Background Time!

The first couple posts in this series are going to show close to the same time, but they actually happened over a few different weeks. Just playing catch up as we start out!

I’ve been doing research for a long time on various things that were very interesting (to me at least) when it came to building. A lot of the research centered around building science. Wikipedia defines building science as: The science and technology-driven collection of knowledge in order to provide better indoor environmental quality, energy-efficient built environments, and occupant comfort and satisfaction. To me this meant looking at the things behind the walls that aren’t sexy or fun, but you rarely every touch again once your house is built. Or, to put it another way, make the ‘bones’ of the house as good as you can…the rest is easier to improve over time. One of the sites I spent a lot of time on was the Building Science Corporation website. They have a lot of great information, and some highly educational (and also, in many cases entertaining) articles by Joseph Lstiburek. For those who don’t know, him, he’s one of the masters of all things building science. (By the way…I knew nothing of any of this or him up until a year or so ago!)

Through the YouTube rabbit holes of looking at building science products, reviews, and just building stuff in general, I ran across a great channel by Matt Risinger and his sister site of Build Show Network. He is a custom home builder down in Austin, Texas. The focus of his channel is building science, craftsmanship, and all around good building practices. He had a good series called the “Real Rebuild” that followed his original design of remodeling a 1970’s house that ended up turning into a tear down and a full rebuild. Following the rebuild process showed me a lot of information about building science, building smarter, and how to practically use some of the things I had read about and researched on my own.


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