3 ms·
I know you only said "partially by efficiency", but the other part is pretty important. another goal of sealing the building is to align the moisture and therma
by leetcrew 6y ago
I know you only said "partially by efficiency", but the other part is pretty important. another goal of sealing the building is to align the moisture and thermal barriers with each other. this is important, because this is how you control humidity inside the envelope. in theory, this makes it much less likely that you get mold, rot, etc. if you're going to heat/cool your house at all, you really don't want heated inside air getting cooled down in the winter or warm outside air getting cooled in the summer. if you have significant passive ventilation, you don't really have a moisture or thermal barrier.
- Spooky23 6y agoAgreed — I was trying to capture a lot in a small space without being hand-wavy. (Not sure if I succeeded) My big “beef” is that assumptions that require active, intelligent building management and maintenance have their own risks. These are hard to quantify and thus discounted. Case in point: I worked for a decade in a building with professional management and all sorts of efficiency programs where chronic issues like a leaking roof were ignored for 30 years. In theory, the HVAC did a great job of moisture control. In reality, there was 3 feet of water on the roof. (Water wins) Point being, budgets drive suboptimal behavior. In my personal case, my house was designed with features that permit user-controlled airflow and thermal flow. It has modern windows, enhanced attic ventilation, etc that improve performance. Many buildings are not and are dependent on active ventilation to be livable or mold-free.