BUILDTank / buildCAST

Aspen CORE or Community Office for Resource Efficiency located in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley that stretches from Glenwood springs on the I-70 corridor to Aspen Colorado at the base of Independence pass. CORE is a nonprofit whose impact extends beyond just the environment. Their work makes their community healthier and more resilient. They improve air and water quality, leading to better public...

Ian Finlayson is the Deputy Director of Building Codes and Policy at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources’ Energy Efficiency Division.  He has been intimately involved in the development of the Massachusetts statewide energy code that has been tailored to meet the Commonwealth's net-zero carbon 2050 goals. The code emphasizes energy performance rather than simple prescriptive recip...

At ETRO construction they say that “this isn’t just what we do-its who we are,” and that describes Shaun St-Amour to a T.  Shaun is the Manager of Revive at ETRO, a Construction company based in Vancouver British Columbia. Revive is ETRO’s division that focuses on creative, cost-effective strategies to restore, upgrade and modernize buildings and structures for the next generation of owners and te...

Welcome back to my conversation with Ed May. As you may remember, Ed, is a partner at Building Type, a design consulting firm that concentrates on passive house energy modeling and successfully guiding projects to certification and/or just achieving their performance goals. The conversation picks up where we left off discussing how Passive house integrates with code compliance. We also speak to hi...

Welcome to part one of my conversations with Ed May.  Ed, is a partner at Building Type, a design consulting firm that concentrates on passive house energy modeling and successfully guiding projects to certification and/or just achieving their performance goals. Ed’s carrier started as a carpenter/builder who then got his master’s in architecture at Parsons School of Design. These two worlds colli...

My discussion with Doug Hansel of DHP Energy follows his move from being a respiratory therapist to becoming a building science consultant. We begin with work that he has done documenting the R-value of installed insulation and then move into how he has blended respiratory health, indoor environmental air quality and his new passion for building science.  He has created his own Frankenstein ERV sy...

Sean Vo US director of Sales and Partnership and Vanessa Wright Sustainability Manager spoke to me about LEVVEN Electronic, the company they work for.  Interestingly LEVVEN basically sells one product, radio frequency controlled switch that replace normal toggle or dimmer switches in a home and comply with the new 2021 IECC section  R404.2 Interior lighting controls requirement that permanently in...

Nick Burch is the Director of Finance at SASHCO, a family owned and operated business that is celebrating their 90th year of operation this year. Nick got his real start at SASCHCO filling caulking tubes as a baby. As they say, labor laws were less strict in the ’80s, but really, he worked on the floor manufacturing caulks and sealants while growing up. We learn more about Nick and the history of...

Welcome back to Part Two of my conversation with Carl Grimes. Our conversation picks up where we left off explaining more of the five principles and then gets into how Environmental health is impacting the building of homes. Enjoy Hayward Score Healthy Home Director Carl Grimes, has a unique combination of experiences. He has personal experience of the disabling impact of an unhealthy home, and pr...

Hayward Score Healthy Home Director Carl Grimes, has a unique combination of experiences. He has personal experience of the disabling impact of an unhealthy home, and professional experience working in the Indoor Air Quality field. Both these experiences lead him to the Hayword Score where they are helping people live healthier lives by first believing in the negative health experiences they are h...

Ken Nelson is well known as an applied building science and indoor air quality (IAQ) expert at Panasonic North America. Our conversation wandered through the three ventilation strategies and further explained Panasonic’s Oasys System, which I really did not realize is an innovative approach for heating and cooling not just whole house ventilation. Ken is passionate about the subject and seamlessly...

Randy Plumlee specializes in energy code and building performance with SPEER or the South Central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource which is one of six regional Energy Efficiency Organizations. Jason Helm is the CEO for Texas Home Energy Professionals. In this conversation you will hear the three of us debate whether the International Energy Conservation Code requires both Whole Hous...

