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Atlanta, GA
773.398.5288
corbett@buildingperformanceworkshop.com
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.
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!
Welcome to Corbett's oldest basement, a 1798 Boston dual-level nature space complete with open soil, trees, cobblestones, and magical feelings. Home performance is always about solving problems and minimizing risk, and this old house has no problem dealing with the basement's risk without any help at all- so far.
Building forensics guru Corbett Lunsford didn't need to test this furnace filter to know it's wrong. Homeowners play an integral part of their own family's air quality and health, and making sure the filtration system is taken care of is super duper important!
Sounds like a caveman tool, but it's actually the height of technology. I think this might be my favorite futuristic development of the 21st century so far. Take that, Apple!
Basically, when you're testing the air tightness of new construction multifamily buildings, you'll be moving fast and light (ideally), and getting your testing tools very, very dirty. It's a construction site. So why not rig up a toolkit that fits the purpose? Like a bucket, for example?
Today Corbett talks with Richard Beyer, a consumer who lived through a bad spray foam installation and now advocates for spray foam training and licensing.
For more episodes or to download this one, subscribe on iTunes or at http://BuildingPerformancePodcast.com
Performance testing guru Corbett Lunsford shows you how to find the grille K-factor for every supply register in the house, by using a CFM measuring device like a passive flow hood on just one. Learn to use a $500 large vane anemometer to the fullest by pairing it with a bigger, more expensive instrument selectively.
Tools shown are Testo 417 large vane anemometer and TSI residential flow hood.
In this home performance testing video, Corbett demonstrates advanced air leakage testing using zonal pressure diagnostics and a pressure pan. Learn how to get more out of your blower door with no extra investment in test equipment, how to interpret the data, and what to do about it during home improvement or new construction optimization. In the second video, Corbett clarifies his use of percentage-based interpretations of zonal pressure diagnostics, after several respected home performance pros had technical challenges for the method used.
Oh Guru of Home Performance,
Would you shed some light on the intricacies of auditing manufactured homes?? I have an audit to do on a 17 year old mobile home- I will do a blower door test with infrared... other than the walkthrough assessment and evaluating the duct-work, checking the underneath for the insulation quality, and what else possibly could be tested?
Thank you! Sincerely,
Kevin J.
Hi Kevin-
Thanks for reaching out! If you keep your head in the 4-3-2-1 space (see below) and listen to the client’s pain (comfort/EE/air quality), then use testing to pinpoint the opportunities for improvement, it’s the same as analyzing any other type of building. Your approach sounds solid, and I’d use any other diagnostics to solve the client’s specific pain points. Think about what Motivational Metrics you can use to help your client take action with solutions.
Use my book Home Performance Diagnostics to help you perform any tests that seem applicable to pinpointing the cause and proving the measured home improvement.
Best of luck, and TAKE PICTURES AND DOCUMENT YOUR PROCESS SO YOU CAN WRITE A COOL ARTICLE ABOUT IT! Have a great weekend.
Looking Forward,
Corbett
In his monthly tour of a building forensics investigation of a home's performance, Corbett shows how the problems of a new home can be measured, prioritized, and improved. Measured home improvement is the name of the game, even with a 6-month old house.
Today Corbett talks with Chris Dorsi, founder of the Habitat X Thinktank, about the state of performance-based building in Europe and what the construction industry needs next. *Listeners get a whopping $675 discount off Habitat X registration until June 15 by using code Corbett375.
For all other episodes, or more on this one, check it out on iTunes (or wherever you get your podcasts) and at: BuildingPerformancePodcast.com
Today Corbett talks with Peter Troast of Energy Circle, who was just awarded the 2015 BPI Tony Woods Award at ACI National Conference. Peter runs the websites of over 300 home performance contractors, and so may have the best view of how performance-based business in the 21st century is actually working.
For more episodes, or to download this one, subscribe on iTunes or visit BuildingPerformancePodcast.com
Seriously, I challenge the world to throw down another video that uses infrared thermography that's slicker than this one! Any guesses on how we created it? HINT: You have to know a bit about thermal cameras to think through this technically.
Hi Corbett,
Besides being fun and cool, can the Flir ONE infrared camera be helpful in assessing wall cavity insulation, attic insulation consistency or detect air leakage in a home, with or without the aid of a blower door? I'm a general contractor and I'd like to get an inexpensive IR camera- what are your thoughts on this matter?
thanks so much,
Matt
Hey there Matt-
Thanks for writing! The short answer is a big fat NO- any pocket infrared camera has very low resolution, and while they're great at demonstrating the simple fact of heat fluctuations, I wouldn’t trust it for QC and inspection of homes. The resolution on a Flir ONE is 80 x 60- that means, incredibly, there are 5,400 infrared thermometers embedded in it, but that's not enough to give you a clear, colorful picture most of the time. See here, in these three images taken of a big bunch of flowers, using the Flir ONE, a Fluke TiR110, and a Testo 885.
Flir ONE flowers: 80 x 60
Fluke TiR110 flowers: 160 x 120
Testo 885 flowers: 320 x 240
While the Flir ONE's 5,400 sensors (80 x 60) are assisted for clarity by combining with the visual camera's outlines, you can see that the Fluke TiR110's 19,200 sensors (160 x 120) mean four times as much resolution! And the winner here is the Testo 885's 76,800 sensors (320 x 240), which give your eyes the clearest picture yet- that means this >$10,000 camcorder-style infrared camera has almost 15 times as many sensors as the Flir ONE. That being said, bang-for-the-buck-wise, I got my ONE for $250, 1/40th the price of the big mother. That's a good deal.
I carry the Flir ONE in my pocket, where it stays connected to my iPhone 24/7 so I can shoot infrared photos of whatever is cool on a daily basis. The Fluke TiR110 I take on all my building forensics jobs. And the Testo 885 I'm using to shoot a high-def video in infrared. Each has its own special uses.
Here's another example of the resolution and 'color pop' difference when you're choosing an infrared camera: the wire shelves in my oven...
Flir ONE oven: 80 x 60
Fluke TiR110 oven: 160 x 120
Testo 885 oven: 320 x 240
The wire supports are almost completely invisible in the Flir ONE's 80 x 60 resolution, even WITH the added outlines from the visual camera. You get more resolution and snap in the other two cameras, again with an obvious winner in the 320 x 240 resolution. And by the way, anytime you use the infrared camera for home performance testing, you should DEFINITELY always use a blower door to reveal the air leakage- otherwise, you're at the whim of stack effect, wind, and HVAC pressurizations.
I hope this helps with your decision- being a building performance analysis ninja means having the right equipment, and there's probably a reason why the nice tools don't get carried around with you everywhere (hint: $10,000)- that's why it's nice to have a range, if you can swing it!
To find out more about how to use infrared to understand home performance, watch this: