Laliberte Online -- News From the Field

New Building Science DVD Available Now!

2011-05-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

To get your copy now click here.

"Designed for builders, architects, and remodelers, this DVD-ROM shows you how to use the latest tools and techniques of building science to construct comfortable, energy-efficient homes.

Building-science pioneer and world-renowned educator Mark LaLiberte demonstrates a wide range of cutting-edge procedures that are breaking new ground in the evolving world of green building.

With installation videos, special animation, close-up photos, and step-by-step instructions, he gives you six hours of interactive content that will help you design and build the home of the future -- today.

LaLiberte takes you through every step of the process, from choosing the site and building the foundation to heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical systems. Plus there's an entire section dedicated to remodeling. And it's all designed to help you use green strategies to make every aspect of a home perform more efficiently for years to come.

Ideal for supervisors, foremen, and subcontractors, this hands-on reference delivers clear, specific practical information you can use every day on the job. It even includes printable construction drawings, checklists and work forms for on-site use.

With his entertaining style and contagious enthusiasm, Mark LaLiberte will keep you focused from start to finish, while providing lots of new insights you can put to work immediately."

To get your copy now click here.

2011-01-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Construction Instruction - New iPhone/iPad App
-- Building Science for Everyone, Everywhere

I've teamed up with my colleagues Justin Wilson and Gord Cooke to close the gap between manufacturers' innovative products and their implementation in the field.

Construction Instruction (Ci) is a downloadable App for you iPhone or iPad that provides builders and contractors instant and reliable information on products and materials, installation methods, technical data and much more.

Building Science practices anytime, anywhere.

Download Here

Sneak Preview-- New Economy Home

2009-02-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

Some very exciting news: Mark has teamed up with Marianne Cusato reknowned creator of the Katrina Cottage along with housing affordability expert Fernando Pages Ruiz to include proven building science guidelines with Cusato's forthcoming plans for the New Economy Home. We will keep you posted as plans get finalized in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime here's an informative introduction on the Hanley Wood website Builderonline; click here to read the article

Building Science Builds Award Winning Business

2009-02-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

Each year LBM Journal recognizes three companies of different sizes to acknowledge outstanding performance with their annual entrepreneur of the year awards. This year one of Mark’s clients, Parr Lumber of Oregon, has won that honor. Parr Lumber has spent considerable time in the past few years reorganizing and adapting systems to better meet its customers’ needs.

Beginning in 1996 individual store locations were integrated into a single cohesive organization to create supply side efficiencies and a focus on the fundamentals of good material supply. After realizing initial economies of scale, Parr Lumber began to develop strategic marketing services to support their builder customers' success. This unique approach for adding value led to deeper partnership with customers through an initiative called Plant-Based Housing.

By building walls, trusses, and envelope assemblies in a controlled factory environment Parr Lumber was able to increase quality assurance and minimize waste, passing those benefits on to customers. A natural outgrowth of this initiative was to address the technical challenges of ensuring best practices, once adopted, were continued and maintained in the field. Through a partnership with Building Knowledge and under the direction of Mark Laliberte, Parr Lumber launched “Parr High Performance System”.

Introduced in January 2008 the system consists of four key elements: sealing the home against air and moisture; retaining all HVAC duct work in the conditioned air space; using advance framing techniques; and testing the home’s improved efficiency after construction. Builders who use "Parr High Performance System" are able to quickly align themselves with good building science, a better economic value proposition, and homeowner’s demand for green building.

Parr continues to extend their commitment to best practices by identifying environmentally friendly products in a program called “Get Real" that provides detailed information via a website as well as in stores . Under Mark's guidance, Parr Lumber has focused on simplifying the green building concept for builders to make it easy to understand, reliable to build, and a strategic advantage for builders and homeowners alike.

Congratulations to Parr Lumber for applying innovative thinking to create new opportunity in a sluggish market. To read the complete article in LBM Journal click here.

HVAC: Why Tight is Right

2009-01-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

The goal of heating, cooling and ventilating systems is to provide an environment that supports our narrow band of comfort expectations: a conditioned air space with temperatures somewhere between 70 + 71 degrees F and a relative humidity of about 40%.

For an HVAC system to meet these exacting requirements, it is imperative that the building enclosure be tight. Yet if our goal is to improve indoor air quality, reducing the air change rate by building a tight home may seem counter intuitive.

The solution is a properly installed whole house ventilation system to continuously introduce the correct amount of fresh air, and dilute indoor pollutants such as the volatile organic compounds from carpet, stains and furnishings. We also need an effective filtration system to eliminate dust, pollen and other particulates.

Don’t underestimate the importance of correctly sizing the HVAC system. Correct sizing and installation ensures indoor comfort while at the same time saving energy and minimizing the cost of the system itself.

Use Manual J calculations with accurate data obtained by testing the tightness of the house, and by using high quality windows and insulation systems, and employing proper framing techniques.

Correct HVAC installation also requires that the distribution system be carefully sized and that all ducts in conditioned spaces are sealed tightly enough to prevent gasses from unwanted locations like garages and crawl spaces from entering the space.

Last, but not least, there must be simple controls that allow people to interact with the HVAC system to achieve the indoor environment they want.

A properly sized HVAC system, correctly installed, in a weather tight structure, will result in a comfortable, durable, healthy and energy efficient home. A home your customers will love to talk about!

Weather Barriers, HVAC and Energy Use VIDEO

2008-12-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Building a weather tight home helps to ensure the durability and longevity of the structure. It also creates an opportunity for significant energy savings. But does a tight house compromise indoor air quality by restricting fresh air and natural ventilation? In the following short video, I explain how to avoid this predicament.

