Thursday, July 03, 2008
at the post office today I picked up a paper from United water, nice to see water conservation made easy...
| Posted by Tad Duby at 11:56 AM |
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
recently I had a client call me that was having trouble with his painter finding a solution for low VOC lacquer to apply to natural wood in a home. the painter was quoting high costs and having to buy huge volumes of product because of availability-here the rest for the story.....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 9:52 AM |
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Thursday, June 12, 2008
We get lots of comments on whether or not to add ventilation in attics in the summer to reduce the attic temperatures, makes sense right?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 6:42 AM |
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Thursday, June 05, 2008
So the federal tax credit for high performance homes ( 50% better than the 2004 IECC-this is higher performance than just energy star ) to the builder will expire on January 1 2009.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 7:31 AM |
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
this had to be the best event I have participated in along time. The place was packed. don't have official numbers yet but you can believe it will be twice as big next year. Planning has already started....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 9:17 PM |
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Friday, May 02, 2008
sorry don't know what happened when I posted. so a new company Dynamic Vent www.dynamicvent.com has invented a new version of crawl space ventilation fans that might solve allot of issues....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:31 PM |
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
April 10 2008 the U.S. senate passed the housing stimulus bill. the provisions adopted by the senate includes:
| Posted by Tad Duby at 10:53 AM |
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Monday, April 21, 2008
I wanted to say Green landscaping, but I think Green is being used for everyones buzz word and there is not allot of definition of what it actually means. this landscape company focuses on healthy, non toxic landscape maintence....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:38 PM |
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Sunday, April 06, 2008
Structural and insulated sheathing? OH-BOY!
| Posted by Tad Duby at 3:46 PM |
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Thursday, March 20, 2008
New product out that looks like a great invention for brick drainage. featured in Eco-Structure March 2008. Total Flash Drainage system looks to solve problems with the inexperience in labor...
| Posted by Tad Duby at 12:57 PM |
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Friday, March 14, 2008
Radiant barriers do they work?.....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:03 PM |
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Saturday, March 08, 2008
LED lighting is coming to a city near you. Technology is changing LED lighting rapidly, as well as incandescent lighting advances that promises higher performance and less energy use than their CFL counterparts that have taken over most of the efficient lighting. Now LED lighting is becoming available and we are starting to see huge advances in technology..
| Posted by Tad Duby at 9:01 AM |
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Saturday, March 01, 2008
Isn't the roof overhang just costing me extra?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 11:04 AM |
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Friday, February 15, 2008
As air quality becomes more of a concern to people, we need to start addressing what to do, and what we should not do in home building and remodeling
| Posted by Tad Duby at 1:23 PM |
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
we got a call from a window manufacturer the other day to test a clients home that was complaining of leaky windows. the owner of the window company had tried for over a year to please the customer, resealed windows, showed them test results (dp ratings-lower the number the better) on and on. Here is why they called us...
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:32 PM |
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Saturday, January 26, 2008
Reading the article in the 2007 volume 4 issue on retrofitting your home the author makes comment on how the green building movement has not made a substantial impact on the improvement of consumption of energy in buildings. I think the Author is referring to the number of new homes compared to the existing home market and the need for improvement. I want to point out the these Green programs have significantly improved the new residential construction practices in our nation.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 11:21 AM |
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Friday, January 04, 2008
January issue of environmental building news www.buildinggreen.com had a great article on the reflective surfaces and cool roofs...
| Posted by Tad Duby at 3:09 PM |
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Thursday, December 20, 2007
20% of all windows leave the factor and leak, the other percentage will leak at some time, and nobody maintains their home like they should. a builder is legally responsible for the home for 10 years for major failures, so why don't we read the instructions?? is it because most of us are men?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:36 PM |
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Remodeling magazine October issue 2007 features in product focus on Benjamin Obdyke rain screen. this is a great product with a proven drainage and bulk water barrier ( not perforated wrap) underneath.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:37 PM |
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Friday, December 07, 2007
do you have a noisy home? wonder why you have so many drywall cracks? why are there frost lines on the outside of your home? why do you have dark lines on the interior of your home? eliminate the thermal bridge and see what happens. how?.....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 3:37 PM |
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Channel two kbci will feature a green remodel on the project green feature airing December 10th, 15th, and 16th.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:22 PM |
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Friday, November 09, 2007
many new products are coming out that are both environmentally friendly and durable. Trex has been the main building material for decks that has made an impact on this area, but new products are coming out as the industry and consumers demand more green durable products.Heartland BioComposites of Torrington Wyoming has commercialized a new breed of composite wood.....
| Posted by Tad Duby at 2:34 PM |
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Friday, November 02, 2007
Think the filter in your HVAC system is there for filtering the air your breath? think again...