Bill Rectanus spent the bulk of his career in the world of construction innovation. Seeking out materials and solutions to drive production building to zero energy while being cognizant of cost effectiveness and bottom-line economics. Working for midsize regional production builders in Colorado for the bulk of his career, Bill found his next chapter aligning with Automated Architectural. AUAR as t...

Welcome back to our buildCAST conversation with Rich Truitt, Harford County Maryland Deputy Code Official.  In this second half of our conversation we dive deep into the Approved Third-Party Inspection Agency section that has been expanded and better explained in the 2024 IECC. Through Rich’s experience we see again the good, the bad, the ugly, and the potential future of this relationship between...

At the time of our conversation Rich Truitt worked for Harford County Maryland.  He is now with the Internation Code Council. Rich began his career in the code world as a plan reviewer with Harford County, became the Chief Building Inspector and then served as the Deputy code Official.  I met Rich through our mutual interest in the continual development of the International Energy Conservation Cod...

Unless you have your own company, most of us in the building industry have been laid off.  I was laid off in the early 1990’s and decided to start my own company rather than work for someone else.  Before getting laid off, however, I was exposed to blower door testing and energy modeling through a state of Colorado funded technical assistance program.  I then worked for that State program for a wh...

Kelly Grace  is an accomplished architect based out of Washington DC, and the Managing Principal of Travis Price Architects, an award-winning architecture firm, widely applauded for their visionary aesthetics, informed by ecology, mythology, and technology.    Kelly is known to many as the “NONTOXARCHITECT” on social media, where she shares her advice on material selections, design details, indoor...

Adam Berry, Building Codes Advisor with the Colorado Energy Office spoke with me about Colorados path to its 3rd statewide code.  Following plumbing and electrical the state energy code is a significant step for a home rule state where building codes are normally adopted, amended, and enforced at a jurisdictional level.  In this case, through legislation Colorado has adopted a new Model Low Energy...

David Heslam is the Executive Director of Earth Advantage. A nonprofit based in Portland Oregon that works to ensure the U.S. housing market recognizes the elements of a home that create climate risk and values the characteristics of a homes that provide climate solutions. David spent 15 years designing, building, and remodeling homes in Portland. His award-winning company, Coho Construction Servi...

Graham Davis is a Senior Building Performance Specialist at IBACOS, where he has dedicated the bulk of his career training and coaching large production home builders to understand how to maintain quality and achieve fewer warranty callbacks through focused attention on applied building science. Before joining IBACOS, Graham served as the Senior Technical Advisor at Habitat for Humanity Internatio...

Chris Laumer-Giddens works for his wife Jodi at LG2 Architects. They are both Architects, but Chris’s specific interest in applied building science and high performance has shifted their work from solely providing the architecture for a project to providing performance designs including water management, air tightness, HVAC, efficiency and more. This in turn has led Chris and LG2 to a more integra...

In this conversation I introduce Rachel Wagner as the Impact Driver at Just Housing as that is the professional title she chose in her company, but we seem to have never specifically talked about what that meant to her in our conversation. Now reflecting I see that she is impacting the design and construction industry and driving it toward meaningful and sustaining change.   Rachel sought opportun...

Clint Shireman is the Manager of training and certifications at Knauf Insulation. He works with buildersand installers nationwide, teaching building science, spreading best practices, and building a respected training network. He’s also heavily involved with High-Performance Insulation Professionals, an insulation trade group that’s making good progress towards improving the quality of residential...

In Part 2 Alex speaks to commissioning, what to look for in HVAC design to indicate if there is a problem, and what does it mean to design HVAC system with Heat Pumps vs Gas forced air systems. Alex Meaney on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Mean HVAC⁠ ⁠Mean HVAC Free Stuff:⁠ Articles, Vides, and more ⁠Mean HVAC BS Tools⁠ on the app store

Mean HVAC is the name of Alex’s HVAC training, consulting, and advocacy company. His mission is to elevate the HVAC industry primarily through education and understanding the link between HVAC design and installation and applied building science.  Alex started his career at Wrightsoft.  As you may know Wrightsoft is one of the leading developers of Residential HVAC Design software tools. During hi...