Author: Matthew Cutler-Welsh
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How to Become a Certified Passive House Professional
Are you interested in becoming a Certified Passive House Designer, Consultant or Tradesperson? It’s a tough road that usually includes a challenging exam. But I for one would like a world where there are more Passive House Professionals. Here’s how to do it. Certified Passive House Training My brain feels stuffed with fluffy insulation. I’ve…
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185: What is Airtightness and Why do we Need it?
The topic of airtightness keeps coming up. Derek Ward of Clioma House shared his thoughts on the topic back in episode 103 and Jon Davies of Pro Clima went into some detail in episode 163. This episode is a reading of a presentation I prepared recently on the topic of airtightness, why we’re scared of…
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184: From Rocket Science to Building Science
Rocket science is so complicated it’s a cliche. But Jason Quinn, New Zealand’s only current Passive House Certifier, considers the science of high performance buildings to be on par, or perhaps even trickier than the science of designing rocket engines. It’s all physics, just applied in a different way. After a first career working for…
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183: Living in Your Own Passive House
It’s been a six year journey and now Ben Adam-Smith and his family are enjoying their very own Passive House. Ben’s background is professional radio and video production. During the past few years he’s put these skills to use producing podcasts and videos to showcase other people’s building projects. House Planning Help In 2012 Ben…
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181: Hütt – Tomorrow’s House Today
Felicity and Marc Bernstein met at architecture school in Germany and have been working together since. During the last twenty years they’ve worked in Germany, Arabia and Australia. They now want to use modular design to bring high performance, zero-carbon homes to the masses. Felicity and Marc have recently launched Hütt – Tomorrow’s House Today…
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180: Why Adding Insulation Causes Moisture Issues in Buildings
When Prof. Dr. Hartwig Künzel was studying Chemical Engineering, his father was a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute. Hartwig followed in his father’s footsteps after becoming interested in the preservation of heritage buildings. He soon discovered that he could apply his engineering training to diagnosing the moisture problems that occurred after buildings were insulated.
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179: Why managing moisture is so important for indoor air quality
Terry Brennan literally wrote the book on managing moisture for improved indoor air quality. He is a lead author of a landmark 2013 Environmental Protection Agency book titled “Moisture Control for Building Design, Construction and Maintenance” which has since become a standard reference document in the industry in the US.
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178: Cutting Edge Craftsmanship
In the early 1800s there was a rapid migration westward across the United States of America. Newer, faster ways of building were needed to house people in the booming towns of the “early west”. The craft of careful timber framed construction quickly gave way to mass production of stick frame housing. Tedd Benson refers to…
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177 Could Homestar be the PR Boost that Sustainable Building Needs?
In episode 145 I spoke with Dennis Dowling of DCD (Dowling Construction & Development). In episode 177, I talk with Annabelle Numaguchi who has a PR and marketing background and is now part of the DCD team. Annabelle has assessed a spectrum of homes, from 6-9 Homestar, thus far. Why did Annabelle become a Homestar…
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176: The Enemies of Ugly
Arrow Timber Framing are self-proclaimed ‘enemies of ugly” and their portfolio of beautiful hybrid timber-framed buildings is a testament to that philosophy. May 2020 Update: Check out the Arrow Timber newsletter here. Bert Sarkinnen has been building homes since he was 16, firstly alongside his Father who was also his teacher and mentor. Along the…