OVERVIEW
The building envelope protects us from the elements, enables comfort, and ultimately allows us to be at home in our houses, to be productive at the office, to learn in school, or to heal in the hospital.
A building envelope—also commonly called a "building enclosure," should:
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support comfort
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manage moisture
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not poison us or the planet
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allow us to breathe clean air
When possible, it should do all this while using resources effectively—durably, energy-efficiently, and with low embodied impacts.
Here you’ll find strategies for envelope design and material selection that help balance all these demands and more.
IN-DEPTH
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Installing Insulation With the X-Floc Ventilated Dry Injection System
March 8, 2018Blog Post
X-Floc claims the blowing equipment they use delivers cellulose at a more consistent density, and they were willing to prove it with this demonstration.
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Fundamentals of High Performance Building Assemblies
Report/Course/Study Guide/Live Webinar
BuildingGreen's four-part course, designed for architects and builders, provides methodologies for how best to design and manage these details and achieve superior performance—while avoiding expensive pitfalls.
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The BuildingGreen Guide to Insulation
Report/Course/Study Guide/Live Webinar
The BuildingGreen Guide to Insulation provides detailed guidance on insulation products and practices, including cost comparisons and detailed recommendations on what insulation to use, and what to avoid.
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Mind the Gaps: Making Existing Buildings More Airtight
July 25, 2017Feature Article
Leaky building enclosures create health hazards, comfort problems, and high energy bills. Fixing them isn’t rocket science; but you’d better know your building science.
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How Six Affordable Housing Projects Got to Green
October 6, 2017Feature Short
Stories of designers and developers who overcame the challenges of building affordable housing that is also green, sustainable, and healthy.
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Glass Façade with Vacuum Insulation
October 6, 2017Product Review
Sedak’s Isomax system incorporates vacuum insulated panels into insulated glazing units to create thin glass façades with improved thermal performance.
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SonicLQ: Reconnecting Acoustics and Airtightness
September 7, 2017Blog Post
Early on in our work on energy-efficient homes, the connection between airtightness and sound centered on airport noise; now a new technology reconnects acoustics and air leakage
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Pete’s Puzzle: Mold on Painted Clapboards is Food for Thought
August 29, 2017Blog Post
There is mold on the factory-primed, latex top-coated wood clapboards on the south but not the north side of our house
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A New Halogen-Free Polyiso Insulation from GAF
August 2, 2017Product Review
GAF now offers a full line of polyisocyanurate foam insulation that is free of toxic halogenated flame retardants.
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New York State Launches Initiative to Scale Net-Zero Retrofits
July 25, 2017News Brief
The state has budgeted $30 million to develop a self-sufficient, private sector-based market for deep energy retrofits of multifamily buildings.
