I run a small joinery business in Adelaide, South Australia, making traditional style timber windows and doors among other things. I agree to a point on the insulated glass, it’s thermally fantastic but doesn’t last forever. Over here we have high performance laminated glass called comfort plus, which cuts down UV and solar heat transfer almost as effectively as a non coated double glazed unit, it’s great for traditional sash and casement windows. I wonder if there’s a similar product in the US?
We need to put different building designs into separate contexts. To take your Sunday Shot to achieve a constantly low blower door score, then you can't have fireplaces. Your ventahood has to have supply and exhaust with positively sealing doors, and your home has to have a mechanical ventilation system. With all of that in place, you can score the below zero blower door scores. Start raising the number for fireplaces or open ventahoods, etc. In other words, you have to design to the level of efficiency you require for your client.
And let's not even bring up FRESH AIR! It's all relative. The problem we are facing now are the conflicting standards. Even within the IRC, the rules conflict, for example, gas piping. The old rule used to be that you couldn't run a gas line anywhere you couldn't put your nose on it. That wasn't very practical so then they said, well you can run it in the wall cavity, but you have to overbore the penetrating hole in the top plate to allow gas to pass thru so that 1) it doesn't create a bomb potential within the wall cavity, and 2) it escapes and hopefully someone will eventually smell the mercaptans. I could live with that. Fast forward to 2018 and now the fire code says you must have fire blocking (which has been around for quite a while), PLUS you must use a fire retardant sealant and seal off that overbored hole around the gas line that could potentially allow a fire to pass through! Hello!?!? Which one you want??? Answer? Get with the inspector and see which way he's leaning. The real answer is that someone at the IRC needs to take charge and eliminate the ambiguity.
Richard, read section N1109.1 (and others) of the Texas Residential Building Code to see how it affects you and the work you are doing to your home.
I run a small joinery business in Adelaide, South Australia, making traditional style timber windows and doors among other things. I agree to a point on the insulated glass, it’s thermally fantastic but doesn’t last forever. Over here we have high performance laminated glass called comfort plus, which cuts down UV and solar heat transfer almost as effectively as a non coated double glazed unit, it’s great for traditional sash and casement windows. I wonder if there’s a similar product in the US?
Would live to see Austin Tunnell from Building Culture on here.
*love
We need to put different building designs into separate contexts. To take your Sunday Shot to achieve a constantly low blower door score, then you can't have fireplaces. Your ventahood has to have supply and exhaust with positively sealing doors, and your home has to have a mechanical ventilation system. With all of that in place, you can score the below zero blower door scores. Start raising the number for fireplaces or open ventahoods, etc. In other words, you have to design to the level of efficiency you require for your client.
And let's not even bring up FRESH AIR! It's all relative. The problem we are facing now are the conflicting standards. Even within the IRC, the rules conflict, for example, gas piping. The old rule used to be that you couldn't run a gas line anywhere you couldn't put your nose on it. That wasn't very practical so then they said, well you can run it in the wall cavity, but you have to overbore the penetrating hole in the top plate to allow gas to pass thru so that 1) it doesn't create a bomb potential within the wall cavity, and 2) it escapes and hopefully someone will eventually smell the mercaptans. I could live with that. Fast forward to 2018 and now the fire code says you must have fire blocking (which has been around for quite a while), PLUS you must use a fire retardant sealant and seal off that overbored hole around the gas line that could potentially allow a fire to pass through! Hello!?!? Which one you want??? Answer? Get with the inspector and see which way he's leaning. The real answer is that someone at the IRC needs to take charge and eliminate the ambiguity.