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> No, this is Australia. Houses are more like tents than actual buildings. Pre-AC being ubiquitous (or being invented), the way for people to cool off in summe

> No, this is Australia. Houses are more like tents than actual buildings. Pre-AC being ubiquitous (or being invented), the way for people to cool off in summer was to have airflow. Insulation was a more of a cold climate thing, as keeping the heat in / cold out was more intuitive when burning wood or coal: thermal boundaries were more 'needed' when there was snow outside. Having thermal boundaries in your structure didn't make sense when it was as hot inside (due to lack of AC) as it was outside, and it has only been in recent years that people clued into that fact. But unfortunately there's a large stock of housing around that was built pre-clue in. Even now there are people who insist that houses need to "breathe", i.e., have holes / be drafty. They do not: * https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/Myth-A-House-Needs-to-Breathe https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/Myth-A-House-Needs-to-Br... * https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/most-houses-that-breathe-arent-very-comfortable https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/most-houses-tha... * https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/buildings-dont-need-to-breathe https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/buildings-dont-... Buildings need to be as air tight as possible, and be ventilated through mechanical means so that stale air is vented out and fresh air is brought in after being filtered and tempered (via an ERV).

sandworm101 3y ago
>> Buildings need to be as air tight as possible Perhaps in California, Australia or other desert areas. The pacific northwest had major issues when OSB met the concept of "air tight" housing. No airflow in/through walls leads to condensation, mold and collapse of many "engineered" wood products held together with glue.
- throw0101b 3y ago
  > The pacific northwest had major issues when OSB met the concept of "air tight" housing. No airflow in/through walls leads to condensation, mold and collapse of many "engineered" wood products held together with glue. These are not indicators that air tightness is bad, but rather that people don't understand building science. Washington state (for one) has mandated air tightness levels (§R402.4.1.3) and testing (§R402.4.1.2): * https://sbcc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/2021_WSEC_R_1stPrint-1_042623.pdf https://sbcc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/2021_WSEC_R_... Air tight passive houses are built without issues in the US PNW: * https://phnw.org https://phnw.org * https://hammerandhand.com/high-performance/passive-house-builders/ https://hammerandhand.com/high-performance/passive-house-bui... * https://asiri-designs.com/f/how-to-design-an-energy-efficient-home-in-the-pacific-northwest https://asiri-designs.com/f/how-to-design-an-energy-efficien... The province of BC is mandating near-passive house levels of air tightness: * https://www.energyadvisor.pro/airtight-energy-advisor-contact-us/bc-step-code-builders-chart-energy-advisor/ https://www.energyadvisor.pro/airtight-energy-advisor-contac... * https://energystepcode.ca/how-it-works/ https://energystepcode.ca/how-it-works/ * PDF: https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Illustrated-Guide-Achieving-Airtightness.pdf https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Illustrated-Guide-Ach... Build your structure according to how physics works and it will work just as well from the tropics (IECC Zone 1) to the arctic (IECC Zone 8): * https://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-perfect-wall https://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-p... * https://basc.pnnl.gov/images/iecc-climate-zone-map https://basc.pnnl.gov/images/iecc-climate-zone-map Air tightness is coming to building codes everywhere, and if you can't make it work then you shouldn't be building because you are incompetent: * https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-technical/significant-changes-to-air-leakage-in-the-2021-international-energy-conservation-code/ https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-technica...
- Qwertious 3y ago
  You massively overestimate how deserted Australia is. Most of the population of Australia lives in the greener areas near the coast, which has a much more moderate climate. ...also I doubt anyone from e.g. Brisbane would need to be told about mold and condensation.
masklinn 3y ago
> Pre-AC being ubiquitous (or being invented), the way for people to cool off in summer was to have airflow. Modern A/C was invented in 1901, and A/C penetration in Australia is not that far behind the US. But much as in Texas where houses are also made of paper and cardboard, cheap energy has made forcing temps down via AC much simpler (for property developers).

sandworm101 3y ago

>> Buildings need to be as air tight as possible Perhaps in California, Australia or other desert areas. The pacific northwest had major issues when OSB met the concept of "air tight" housing. No airflow in/through walls leads to condensation, mold and collapse of many "engineered" wood products held together with glue.

throw0101b 3y ago
> The pacific northwest had major issues when OSB met the concept of "air tight" housing. No airflow in/through walls leads to condensation, mold and collapse of many "engineered" wood products held together with glue. These are not indicators that air tightness is bad, but rather that people don't understand building science. Washington state (for one) has mandated air tightness levels (§R402.4.1.3) and testing (§R402.4.1.2): * https://sbcc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/2021_WSEC_R_1stPrint-1_042623.pdf https://sbcc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/2021_WSEC_R_... Air tight passive houses are built without issues in the US PNW: * https://phnw.org https://phnw.org * https://hammerandhand.com/high-performance/passive-house-builders/ https://hammerandhand.com/high-performance/passive-house-bui... * https://asiri-designs.com/f/how-to-design-an-energy-efficient-home-in-the-pacific-northwest https://asiri-designs.com/f/how-to-design-an-energy-efficien... The province of BC is mandating near-passive house levels of air tightness: * https://www.energyadvisor.pro/airtight-energy-advisor-contact-us/bc-step-code-builders-chart-energy-advisor/ https://www.energyadvisor.pro/airtight-energy-advisor-contac... * https://energystepcode.ca/how-it-works/ https://energystepcode.ca/how-it-works/ * PDF: https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Illustrated-Guide-Achieving-Airtightness.pdf https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Illustrated-Guide-Ach... Build your structure according to how physics works and it will work just as well from the tropics (IECC Zone 1) to the arctic (IECC Zone 8): * https://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-perfect-wall https://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-p... * https://basc.pnnl.gov/images/iecc-climate-zone-map https://basc.pnnl.gov/images/iecc-climate-zone-map Air tightness is coming to building codes everywhere, and if you can't make it work then you shouldn't be building because you are incompetent: * https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-technical/significant-changes-to-air-leakage-in-the-2021-international-energy-conservation-code/ https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-technica...
Qwertious 3y ago
You massively overestimate how deserted Australia is. Most of the population of Australia lives in the greener areas near the coast, which has a much more moderate climate. ...also I doubt anyone from e.g. Brisbane would need to be told about mold and condensation.

masklinn 3y ago

> Pre-AC being ubiquitous (or being invented), the way for people to cool off in summer was to have airflow. Modern A/C was invented in 1901, and A/C penetration in Australia is not that far behind the US. But much as in Texas where houses are also made of paper and cardboard, cheap energy has made forcing temps down via AC much simpler (for property developers).