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3398 Washington Road
Atlanta, GA 30344
USA

773.398.5288

Advanced residential construction and home improvement consulting and owner's advocacy in Atlanta, using the latest building performance diagnostic and modeling techniques and tools. Airtightness, insulation, HVAC, ventilation, moisture, and air quality and EMF consulting for homeowners and building professionals alike.

Videos/Podcasts/Articles

Home performance articles and stories from the field with internationally respected building forensics guru Corbett Lunsford at the Building Performance Workshop. Hear new episodes of the Building Performance Podcast, see new videos from the Home Performance YouTube channel, and learn all about how diagnostic testing (more than an 'Energy Audit') can make home improvement and new home construction a proven process!

Filtering by Tag: diy

Brilliant Basic Tools for Building Science: Psychrometric Wheel Calculator

Corbett Lunsford

To predict and prevent humidity problems, use a tool like this Psychrometric Wheel Calculator. Understand more about the relationship between tehmperature and relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dewpoint.

Join our Patreon members for as little as $5 a month: https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

You should be able to find one of these for sale (between $2 and $50): https://www.google.com/search?q=psychrometric+wheel+calculator

How to Start a Mold Investigation Inexpensively: GOT MOLD? DIY Mold Test Kit

Corbett Lunsford

Our friend, longtime mold inspector Jason Earle has developed an affordable DIY kit for renters, teachers, and anyone else who'd like a quick and easy way to spot check for airborne mold. Here's his background with mold exposure from childhood, and what led him to R&D for this valuable monitoring solution. Check out the kits or order one: https://GotMold.com

Building an Affordable Airtight Home: Sheathing Sealed (Will It Work?)

Corbett Lunsford

We got called in to test this before/after on one of Matt Hoots’ projects at Sawhorse in Atlanta (https://sawhorse.net/). It was an interesting blower door test series with some surprising results. Also featuring Tommy Sharp, co-inventor of ThermaCote (https://thermacote.com/). More details on Matt’s channel: https://youtube.com/c/SawHorseDesignBuild Join and help generate more education around the science of homes: https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

Best Place to Put a Bath Exhaust Fan

Corbett Lunsford

From 'Home Diagnosis' Season 2 Episode 9- most bathrooms are not designed for performance, let's admit it. If your mirror gets fogged up, if it takes 30 minutes to exhaust all the steam, if your ceiling drips or your walls have streaks on them, you can do better. Most of this, insanely, has to do with WHERE the bath exhaust fan is located. Here's your quick crash course to help you school all the builders, remodelers, and mechanical engineers in the world.

See the whole episode at: https://homediagnosis.tv/episode-209-opening-the-ice-box-cooling-and-drying

3 Acre Permaculture Design: Species List, Planting Map, Timeline, and Budget

Corbett Lunsford

https://youtu.be/8NyKSkx7yPA

Now that Grace's journey learning the science of landscaping in the mastermind permaculture course Regenerative Backyard Blueprint (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IynM_7gPBfg), and the extensive site visit and measurement process by Shades of Green (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o9YfuWwjko), the final grand plan is ready! Review the species, planting arrangement, timeline and budget ideas for our 3 acre property in Atlanta, GA with Rebecca Baxter of Shades of Green Permaculture.

Check out Shades of Green's mastermind course and their consulting: https://shadesofgreenpermaculture.com/

Learn more about this homestead: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsc2-5fAgMq4YgAoFaG-F6xvGT1MKwt-u

Learn more about our TinyLab: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsc2-5fAgMq51-6Gwm3m7HXjRhgt9X7RK

#shadesofgreenpermaculture #permaculture #permacultureatlanta #growdontmow #pollinators #pollinator #pollinatorgarden #pollinatorfriendly #pollinatorhabitat #pollinatorparade #pollinatorswelcome #pollinatorsandflowers #organicgardening #organicgarden #organicgardener #organicgardeningmethods #organicgardens

When HGTV Starts Copying 'Home Diagnosis'...

