Energy-Smart Details
These construction drawings illustrate the details that make houses more durable, comfortable, and energy efficient.
Inefficient homes not only incur high energy costs, they also waste energy. To help you reduce your energy bills, we’ve assembled a handy collection of Energy-Smart Details covering ice dam prevention, basement insulation retrofits, and more. Whether you’re designing a new home or retrofitting an existing one, these tips and solutions will help you achieve an energy efficient home.
Browse the slideshow below for some of our favorite details.
Or visit our entire collection of Energy-Smart Details to get a better understanding of building science and high-performance home building.
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How to Seal 4 Hidden Air Leaks in Your House
Although you can’t see them, air-leaks there, and they are costing you money. In this article, you’ll learn what the four hidden air leaks in you house are and how to seal them.
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Contributing editor Martin Holladay offers seven principles for windows in a hot climate, demonstrates two retrofit methods—shed roofs and sunscreens—and shows how to get the flashing details right.
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Ice dams are a sign of an inefficient house. Here are some tips to help prevent them.
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An Unvented, Superinsulated Roof
In this Energy Smart Details article we tackle the best way to approach building an unvented, superinsulated roof.
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Leaky homes waste a lot of energy, but airtight houses can control energy losses. These energy smart tips will help you build a tight house with redundant air barriers.
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4 Options for Shear Bracing Foam-Sheathed Walls
When rigid-foam sheathing is installed on the exterior of framed walls it raises potential problems. Seeing as rigid foam isn’t structural, how are the walls braced to prevent racking? Here are at least five ways to brace a foam-sheathed wall.
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Flashing Windows in Rain-Screen Walls
It’s important to consider fastidious window-flashing details before you raise the walls of any house. Although foam sheathing and furring strips can make a wall thicker, you need to make sure the sill can drain and the head is tight.
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Finished basements are a great way to add living space to a house without adding on. When finishing a basement, it pays to consider moisture management, air sealing, and insulation.
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Rigid Foam on the Roof and Walls
In cold climates, warm, humid interior air can leak through wall penetrations and form a layer of frost on the interior side of the wall sheathing. Learn how adding rigid-foam insulation on the exterior side can increase R-value and prevent condensation.
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Frost-Protected Shallow Foundations
These energy smart details will help you build a tight house with a warm floor.
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Installing a window is tricky; especially when every window is part of your home’s air barrier. Here are some energy smart details to help install airtight windows.
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Although the attic floor is the most important place in a house to air-seal, it’s also important to air-seal the basement. This Energy-Smart Details article outlines the places in a basement where cold air is most likely to leak in during the winter, and he provides suggestions on the best ways to seal these areas.
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Double-stud walls are a low-tech way to create highly energy-efficient walls with common materials and familiar assemblies.
