Wow, what a day. Just spent it at Joe Lstirburek’s traveling comedy show and building science class, put on by the AIA. Ask me anything. Now I know the answer.
Was a skeptic before. Not now. That guy is smart. And funny. And offensive, which is closely related to being funny.
Anyone else seen him live?
Low-e storm panels improve the energy efficiency of these old sash windows without changing their classic look.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
You didn't invite me!?!?!
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Didn't know you'd want to go--sorry!
He has SOOO called me Francis . . . <g>
I really needed a good aia boondoggle this year . . .
A useful one? Whoodathunk it?Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Saw him maybe 5 years ago at a cold climate confrence in Anchorage Alaska. I gotta agree with you, smart, funny and offensive in a funny way. He sure made the conservative people uptight.
He gave a keynote speech one day, where he laid out a chronaogical (sp) listing of all the errors building scientists made in "improving" homes (i.e. destroying). It was real entertaining and enlighting, but also bothered me greatly. Some building scientist comes up with a great idea that ends up harming a house and or it's occupants. I really did appriciate (sp) his honesty and candor. Made me very slow to jump on the bandwagon
I saaw him 6-7 years ago. Definitely worth the time.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Equal opportunity offender. Made fun of himself and other engineers, and any other group he could get away with and a few he probably shouldn't have. Bet he throws good parties.
I liked his introduction, where he does a timeline of how R-value has improved over time...from R2 in old Irish stone houses, to R8-10 in some early Industrial Revolution-era buildings...to 1.5 in some glass curtain-wall LEED-certified buildings today. He had plenty of ire for the LEED system.
I FINALLY have a grasp, I almost did before but it's more solid now, about how to deal with air and vapor along with rain and thermal protection. Back in the 50's they actually had a pretty darn good system, with Kraft-faced fiberglass inside, plywood and tarpaper outside. What's become popular since then, osb and tyvek outside, poly sheeting inside, is not a good system. I didn't realize how low osb's perm value was--with a vapor retarder inside, moisture gets trapped inside the wall cavity.
Not to say I agree with him on everything. He talked about roof assemblies, and said that although a hot roof is fine in Boston, because of the difference in our snow load it's not ok in Maine. For most of Maine he's probably right, but here on the southern Maine coast our weather is very similar to Boston's so I don't see why what works there wouldn't work here.
He's going on the road with Dr. John Straube and will be in many major cities over the next few months. The two-day seminar is expensive but from what I saw it's probably worth it.
What would he say about what happens here in everything built at the high end of the market, that being PU sprayfoamed hot roofs?
We've a 90 psf ground snow load design criteria, and a winter design temp of -35F.
Well, it's hard to absorb everything he knows in one day, but from what I learned I would say that he would like the fact that it's PU, as it's closed cell and blocks both air and vapor.
With 12 inches or so (I forget the exact R-value) you'd have R60, which would keep the roof surface below freezing, which would keep the snow on the roof from melting, which would prevent ice damming. I imagine you're not insulating to R60 though.
Of course every house is different. He suggested on cut-up roofs to essentially build a hot roof, then furr out with 2x's and another layer of sheathing to keep the roof surface cold.
He had some examples from the mountaintop ski lodge at Aspen, which might be a similar climate to yours. IIRC it was a hot roof. The problem was that at the bottom of the roof it extended out as an uninsulated porch roof. The snow would melt on the porch roof and start melting the snow above, causing mini-avalanches.
You might ask a question on Buildingscience.com. He played down all his pay-for-service deals and said if you aren't in a big rush, just post a question and it will probably get answered.
Sorry' a little off topic here but
Joe is a Canadian eh!
Have a good day
CLiffy
Yah, he's a hoser, eh? What do ya think aboot that?
I think that is great. As well I think basketball, ardox nails, the robertson screw, insulin, Rick Mercer, Steve Nash, Justin Morneau, Neil Young, Sanford Flemming, Mike Meyers and real beer are great too! Of course Hockey rules! Sorry I got a little carried away.
Have a great day
Cliffy
I was with you up till the beer. We've got better beer over here.
Unibreau is pretty good though.
Isn't your beer like 2 percent? When I lived in Sault Ontario, you could get a 24 for 7 bucks across the river in Soo MI.
This buds for you!
Have a good day
Cliffy
Nah, at a microbrewery you can get it up to 9% I think. Just not bottled in stores, where the limit is lower, 7% I think. I don't care for super high alcohol content anyway--I'd rather have more great tasting beer.
BTW, I'm not talking about Bud or Coors or Busch or other crap like that. There are tons of small outfits here making great, tasty beers.
I actually don't even drink beer, but I like to have a few on hand for guests. I have not bought a Canadian beer for a few years. Right now I have Genessee in my bar fridge. Is it any good? I don't want to insult any guests, especially with the Stanely Cup Finals just around the corner. Speaking of hockey, the Mainiacs are in the Memorial Cup this week in Vancouver.
Have a good day
CLiffy
I've never had Genessee, but what I turned up on a quick Google search makes it sounds like it certainly wouldn't offend anybody.
Go Mainiacs!
Mike, I was there. It surprised me how funny he was and didn't care who he offended. I suppose when you know your stuff like he does you can get away with it. He was definitely worth seeing.
Are you an architect? I though I was the only carpenter/contractor type there.
Mike, I am a carpenter/contractor in Portland. There was a bunch of carpenters there. Dan Kolbert told me about it, and he was there with some of his crew. I was there with another carpenter also.
I wonder if Lstiburek knew there were so many non-architects there. He asked about engineers but not contractors. Not that I felt slighted, it was the AIA putting it on, but it may have changed his approach a bit.
Do you work for yourself? I work for Fine Lines Construction out of Yarmouth.
I've been on my own for a little over 5 years now. I do a lot of condo conversions and renovations in Portland. All my work is referrals and repeat customers.Before that I worked for Scott Martin Builder out of N. Yarmouth. We did a lot of Anastos and Nadeau houses (framing, roofing & siding).Lstibureck busted on architects quite a bit. He probably would have busted on carpenters more if he knew we were there.
Edited 5/21/2007 5:55 am ET by Kbuilder
In Texas we call him "Steebrook"
Here is a link to a Lstiburek Video
http://www.bestofbuildingscience.com/
you may have to resize your window to pick the "videos" button, The Lstiburek video may be in the last half of the Videos list. Betsy Pettit (Joe's wife) videos are just as excellent..John Straube is very good too.
Edited 5/17/2007 8:01 pm by homedesign