Friday Video – Blower Door Basics & Weatherization Training

So it is no secret that my career path has changed a little over a year ago from design and producing construction documents for projects ranging from home additions/renovations to multi-million dollar commercial and institutional buildings.  These days I am performing home energy audits and have been involved heavily in the weatherization industry, as I feel this is a good fit to keep me sharp and give me great field experience with building science issues that I can take back to the architecture profession if I ever decide to return to a traditional design firm.

During my conversations with customers I am always telling them it was an easy transition into the job because I am already knowledgeable of construction techniques and building science.  I just needed training on the equipment and testing procedures.  So for those that are interested in home energy audits, here is a great video on the basics of blower door testing that was produced by the Montana Weatherization Training Center.  Over the past year, they have produced a whole series of videos on their WXtv site, featuring different aspects of the energy auditing and home weatherization industry.

Check out the Montana Weatherization Training Centers WXtv to view more great videos geared towards training the weatherization industry.

Our work isn’t always sexy

Is it Form Follows Function, or Function Follows Form?  As designers and architects we are taught that design or more specifically aesthetics are an important aspect of the job.  However good design is not always a priority, or should I say what we consider to be good design.

Twitter PostA picture and comment posted on twitter reminded me of that.  It sparked a conversation with John Morefield (@Arch5cents) of Architecture 5¢, he is quick to remind us we don’t work for sexy, we work for our clients.  And that is what makes our job difficult.  What is not aesthetically pleasing to our trained eyes may be beautiful to our clients.  After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  With each project we spend lots of time with our clients to personalize their home, and at times it can be hard to not get personally attached to the project because you have made some sort of personal connection with that person, couple, or family.   So we have to remind ourselves that every aspect of our job is about design, we are designing our clients new way of life and it goes way beyond the exterior facade.  We design spaces, solve problems and in general improve our clients way of life by accommodating their needs and wants.

Now I don’t claim to be a strong designer, nor do I have a style.  My style is what the clients’ style or needs are; I solve the problem handed to me.  And sometimes aesthetics takes a back seat to budgets, programming needs and site constraints.  Again, we as designers may not be satisfied by the final solution, but in the end, if the clients life has been improved and they are happy, then it was a successful project.

View more photos of this project on our facebook page.


Performing QA/QC Inspections

After a little more than six months with Conservation Services Group and 245 home energy audits under my belt, my role is changing a little.  I am now exclusively doing Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) inspections for the next couple of months.  I will be following up on the contractors that are performing work for the Columbia Gas of Ohio Home Performance Solutions program to ensure that they are air sealing and insulating the homes properly and to at least the home energy auditors recommended levels.  Also true to the BPI standards, as part of the QA/QC inspection, I am re-performing the worst case draft test to ensure that all of the atmospheric burning equipment is still drafting properly and not back drafting due to the tighter home that was created.

So now I go from performing two home energy audits a day to 4 QA/QC inspections a day.  Let me tell you, it is a lot dirtier of a job than standard audits.  Climbing through freshly installed cellulose insulation looking for ceiling penetrations verifying if any air sealing work was done if the blower door results don’t show what the contractor claimed or they did not meet the minimum reduction for time charged.

Performing these QA/QC inspections is only going to improve the quality of my home energy audits in the long run.  Because I have always felt I lacked experience in the home weatherization industry when it comes to the final installed product.  Therefore now that I am seeing how things are installed, properly and improperly.  I will be even more specific with my notes to ensure they seal penetrations and install the insulation as I would expect them to.

So as the heat begins to rise, the pace picks up and I am sure I will hear from some hot contractors.  This time not because I am enforcing LEED requirements, but because they are defending the quality of work.  So let’s bring on the heat and new experience.

-Josh-