What's Old is New Again

2008-06-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

I have been consulting with builders and conducting training sessions about building technology for more than twenty years. Much of my time is spent on the road, and I typically visit hundreds of different job sites during the course of a year.

This past May I took a break and traveled for a month through Europe. Though my intent was to NOT think about building science for awhile, I found my eyes were drawn to construction details in every city and village I visited.

What I saw in Europe was a whole different level of craftsmanship than I see on most job sites. It seems that in our endless quest to do everything faster, easier and more efficiently, we have forgotten some basics; like how to build something if you expect it to still be solid and beautiful 300 years from now.

I noticed in my travels through France that one of the largest builders in the US has offices there. Their focus is multi-family track projects, and in Europe they have developed a reputation for high quality construction. I have little doubt that the standards they’ve had to establish to impress their European customers are considerably higher than what’s expected by their U.S. offices.

Masonry sills were a construction detail I noticed again and again. From Holland to France, England to Ireland, whether the house was 3 years old or 400 years old, it was clear that builders knew how to slope for proper drainage. Now I doubt the Europeans have a better understanding of gravity than we do. But they do seem to have more respect for it!

The pictures here illustrate what I’m talking about. They're the sort of details that I saw in new construction and retrofits as well as in buildings that were built 400 years ago.

Look at the slopes on these homes in Amsterdam. Notice the consistent use of rounded corners and pitched sills. In France, I saw several places where pre-sloped masonry sills were installed into the window openings prior to window installation.

One place I have seen this technique used in the U.S., was in masonry home construction in Florida, where CMU’s were used for the first floor walls. Unfortunately, they abandoned this technique once they get to the second floor and switched to wood. At least they got half of it right!

I guess the point here is that we have a choice. We can choose to employ construction methods that demonstrate a high level of engineering prowess, or, we can choose to employ construction methods that we know are destined to fail.

Market Slowdown Sharpens the Focus on Quality

2008-05-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

What interesting times we are living in right now. The housing market is in upheaval and the building industry is wondering how to respond.

Too often, the assumption is that in tough times, lower cost is the only way to move houses. With a glut of houses on the market, lowering the margin on new homes was and is inevitable. But one place I believe we cannot afford to cut expenses is in housing quality.

In the last five or ten years, many of us have made significant gains in housing quality by utilizing good design, careful load calculations, efficient construction practices and innovative materials. These improvements have given us a competitive edge over our competition; an edge that only widens with rising energy costs and the rising expectations of today's better informed home buyers.

So what should be our response to the changing housing market? I maintain that a focus on quality is the best strategy you can pursue. Building better homes is better for our customers, our business and our country.

To all of you who have worked so hard to earn market differentiation through improved quality – only to see price erosion – I say “hold fast”. Find your savings in improved construction efficiencies, reduced callbacks, higher customer referral rates and better marketing, not through reducing quality to find a magic price you think buyers will like. Sell quality and don’t apologize for it!

Production Builders Can Still Be Innovative

2008-01-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

DR Horton is one of the largest builders in the country. I've been working with their Sacramento Division for over 5 years and they are building some of the most innovative housing available. They are also implementing some of the best new marketing ideas I've seen.

A few of their communities qualify for the LEED for Homes Silver designation, one of them meets the American Lung Association Health House criteria, and they all exceed California Title 24 by at least 15%, some by as much as 50%. All their homes also meet Energy Star guidelines. Horton has even created a solar community called Provence, in which every home has a photovoltaic system.

The Sacramento Division is using touch-screen televisions to educate prospective buyers about what they should be looking for in the home-buying process.

Innovation is happening everywhere in the home building business. Regardless of where you are in the housing industry, and how the downturn is affecting you, this division of DR Horton is demonstrating a path to innovation. When the market returns to a better place, they'll be well positioned to capture tomorrow's more knowledgeable, more cautious and more demanding homeowners.

A Better Way to Vent Siding

2008-01-10T15:36:00.000-08:00

Moisture-related problems are appearing more and more frequently in both commercial and residential buildings. It is now being strongly recommended that all exterior claddings be vented off the building to create a better opportunity for drainage and drying to occur.

The usual technique is to install treated plywood battens (as shown above) to create an air space between the cladding and the sheathing. Because these battens are made of treated plywood, they must be installed with stainless fasteners, and they also require installers to handle a chemically-treated product.

Eldorado Battens has an innovative alternative with some significant benefits:

Manufactured from a high quality plastic, they are installed in the same way as wooden battens without the problems associated with the treated product.

The fluted design allows air to circulate behind the cladding both vertically and horizontally. This air movement helps sheathing and cladding dry more quickly.

Because the battens are made of plastic, they won't absorb moisture or rot. They also do not require special fasteners. Just use staples or galvanized nails.

Check out Eldorado Battens. They are addressing a critical construction detail with a lower cost, better performing product.

Artistic Homes Makes a Difference

2008-01-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

Artistic Homes, a high performance home builder in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has decided to take their homes to a new level. The State of New Mexico recently established a new set of tax incentives designed to encourage green building. To date, Artistic Homes is the only builder in the State that's been able to meet the new performance requirements. Doing so, allows them to offer their buyers a more affordable home -- under $250,000 -- as well as tax credits of up to $10,000.

On my last trip to Albuquerque, I spoke with Jerry and Tom Wade, owners of Artistic Homes, about this new opportunity. They were exited that in a tight market, this incentive could make the difference for consumers hoping to buy a new home. It is also motivating that at any price point, it is possible to build a home that is efficient, healthy, safe, durable and affordable to operate and maintain.

The final benefit is to Artistic Homes. These homes have fewer warranty calls and customer satisfaction is high. This will result in higher profits and more referrals. Just smart business. Visit Albuquerque and see what dedication and commitment to quality can do. These guys are doing it right.