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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 Category: Homeowner education

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/

Dehumidifiers How/What/Why: Installation and Testing of Ultra-Aire 120H and MD33

Corbett Lunsford

Modern homes need dehumidifiers, separate from the air conditioner. We chose the highest performance units available, Ultra-Aire's 120H and MD33- here we'll give you a full tour of the planning, sizing, installation, and testing of these machines in our performance-tuned, self-built home.

See these two dehumidifiers we selected for our home:
120H - https://www.santa-fe-products.com/product/120h/
MD33 - https://www.santa-fe-products.com/product/ultra-aire-md33/

The Testo 440 kit I use in the video can be found at: https://www.trutechtools.com/Testo-440

See the first-ever TV series about the Science of Homes: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv

How to Design, Install, and Test a Perfect Kitchen Exhaust and Make Up Air System

Corbett Lunsford

Using Fantech's hood liner system (https://www.fantech.net/our-solutions/kitchen/exhaust-air-system/) and active make up air system (https://www.fantech.net/our-solutions/kitchen/makeup-air-systems/) with custom grilles from Stellar Air Vents (https://stellarairdecorativeventcovers.com/), we made our home a test lab for tuning indoor chemistry with state of the art ventilation. Thanks to LBNL’s Brett Singer for helping me get in high gear on this topic.

Get a quick and easy crash course in how your kitchen exhaust should work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y08HOnzafM8

See the first-ever TV show about the science of homes: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv

Become a member and support our work sharing this info: http://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

Training Week in Advanced Home Performance Testing and DET Verifier Certification

Corbett Lunsford

I'm so excited to start training in our new state of the art house! Here are the details on how I'm running live trainings- hope you'll join us. Get in touch if you have any questions, either by commenting below or contacting me directly via this website.

Day 1: Ventilation Design and Installation Techniques (4 hours)

Day 2: Advanced HVAC Diagnostics (4 hours)

Day 3: 1-Day Blower Door and Duct Testing Certification - DET Verifier (8 hours)

Day 4: Advanced Envelope Diagnostics (4 hours)

Save your seat for the upcoming trainings at: http://BuildingPerformanceWorkshop.com/training

Permaculture Prep: Learning the Science of Our Home's Landscaping

Corbett Lunsford

We're about to embark on our next great leap forward in our understanding of the science of homes, with the study of the physics, chemistry, and microbiology of the outdoors. Stick with us as Grace takes a 12-week Mastermind course in understanding permaculture with Atlanta's own Shades of Green (http://ShadesOfGreenPermaculture.com) and starts transforming the system of our outdoor environment for the better. More to come soon.

Join us to support our educational content and get exclusive access to us and our behind-the-scenes life: http://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

How to Make My Home Healthy: Ventilation, Filters, and Dehumidifiers 101

Corbett Lunsford

In this final chapter in our Santa Fe series, we lay out the exact systems of products that you can use to tune your home's chemistry and microbiology. Always important to TEST before you start throwing money and time at a home, and after you think you've solved something, to make sure you're done.

Learn more about Santa Fe and Ultra-Aire systems: http://santa-fe-products.com

How to Install a Ceiling Fan DIY (Fanimation Wrap Custom)

Corbett Lunsford

One of the few truly DIY projects that will improve your home's performance- learn why we picked the fans we did, and how to install them. Model shown is the Fanimation Wrap Custom, but you may find similar features and installation tricks for other brands and models.

Check out the specs on this fan: https://fanimation.com/products/fans/damp-rated/wrap-custom-84/

See the full list of ENERGY STAR Most Efficient products: https://www.energystar.gov/products/most_efficient

Ceiling Fans are HVAC Heroes in High Performance Homes

Corbett Lunsford

See how our forever home's 7 ceiling fans play a pivotal part in our performance-tuned house's HVAC system. The Wrap Custom is among the most efficient fans in the world in 2020 (420 CFM generated per Watt), and they are a silent and beautiful reminder of the invisible dynamics at play around us all day, every day.

See more about these high-efficiency systems: http://Fanimation.com

See the first-ever TV show about the science of homes: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv

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

Installing our Water Filter, Softener, Reverse Osmosis, Blu Beverage Station and Phyn Leak Detection

Corbett Lunsford

With before and after testing, you can see the impressive amount of details that go into this water performance system from our friends at Elite Water Systems (http://www.elitewateroftexas.com/). See the nitty gritty on testing the hardness and chlorine content of tap water, installing the Pentair Pro Elite Analyzer and programming process, the 5-filter Reverse Osmosis (RO) system, brine tanks and the salt options to consider, the Grohe Blu sparkling/chilled water station, and Phyn leak detection.

Headaches of HOMEChem: Chemistry and Microbiology of Homes

Corbett Lunsford

In partnership with Santa Fe Dehumidifiers, we're spreading the word on the intense dynamics going on in homes around the world. I keep it short and sweet in this 45-minute class on indoor chemistry, and you'll learn lots about chemicals, reactions, particles, and microbes, and the relationship to them of humidity and ventilation.

Come train with me in Atlanta, or online: https://buildingperformanceworkshop.com/training

Learn more from Santa Fe and Ultra-Aire: https://www.santa-fe-products.com/about-us/santa-fe-ultra-aire-webinar/

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