I just read Peter Troast’s transcript of Dr. Joe Lstiburek’s Building Science Summer Camp 2013 and always good for banter and if not cutting edge then at least cutting in witticisms. I wanted to take up a few points in the interview to expand on:
Q: Are blower door tests necessary?
Joe: Never. You always ask the question: What is the purpose of the test? If the outcome of the test is not gonna change what your course of action is, then it’s unnecessary to do the test in the first place… It’s incredibly stupid, in the world of automobile manufacturing, to build cars and then test every one at the conclusion. So the point is, you use a tool like the blower door to develop the right process, and then execute the process. The blower door is useful to develop the process and to train those who will execute the process, but it’s a waste of time once the process is established.
BGG: In new construction and Deep Energy Retrofits, air tightness tests can change the outcome dramatically, but you have to test BEFORE the drywall goes on so that repairs can be made to the building envelope. Our builders and renovators get a lot of value out of a pre-drywall air tightness test so we know blower door testing is ABSOLUTELY necessary on each new house or DER.
Let’s break down the car analogy. A car sells for $20G and is always built in a factory to a standard usually based on ISO9000. Cars and their parts have rigorous quality assurance and quality controls in order to CONSISTENTLY produce the same high quality product; not so with houses built in Ontario.
Compare that to a house that sells for 25x more, is assembled in the field, with trades of varying training and experience in inclement weather with great urgency and the analogy breaks down. Further most cars last 15 years but a house should have a useful life 10x that of a car. I would only agree with the good Doctor’s suggestion if the builder and their trades were experienced and had an established track record meeting the maximum air leakage threshold every time. Besides, a $350 test on a $800,000 home is chump-change and until all hands on construction site are trained in Building Science (see below) and implement ISO9000-like standard practices this is the only performance test that’s done on a house. Money well spent we say.
Q: Is Passive House legitimate, or a distraction?
Joe: It’s not a distraction. It’s the place where real innovation is happening. And why? Because I think they’ve embraced all the people that everyone else has tried to pigeonhole.
BGG: We agree, Passive House the place where real innovation is happening. Its happening right here in Canada, from Natalie Leonard selling Passive Homes like hot cakes in Nova Scotia to Lyndon Than busting his brain on creative experiments with his soon to be completed Passive House in Toronto, to the good work builder Ed Marion is doing in Oakville to the excellent engineering work of young guru like Stewart Fix and his mentor Dr. Russell Richman, one of the very few academics with a trained lens on residential both new and Deep Energy Retrofits. It was announced there will be a rapprochement between PHIUS and Building Science Corp as PHIUS develops its climate specific strategy.
Q: Why is building science important for people who build houses?
Joe: Because when you get it wrong, the consequences can be catastrophic. You can die. You can get sick. You can get very uncomfortable. They can come and take your house away and sell your children. What drives a good part of the industry is risk mitigation, failure… if you get it wrong, there are consequences for it. We have two things we do in this group: we try to do good things, but even more important is preventing the bad things. And in preventing the bad things, we do the good things.
BGG: We totally agree – all hands on a construction site should be trained in the principles of building science.
Q: How does a young person or an old person, someone who is interested in getting into the building science world, get started?
Joe: The same way a lot of us did. Find a mentor. That’s how it’s done.
BGG: By coincidence, Shervin and I both had the same mentor and we just met up with him for lunch this summer in Elora. Don Eaton has trained a generation of building scientist with his infectious enthusiasm and deep understanding of the subject mater. Thank you Don.
We recently caught up with our mentor – Don Eaton – this past summer. The backdrop is the Elora Gorge in the quaint town of Elora Ontario.