Blog

I just spent 2 days digging into the new ComfoAir Q Heat Recovery Ventilator with Gary Baggett. Gary is a super understanding and patient technical expert at Zehnder America. He is also very thorough and the person you want training your team! He’s been downloading information on the intelligence of the ComfoAir Q for several months now.

 The moment they realized why plastic doesn't work as Lid Air Barrier and to use Intello instead PS fireplace box to be under Air Barrier layer as noted in plans ????

When we design ceiling air barriers, we try to keep it simple. Although we know how to do it right. Sometimes we end up on projects where we have to create special situations. Take for example a decorative fireplace that rises up through the roof, or a box light that drops out of the ceiling or really any electrical, lighting, alarm or anything that goes up above the ceiling of a room.

When I was in junior high school, I played some competitive soccer and we had a really cool English coach named Scott.  We called him scooter which he didn't like at first, but he later adored. Well, Scooter told us on the field one day, that when we didn't like what the referee called, we should turn around and blame one of our defensive players named Trey instead.

I opened my water and electric bills simultaneously…needless to say, I was shocked.

Ok, ok…bad joke but it still made me laugh because of the truth in it. And a large part of the reason why the typical homeowner’s heating and AC bills are so high is because of thermal bridges.  There seems to be a need for third-party inspection since the GC, Subcontractor delivery system still requires a babysitter! Here’s what often happens on a build site:

Do you have good baffles? Mainstream reviews hundreds of plan sets every year and I rarely ever see an attic baffle drawn or even talked about in detail. Back in 2011 when we were building Passivista we were greeted with this problem face-to-face because we had to determine how to seal in between the raised-heal trusses. It’s been a while now and I can say I've seen a handful of solutions finally come to the marketplace and I think we’ll consider using them in our specifications.  

 In watching the above video

With Earth Day just around the corner and spring-time allergies inching in, it reminds us of the newly acknowledged 420 holiday. So we thought we’d talk about retrofitting a fresh air system and why our options are the best for the Colorado Climate. For the second time in a row, cannabis sales outpaced alcohol sales in Colorado but it's illegal to consume outside. With the newly acknowledged holiday 420 right around the corner, I'm afraid there will be some smelly buildings!

It’s quickly becoming that time of year again. Spring is inching in, people are planting seeds, kids are getting super excited to be outside, spring skiing, Lent, soccer, Easter, baseball, EARTH DAY and the newest Holiday of All: 420.

We are always ranting about how our ERVs clean up the interior air all the while saving up to 90% of the energy. In our application of the Passive House principles, we replace the bathroom fan with a recovery exhaust duct. We’ve not really discussed how this works, where the bathroom fan does not. It is our opinion that the bathroom fan removes one pollutant while bringing in another.