BUILDTank / buildCAST

Gary Nelson, cofounder of the Energy Conservatory, is an engineer who turned his attention to residential efficiency in the 1980’s. He is often referred to as the father of the blower door, but did not invent the technology. He did, however, strive to make a blower door that was light, easy to use, accurate, and cheap. Gary’s success fueled his vision to get a blower door into every contractor’s h...

Rick Schultz is the Water Efficiency Supervisor for the Town of Castle Rock Colorado. We spoke regarding some of the impacts that draught conditions are having in the west and what his town is implementing to conserve water that may begin to affect residentiual construction across the country.  Over the past 20 years, an average of 800 single-family homes and 125 multifamily units have been c...

Teal Lehto has honed a short, snappy, and data driven style perfect for Instagram, to explain western water issues in the Colorado river basin. Her Instagram handle is @westernwatergirl. She first got interested in water law and issues in the west while being a raft guide on the Animas River in her hometown of Durango Colorado. You might remember that in August of 2015 the Animas River turned oran...

In this episode of the build CAST , Alan Hubbell the residential marketing leader at Dupont and host of the Dupont Education Hubs, “Residentially Speaking” podcast, joins me for a conversation between two colleagues in the construction industry. Allan Hubbell is a scientist who cut his teeth in industry Managing all facets of operations, maintenance, safety, health, and environmental performance f...

The Marshall Fire has revealed so many questions about home insurance and the process of becoming whole after an sever disaster event. My hope is to have some continuing conversation with people to understand their experiences after a sever disaster event, to better understand how the insurance industry works, maybe what the Colorado or other state Insurance Commissions do, and particularly more a...

The wait for hot water at the tap can last several minutes leading to wasted water, time, money, and energy.  I spoke with Larry Acker, the Chief Technology Officer and inventor at ACT D’mand Kontrol Systems, about how their control system works to eliminate the wait time for water from the hot water heater to the faucet and the waste associated with that wait time. The D’MAND Kontrols® Syste...

Scott Sedam is the Owner and President of True North Development. True North is a training and consulting firm for homebuilders, trade contractors, and suppliers, specializing in applying Lean Methods to the homebuilding industry. Scott likes to say that True North focuses on delighting the customer and removing "waste" . It’s about the value proposition and discovering the benefits that the custo...

Neal Kruis has a Ph. D. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has been developing building energy modeling software since 2007. He is the Vice President of Big Ladder Software and has been contracted as RESNET’s Energy Modeling Director. In addition, Neal has been Chair of RESNET’s Software Consistency Committee since 2018 and is a core developer of the Depart...

The EEBA High Performance Home Summit conference organizers brought together exhibitors that represent the breath of our industry and are available to highlight the new and innovative products and practices that the building industry will use to achieve our goals for high performance homes. In three days of conferencing, we all struggle to pack in presentations and networking which leaves the exhi...

Matt Blomquist is the Building Trades Instructor at Taylorville high school in Illinois and Mike Degitis is the Construction and Applied Math Instructor at Cherry Creek Innovation Campus in Denver Colorado. Although Matt and Mike are located in different states, they are making a difference in the construction industry teaching high school students the importance of the building trades and how wha...

Really Enjoyed the Midwest Building Science Symposium in KC on September 14 and 15th, 2022.  This episode is a quick recap of this event from me and a few of the attendees. Next up is the Southeast Building Science  Symposium OCT 12 & 13, 2022 Midwest Building Science Symposium

In episode #16 of 2022 I spoke with Fred Malik about the Fortified Construction Program. The FORTIFIED construction method is a voluntary construction standard and program designed to help protect homes against sever weather events. Primarily wind driven damage event. FORTIFIED construction was created from decades of research that the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety or ( IBHS )...

Gord Cooke, President of Building Knowledge Canada & Partner at Construction Instruction is one of the most influential building scientists and building science trainers in North America. He has an extraordinary ability to make complex topics understandable and meaningful for his students and clients. It was a pleasure to speak with him and to learn more about Canadian vs. US construction and...

