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

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

Preview Screening: 'Home Diagnosis' TV Series Season 2 (National Home Performance Conference 2021)

Watch excerpts and Q&A with Grace and Corbett Lunsford, creators of the first-ever television series about the science of homes (or building science, or high performance, or diagnostic analysis, whatever you may like to call it).

For participants at the National Home Performance Conference in April 2021, 35 minutes of scenes from the upcoming 13-epidode season were aired and explained in the greater context of this very exciting milestone for the high performance building industry.

BECOME A SUPPORTER and help us make this show: http://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

See more about the show at: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv

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

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)

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

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

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

How to Design and Install Kitchen Exhaust and Make Up Air Ventilation (Case Study)

Another installment in a series with Healthy Indoors Magazine (http://HealthyIndoors.com) follows the real-life, gritty planning and installation of the make up air system in a 1950's ranch over a crawlspace. The goal here is to install effective ventilation for the kitchen range with an exhaust hood AND make up air that will hopefully be the path of least resistance. We're using a Broan exhaust hood paired with an Aprilaire KV make up air damper, or an 8144NC (in an experimental application, as explained in the video). This house is not airtight by any means, and some might think make up air is overkill in an older home, but obviously we disagree enough to suffer through this.

Learn more about making your home healthier at: http://HealthyIndoors.com

Become a member and support our work educating people about the Science of Homes: http://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

Get training or consulting with Corbett directly: http://BuildingPerformanceWorkshop.com

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

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

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

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

Hands-On Training in Building Science at our Atlanta School

Welcome to the training center of our dreams! In this multi-use space at our newly-constructed high performance home in Atlanta’s College Park neighborhood, we’re hosting professional and DIY crowds who want to get hands on with the science of homes: design, installation, and testing.

Come learn about diagnostics, ventilation, air tightness, HVAC, ductwork, blower door testing, infrared thermal photography, moisture investigation, and much more in this state-of-the-art contaminant controlled room. Our balanced Energy Recovery Ventilation system, HEPA filtration loop, and dedicated dehumidifier all work with stellar airtightness and insulation to create a clean, quiet classroom only 5 minutes from the busiest airport in the world.

Check out our upcoming courses: https://BuildingPerformanceWorkshop.com/training

First Blower Door and Duct Testing Certification Trainings

Our first 8 newly certified DET Verifiers came through our brand new training center at our home in Atlanta! It was a thrill, honestly, since I haven’t given any in-person trainings in over a year (like most trainers). Everyone passed their certification exams, which doesn’t always happen- they have to earn 80% on both written and hands-on exams with the equipment, and do a bunch of geometry calculations that we all forgot since high school.

They all totally rocked the use of the blower door and duct tightness tester, and are ready to rock the houses in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Alabama (no joke, that’s where all these folks work). Super happy also that we didn’t have a bunch of last minute registrations, which used to be the bane of my existence. Sold out weeks ahead of time- very grateful!

A few class stats:

Furthest Traveled: Nashville, TN (thanks DocAir for sending 3 of your crew!)

Funniest Pandemic Hobby: breeding fish

Funniest Place to Keep a Calculator: chest pocket of bib overalls

Number of 100% scores on exam: 2 (25%)