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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!
Do you like games? Do you like making people angry? Welcome to Hypermiling, the most unpopular driving technique ever invented. You will get amazingly improved miles per gallon, but you might get punched too. You never know. That's what makes the game so fun.
We found these vents at the International Builders' Show, and were excited to test their performance (partly so that Grace could use her flamethrower). We test the three main types of fire-resistant venting for homes: an intumescent honeycomb vent, a silica vent, and an intumescent baffled vent.
Airflow testing was performed with an airtight box made of plywood and acrylic, using a DU300 fan and DM-32 and DG-8 digital pressure gauges. For the fire, we used a propane weed torch you can get at any hardware store. The chart of our airflow testing shows the square inches of opening inside the metal frames, the airflows, and the pressure drops of all three vents.
For the 'Net Free Vent Area' (NFVA), visit the manufacturers' websites. Brand names of these three vents are Vulcan Vents, Embers Out, and Brandguard. For more on the vents that performed best: https://VulcanVents.com
Watch the first-ever TV series about the science of homes: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv
If the ductwork of an HVAC system is not designed, installed, and maintained properly, your home may start to have problems in comfort, humidity control, dust, noise, and equipment failure. Here's the basics you should understand before asking your HVAC installer or service tech to run static pressure testing. From 'Home Diagnosis' episode 209- watch the whole episode: https://homediagnosis.tv/episode-209-opening-the-ice-box-cooling-and-drying
Join our Patreon membership and get behind the scenes with us making the next season of the show! https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV
Tools used are Retrotec DM-32 gauge and Minneapolis 300 blower door, available at: https://TruTechTools.com
When you build a duct system, if you want it to work correctly you run a tightness test. See how Corbett did on his home’s first of 5 duct systems for different purposes. Using a Retrotec Duc Tester 300 with DM-32 manometer, available at: https://trutechtools.com
Watch the whole episode, and the whole season: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv
Ductwork is more than just supplies and returns- the entire home enclosure is actually part of the ductwork. Here’s a quick demonstration of how to use room arrangements to direct airflow. From Season 2 episode 9 of 'Home Diagnosis' on PBS.
Watch all the episodes for free right now: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv
Become a member and help make this show! https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV
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
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
I've always wanted to go, and am finally learning some new tips and tricks that Mitsubishi puts into their high performance equipment to be a little more ballsy than other manufacturers. See a slice of the innovations in ducted heat pumps, ductless minisplits, testing at extreme environmental conditions, an 11-acre warehouse, a tech support division staffed by HVAC contractors with working demo units and controls, and more. Thanks also to Ryan Burrell who led the technical discussion (and who helped me select the exact Mitsubishi heat pumps that went into our new home).
Thanks to Matt Hoots (https://youtube.com/c/SawhorseDesignBuild) for putting together this trip to Mitsubishi's HQ in Atlanta GA.
Learn more about any of this stuff at: https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/
OBVIOUSLY there's more to it than this, but if you're picking up an IR thermal camera or hiring someone to do it for you to test your home, you need to understand these basics.
We get all our tools (and hope you do too) from the amazing folks at: https://www.trutechtools.com/thermal-imager.html
Watch the first-ever TV series on home performance testing: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv
Join our team and help steer our work! https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV
These days almost anything invisible can be tracked in homes, so that we can pinpoint the cause of problems, and then solve them once and for all. One of my longtime favorite tools is the HOBO datalogger (doesn't stand for anything FYI, the inventor just really liked trains).
These inexpensive modules can test anything you want, and store a month or more of data using only a couple AAA batteries. In this 91st episode of the Building Performance Podcast, hear from HOBO engineer Paul Gannett about the tips, tricks, and inner workings of these critical instruments for tracking temperature, humidity, CO2, light, electrical load, and much more.
Learn more about HOBO dataloggers: https://www.onsetcomp.com/
While on tour making 'Home Diagnosis' Season 3, Grace and Corbett Lunsford visited the water purification experts led by Erik Bernal at Elite Water Systems to check out the new systems they've developed. See the innovations built into their Platinum 1.5 water softener and catalytic carbon filter (which now captures chloramine and can be regenerated), the tankless reverse osmosis system with built in testing of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), and the Titanium whole home filter that delivers up to 10 gallons per minute.
Thanks to Kathy Cabello and Mike Marquez for answering all these questions. See their installation at the Lunsford's forever home: https://youtu.be/PgCg4c5HObc
Learn more about the customizations possible for water purification: https://www.elitewatersystems.com/
Join us and help support the first-ever TV series about the science of homes: https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV
We need your help- with feedback, support, and video content from home disasters! For those who'd like to chip in as little as $5/month, here's where you can join our team: https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV
Watch the upcoming season and meet the sponsors who are stepping up to help keep this first-ever series about the science of homes going: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv/season-3
We are deep into filming Season 3 of Home Diagnosis, and we wanted to let you know where we're at- we've got a bunch of videos in the pipeline. You might not know, but Corbett edits them himself and so we've got a list of more than a dozen that we're gonna have coming your way.
But we wanted to say a special shout out to our Patreon supporters for being involved, and helping us have a team while we're like so deep into the edit.
The truth is making a TV show is not easy. Especially because funding isn't easy.
And even though we have some companies that really love us, just this coming year there's not funding in their budget for the TV show. So the Patreon members are a huge help, both mentally and financially. And we hang out with them every two weeks, so if you want to get more behind the scenes info on what we just did going through the South Central US, and what we're about to do that Grace is putting the finishing touches on in the Pacific Northwest with our family (we're taking all three of our kids), or going to New York, Toronto, the Carolinas, Miami, Nebraska (the middle of Nebraska- wait till you see what's out there, it's crazy)… anyhow there's a lot that's coming up, and there's a lot of costs that are coming up. So again, thank you so much for being on board with us.
Enjoy these little behind-the-scenes from our Texas trip, and if you want in more deeply, please join us at patreon.com/homediagnosistv.
Season 3 is called ‘Accidents Happen’ and we're going to go back and forth between natural disasters and man-made building science disasters- and sometimes even critters.
Last thing: we have put this call out to our Patreon members, as far as individual homes and the stories that get woven into Season 3, but if you are a home performance professional- and that includes pest control by the way- we're looking for more video content that nobody has ever seen before.
So if you have videos of crazy crawl spaces or attics, or animal problems, or mold, or fill in the blank, please do get in touch with us, and we will credit you and include the footage on Home Diagnosis Season 3 if it can be woven into the story.
So thanks for being on the adventure in general with us on this channel and at HomeDiagnosis.tv- make sure that you comment, if you have things to add or questions to ask, like and subscribe, and tune in next time.