"Moldy basement"

Moldy basement / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Crawl spaces

How to insulate crawlspaces properly as part of renovating an older home

Crawlspace insulation - be careful to get it right A crawlspace comes with all the downsides of a basement, but it is just too low a space to be functional either beyond the folded plastic christmas tree and a couple of boxes of baubles. Unless there is a good reason for it, going through the process of pouring a footi...

Healthy indoor air quality

Why you should never Install air-con in a home with a vapor barrier

...moldy walls So here's a little known fact that most HVAC installers won't tell a potential new client for central air; Polyethylene vapor barriers in combination with air conditioning in homes can rot walls because of the condensation they may cause. This is why if you have a newer home with a vapor barrier, you may be...

Basements

Best practices for basement insulation in new home construction

...basements are typically under-insulated or not insulated at all, and if they are, they almost always trap moisture within wall assemblies. This leads to preventable mold growth and rotting in basement walls - often caused by interstitial condensation. The following basement insulation techniques listed here are designe...

Concept and design

Do Earthships work in cold climates?

...basement with exterior foam insulation. Unfortunately for many Earthship owners around the world, including insulation in the design was a revelation that only occurred to Reynolds after 30 years of telling people they didn't need it. Reynolds describes the addition of insulation as 'turbo-charging' the Earthship, and...