EP105 What's a pretty good house with Dan Kolbert and Chris Briley (Dec 2022)

For several years, in southern Maine, a small group of building professionals have been getting together monthly to discuss building science.  

 

Many topics are brought up for discussion: high performance windows, venting cathedral ceilings, moisture migration in wall assemblies, slab on grade details, etc. The conversation is informal and roams a bit.

 

At one of those meetings, one of my guests today, builder, Dan Kolbert, expressed frustration with the status quo, and even more frustration with the various rating systems that had him jumping through many hoops to prove that his work was in fact "green" and energy efficient.  

 

Some find these systems costly in time and money and doing little to advance the project. Rather they are simply certifying them. So Dan simply stated, "I just want to build a pretty good house."

 

That's where this story begins….

 

https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/insulation/is-a-pretty-good-house-good-enough

 

https://www.thebsandbeershow.com/

 

https://www.prettygoodhouse.org/

 

https://www.prettygoodhouse.org/pgh-20

This episode was recorded in December 2022.