Corbett Lunsford

Children Building Homes for No Pay on National Television: Science of Homes for Cable Networks

We shot a pilot episode for the Shark Week version of our show on PBS, and we think this could win awards. Not for science though. For slapstick. Are there awards for that?

Our children ‘design’ and ‘build’ a ‘high performance home’ that we then ‘test’ with ‘scientific diagnostics’ so that we can ‘educate the public’. Including ‘HVAC diagnostics’, ‘comfort analysis’, ‘pressure balancing’, infrared thermal photography, and a ‘blower door test’ that does not bode well.

Central Vacuum System with HEPA Filter: Performance Testing for a Healthy Home

Corbett Lunsford

For our forever home, we chose the NuTone PurePower 650 central vacuum, which I piped, wired, and installed myself (not very difficult, though parts are hard to get ahold of in a hurry, if you run out).

Check out this system, and other Broan-NuTone machines: https://broan-nutone.com/

See the Testo 440 kit I'm using for the diagnostics: https://www.trutechtools.com/Testo-440

The HAVEN central duct system IAQ sensor I flashed to show the effectiveness of the HEPA filter: https://tzoa.com/

Uncomfortable Homes Explained: How Air Sealing, Insulation, HVAC and Thermal Mass Actually Works

Corbett Lunsford

From the upcoming Season Two of 'Home Diagnosis': through a 5-day recording of temperature, humidity, and dewpoint with a datalogger, see the actual performance curves of five built environments on our property. Watch the evolution of primitive to advanced built environments, from an open-air workshop to a lived-in high performance home- the effect of air sealing and insulation alone is pretty incredible when you see it like this.

Become a member and help support this show: http://patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

See more about Home Diagnosis TV series: http://HomeDiagnosis.tv

Lessons Learned Building High Performance Forever Homes: Factory-Built Modular Home & Self-Build DIY

Corbett Lunsford

For the national home performance conference, we presented side-by-side with our longtime friend and collaborator Bill Spohn (https://spohnhome.com/) about our simultaneous building of family forever homes. Pretty different approaches, and yes, this is a long presentation- hope the super nerds out there will enjoy hearing the breakdown.

Find Bill through his company, TruTech Tools: https://TruTechTools.com

How to Install LED Tape Channels and Diffusers

Corbett Lunsford

I had a bear of a time learning the tricks of this inarguably excellent LED tape lighting from Kichler, but only when using channels and diffusers in our highly customized forever home. For any of you who may try the same thing and want to cry, here's some advice.

See this system of LED tape, channels, and diffuser lenses at: http://Kichler.com

The Science Behind Waterproof Bathroom and Shower Tile Installs

Corbett Lunsford

Loads of people have had nightmares with cracked tile or rotting from leaks- but it doesn't have to be that way. There are techniques and tools out there to help you build a 100-year tile bathroom floor and shower. Check out our adventure with the Custom Building Products system in our family's forever home. We demonstrate installation details (and inspection tips) for RedGard membrane and Uncoupling Mat, Multi-Surface Bonding Primer, ProLite mortar and Wonderboard. All lighting you see in our house is from Kichler, by the way, if you love it too.

Become a member and support our work exploring the science of homes: http://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

Learn more about this unique performance-tuned house at: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv/atlanta-homestead

Hire Corbett to consult on your own home: https://buildingperformanceworkshop.com/video-consulting

How to Hotrod a Radon Mitigation System

Corbett Lunsford

We've been looking forward to showing off this system for a long time- the pipes for it were installed during foundation work at the start of construction, and now 2 years later it's finished, with the Fantech Rn4 EC fan (infinitely variable), multiple drainage systems, and a roof cap. Get the details on all the tweaks we had to use to make sure this system runs perfectly, which it's doing right now.

Radon fan at: https://shop.fantech.net/en-US/radon--mitigation--fans/c46856

Wave Plus radon monitor at: https://www.trutechtools.com/AirThings-Wave-Plus-Indoor-Air-Quality-Radon

Pango Wrap at: https://www.stegoindustries.com/products/pango-wrap