After growing a successfully energy rating company, Lightly Treading. Paul Kriescher managed a merger with PCD Engineering who later merged with Bowman consulting group. Paul now wears two hats. He is the Business development manager and thermal envelope specialist at Bowman Consulting in Colorado and is Executive producer and host of Heat of a building. Heart of a Building is a TV show about crea...

Travis Brungardt of Catalyst Construction has spent more than two decades working professionally in the remodeling and homebuilding industry. He and his partner Joe Cook have brought building science and systems thinking into their company as a foundational principle for how they approach and execute their work building and remodeling homes. This episode explores Travis’s growth as a builder and h...

The FORTIFIED construction method is a voluntary construction standard and program back by decades of research, that roofing contractors and builders can use to help protect their homes against sever weather events. FORTIFIED construction has been created from decades of research that the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety or ( IBHS ) has conducted. Fred Malik is the Managing Direc...

Brett Dillon has worked in the Home Energy Rating Index world for years. In the past as a RESNET board member, he was one of the leaders of the creation of the ANSI 301 standard. The standard lays out the Calculation and Labeling of the Energy Performance of Dwelling and Sleeping Units using an Energy Rating Index. He ran a successful rating company provider-ship under RESNET and now, using the AN...

Moly Butz is the Managing Director of the Structural Building Components Association; she is also the hosts the Lumber connection podcast. The Lumber Connection Podcast focuses on the latest trends in the North American lumber markets. Each week, experts Justin Binning and Ken Timmins, lumber traders with American International Forest Products, provide insight into the latest trends and many facto...

Brian Iverson is the CEO of US Engineered Wood, the manufacturer of the Tstud™ products. He is a character and was a joy to speak with. Brian brought the Tstud™ to market, an Innovation in framing materials that is impacting the energy performance of house and the construction of high-performance homes. Please enjoy this episode of the buildCAST. Brian “Tstud” Iversonon LinkedIn Tstuds™

I have been involved with the development of the IECC since the 2015 code cycle. Traditionally the International Code Council develops construction and public safety codes through a governmental consensus process. For the 2024 IECC and Chapter 11 of the IRC, which is the residential IECC reprinted in the International Residential Code, has changed. An ANSI standard development process and consensu...

Solar Decathlon Build Challenge Teams will compete to earn points by operating their house successfully, and by showcasing the excellence of their solutions to industry expert jurors in the 10 focus areas which include: Architecture, Engineering, Market analysis, Durability and Resiliency, Embodies Environmental impact, Integrated performance, Occupant Experience, Comfort and environmental quality...

To me Mark Willie burst onto the seen during the height of Covid when all kinds of building educational content was being created and distributed through social media. During this time, I learned about BS and Beers, Building Science Fight Club, Delta and rockwool training, and all the folks on Instagram I call the “Instagram builders”. Mark is in the mix of these people that came into my world at...

Sandra Adomatis is an appraiser, consultant, and educator. Her story is one of love which also led her to her work passion, residential appraisals, specifically green appraisals. She has pioneered the art of valuation of the energy and green building features in homes that is behind the drywall. She wrote the first drafts of what, through the help of the Appraisal Institute, became the Residential...

Mark LaLiberte almost needs no introduction to the buildCAST audience. In the world of building science there are a few superhero promoters of doing the right thing in the houses that we build. Mark is definitely one of the Rockstar's. He is President of Construction Instruction, a tremendous educator and speaker and works with nearly 5,000 builders and architects a year. His particular gift is be...

To me, Bill Rose has single handily written the most about historical forensic building science and analysis that explains why we build things the way we do. This historical perspective reveals why we have wrongly and myopically focused on class one vapor retarders to stop vapor diffusion when we should be focusing on vapor transport through air leakage, for example. I feel we can't loose this his...