4 ms·

It's interesting to me that hacker news likes building-related content so much, which happens to be my education other than... well, computers. Air tightness i

by a1371 4y ago

It's interesting to me that hacker news likes building-related content so much, which happens to be my education other than... well, computers. Air tightness is a critical step forward. I'm glad we are talking about it. Thinking more holistically, I would not go with the double-stud wall. You get lots of thermal bridging, and when it gets cold, your outer studs freeze. I know it's considered a straightforward system, but venturing out of one's comfort zone to do an exterior insulated system has enormous durability and performance benefits. Let's build our homes for centuries, not decades, folks!

willis936 4y ago
Home ownership is a luxury everyone wants. I can't imagine people don't salivate at the idea of a sturdy, comfortable, private nest. The only class of people who can afford it are people with incomes on par with tech workers.
- pc86 4y ago
  Patently untrue.
- bombcar 4y ago
  The national rate of homeownership in the US is 64.8%. That's a hellalotta tech workers.
tejohnso 4y ago
> You get lots of thermal bridging The way they did it with those gussets, it seems so. But I don't think double studded walls always imply more thermal bridging than single stud walls where typically every 16 inches there's a complete thermal bridge. I think the double studded wall has proven its effectiveness. > your outer studs freeze Well if they don't freeze, you're heating them. So I would think the outer studs should freeze. > venturing out of one's comfort zone to do an exterior insulated system has enormous durability and performance benefits Any similarly detailed writeups of this?
- grae_QED 4y ago
  https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-perfect-wall https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-t...
- bombcar 4y ago
  Matt Risigner has some good content on his channel, and he covers the "perfect wall" style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjHOqbJ9ZeQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjHOqbJ9ZeQ It's basically taking the "put the house in an insulated barn, and shrink that barn down until it's the size of the house" plan.
  - Valgrim 4y ago
    Note that the "barn" is NOT to be built airtight, in order to prevent rot in the insulation. (Why most constructions do not follow this pattern I'm not sure, maybe someone could shed light on this for me?)
JacobThreeThree 4y ago
>Let's build our homes for centuries, not decades, folks! I agree with you, but unfortunately the incentives in the system penalize constructing high quality buildings. The higher quality the building, the more taxes you pay.
- vkou 4y ago
  In a world where land is an endlessly appreciating asset, and the house on it is an endless depreciating asset, this can't be a significant concern.
- abathur 4y ago
  Land-value tax :)
zemvpferreira 4y ago
I agree with your main point but it's worth it to point out that air tightness is only a consideration in climates with really cold seasons. I live in a roughly mediterranean region (Lisbon) and it drives me up the wall to see people spend fortunes on passive-haus-like builds. Meanwhile my own home is about 200 years old, built out of stone and lime, has no air tightness whatsoever -in fact it had a 5m2 hole in an exterior wall for most of 2020 and 2021- and I'm perfectly confortable with no environmental heating or cooling. Windows are opened every day of the year. Good design and a good location beat excellent construction any day of the week.

by a1371 4y ago

willis936 4y ago

Home ownership is a luxury everyone wants. I can't imagine people don't salivate at the idea of a sturdy, comfortable, private nest. The only class of people who can afford it are people with incomes on par with tech workers.

pc86 4y ago
Patently untrue.
bombcar 4y ago
The national rate of homeownership in the US is 64.8%. That's a hellalotta tech workers.

tejohnso 4y ago

> You get lots of thermal bridging The way they did it with those gussets, it seems so. But I don't think double studded walls always imply more thermal bridging than single stud walls where typically every 16 inches there's a complete thermal bridge. I think the double studded wall has proven its effectiveness. > your outer studs freeze Well if they don't freeze, you're heating them. So I would think the outer studs should freeze. > venturing out of one's comfort zone to do an exterior insulated system has enormous durability and performance benefits Any similarly detailed writeups of this?

grae_QED 4y ago
https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-perfect-wall https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-t...
bombcar 4y ago
Matt Risigner has some good content on his channel, and he covers the "perfect wall" style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjHOqbJ9ZeQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjHOqbJ9ZeQ It's basically taking the "put the house in an insulated barn, and shrink that barn down until it's the size of the house" plan.
- Valgrim 4y ago
  Note that the "barn" is NOT to be built airtight, in order to prevent rot in the insulation. (Why most constructions do not follow this pattern I'm not sure, maybe someone could shed light on this for me?)

JacobThreeThree 4y ago

>Let's build our homes for centuries, not decades, folks! I agree with you, but unfortunately the incentives in the system penalize constructing high quality buildings. The higher quality the building, the more taxes you pay.

vkou 4y ago
In a world where land is an endlessly appreciating asset, and the house on it is an endless depreciating asset, this can't be a significant concern.
abathur 4y ago
Land-value tax :)

zemvpferreira 4y ago

I agree with your main point but it's worth it to point out that air tightness is only a consideration in climates with really cold seasons. I live in a roughly mediterranean region (Lisbon) and it drives me up the wall to see people spend fortunes on passive-haus-like builds. Meanwhile my own home is about 200 years old, built out of stone and lime, has no air tightness whatsoever -in fact it had a 5m2 hole in an exterior wall for most of 2020 and 2021- and I'm perfectly confortable with no environmental heating or cooling. Windows are opened every day of the year. Good design and a good location beat excellent construction any day of the week.