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Hidden Costs of Traditional Home Construction

This week, we are starting a series of blogs exploring the many hidden costs of traditional building construction. In this first post, let’s look at energy efficiency. Thermal cameras show heat loss Using an infrared camera (also known as thermal imaging camera), it’s easy to see the heat lost through a building’s walls and roof.…
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Typical home framing techniques

Why is actual R-Value different from advertised R-Value?   The photo above is from a newly built (2024) home in my neighborhood. The builder used very typical home framing techniques; nearly all homes built in Colorado are framed this way. Notice all the wood (studs, header, blocking), window and framing, and electrical boxes – all…
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Real-world heat transfer

In the last three weeks we have briefly discussed the three mechanisms for heat transfer: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation. This week we’ll wrap up the topic of heat transfer by examining how the three types work together in the real world. Hypothetical Home I’ve modeled a hypothetical house that would have used typical construction techniques…
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Radiation Heat Transfer

Recall that there are three types of heat transfer: Conduction, which we covered two weeks ago, Convection, that we covered last week, and Radiation – the subject of this week’s blog. Although, Radiation has a bad reputation, associated with nuclear power plants or worse with nuclear bombs. Radiation isn’t necessarily bad, we are all exposed…
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Convection Heat Transfer

Last week I introduced the three heat transfer mechanisms: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation and performed a deep dive into Conduction heat transfer. This week I want to continue that discussion by going deeper into Convection. First, let’s define convection heat transfer. Convection is heat transfer through a moving fluid. Note: Liquids and gases are considered…
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Translate R-Value to dollars & cents

Last week I discussed R-Value and what it means, this week I want to expand on that discussion by explaining how R-Value directly translates into your heating and cooling bill. But first we need to understand how heat flows from one place to another. There are three heat transfer mechanisms; Conduction, Convection, and Radiation. All…
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R-Value: What is it? What does it mean? Why do I care?

Most people have an intuitive understanding of R-Value, maybe they’ve seen or heard the term in advertising, and know that it is somehow connected with the energy efficiency of their home. But what does the R-Value measure, what do those numbers in the advertising mean, and why should you care? WHAT IS R-VALUE? First, what…
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