| Posted by Tad Duby at 4:27 PM |
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Thursday, October 25, 2007
Energy star more durable? what makes it more durable than the standard code built home? how is this voluntary program changing the way the nations builders build homes? what does the future hold?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 10:09 AM |
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Friday, October 12, 2007
Do not and I repeat do not let someone install tile to your drywall. BAD, BAD, BAD, this ought to be outlawed. more and more builders are turning to paperless drywall for wet areas and the good tile contractors will never put tile on any type of drywall. Here is a recent house I was just in (upper end home) can you say law suit?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:17 PM |
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
Where are the CURB BUSTERS when you need them? I am amazed of the number of homeowners that install curbs or sidewalks with no thought to drainage of the water from the home. Instead of curbs they ought to call them Dams. foundation vent wells, who thinks this is a good idea??
| Posted by Tad Duby at 6:10 PM |
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Friday, September 28, 2007
There are some really great technologies out there on water heaters these days, and one complaint that I have is that the new water heaters do no last. One reason is that people don't maintain them. Do you know you should flush the water heater every year? how many of us really do it? Still we see allot of water heaters with only 6 year warranties. Are there better options out there?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 11:55 AM |
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Saturday, September 22, 2007
I am seeing quite a few basements being added or expanded on older homes, so what should we be concerned about for durability? Should we insulate? should we have drainage? what about the mechanical equipment and air leakage? Vapor barrier?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 1:23 PM |
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
I always hear the phrase "oh Idaho is just behind the rest of the nation" I don't agree. look at the green movement in Idaho! listed in USA today as one of the Leading Green markets, one of the first commercial LEED Platinum buildings, one of the first LEED Gold Homes were built right here in Boise Idaho. I get companies every day that are asking how do they become more green or environmentally friendly. Now we are having out own green Expo!learn more about the event by reading the rest of the blog.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:02 PM |
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Friday, August 31, 2007
EPA has begun to test products for its water sense program, labeling program encourages water efficient products. Water in Idaho is under the gun. We are going to see more requirements in Idaho for water efficient measures. Did you know the average family uses 400 gallons of water each day and toilets represent a whopping 26% of all home indoor water use!!!!
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:42 PM |
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Just confirmed today Jay Story of VP development completed certification on two LEED silver Green built homes off of Latah street in Boise. Turn north on Latah off of Overland and go almost to end of road. VP development is building 5 homes all LEED certified! Press release to come out in next few days!!
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:21 PM |
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Sunday, August 19, 2007
Don't put those chemicals on your yard!! do you know the average homeowner puts more chemicals on their yard per sq ft that farmers, and homeowners are not required to have EPA licenses! There are better ways to maintain your landscape. Zamzows has been helping local Idaho residents do this for over 35 years. In fact have you heard their new commercial? NATURAL!! There are others as well...
| Posted by Tad Duby at 4:10 PM |
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I did some recent retrofit work on a Home Performance with Energy Star improvement a couple weeks ago, and was very impressed by the subcontractor that was referred to us to do the roofing. This was particularly refreshing because of the multiple roofing jobs that I have looked at or consulted on where the roofer was clearly uneducated about proper roof flashing or just did not care. can you do it wrong and not have roof leaks? Yes you can for the first couple years, but eventually it will leak.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 3:41 PM |
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Sunday, August 12, 2007
Correct air flow through your HVAC system? do you know what your problems are with your heating and cooling equipment? do you know if you have the correct air flow through the furnace and across the coils for the HVAC equipment to operate correctly? We tested several furnaces last week in Boise to see what the air flows were, the results were very awakening.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 10:58 AM |
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Green foundations opens it's door in Boise 5242 W Chinden Blvd. go and check it out. Home Depot announcing its environmentally preferred products, lumber suppliers jumping on board. Green is coming to an Idaho city near you. look for many great things happening in Boise.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:57 PM |
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Monday, July 02, 2007
So now you have a home designer that understands the home is specific to the site, climate, existing site considerations, energy efficient and durable, but also needs to accommodate your needs and desires / budget. where do you go now?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 5:22 PM |
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Friday, June 15, 2007
Now that you have a Architect / designer what are the details that should be included?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 9:08 PM |
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Monday, June 04, 2007
So we have a friend that is looking for a home and they just love the floor plan of a homebuilders home. So here they go selecting the largest investment of their lives and starting back wards in the building process. Good luck is all I have got to say. what should they have done? read more
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:41 PM |
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Most of us start with a plan and then pick a site, or have one dictated to us. It should really start with the site and that should dictate the design. So what should you consider in a site?
| Posted by Tad Duby at 8:13 PM |
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
What is happening with Green building and remodeling? Where do I start? Who do I contact? How come everywhere I turn I see advertisements are addressing the environment? read more-
| Posted by Tad Duby at 6:03 PM |
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Thursday, May 03, 2007
Here is what we have corrected in the remodel that was done in the north end. the couple really did all the things right in the Green remodel they were trying to acheive, just the contractor and trades did not pay attention to the details that really make a difference in the health, safety, comfort, and durrability of the home.
| Posted by Tad Duby at 7:35 AM |
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Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Here is a comment on a project that did not involve a design phase meeting up front and what it cost the project. What would it have cost to do a design Charrette (team meeting) to incorporate input f |