. I find myself agreeing with both sides! Here's where I stand in what may be the eye of the storm.
[Editor's note: Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder, continues his 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns. Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]
I am going to go out on a limb here, but I would bet that sometime in the last 24 hours you have received a marketing message centered around how "green," how "environmentally friendly," or (if it's really serious), how "sustainable" something is.
