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BUILDTank / buildCAST

BUILDTank / buildCAST

By Robby Schwarz

At BuildTank, a pragmatic building think tank, our mission is to use what we learn applying building science to affect meaningful change in the construction industry. The BUILDCast is the next step. Through conversations, we will learn something new from our guests’ story that could be the catalyst to take sustainable buildings to mainstream building. We will concentrate on the “story”. No two second intro, instead a deep dive into life experiences that create interesting lives and ultimately move our industry forward. Join me and learn something new from each conversation.

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#17-2021 Corbett Lunsford & His Building Performance Workshop

BUILDTank / buildCASTSep 13, 2021

00:00
01:04:40
#7-2024 Devon Tilly – The Art of Construction a platform that is bring people together in the construction industry

#7-2024 Devon Tilly – The Art of Construction a platform that is bring people together in the construction industry

Devon Tilly is a visionary who sought me out to partner on a deep dive series on his Art of Construction podcast. He speaks often about platforms and master facilitators, and it took me quite some time to better understand that he is a big thinker whose objective is to bring the construction community together. Platforms can be companies, networking groups, like BS and Beer Metro Denver that I started, or other such organizations that are the catalyst that bring people together to effect change and move an industry forward. Master facilitators are those individuals that help lead the way to creating dynamic synergistic outcomes when people are brought together around a common interest.

There are four parts to this deep dive series, but only edited versions of episodes 3 and 4 are included here, largely Because episode 1 is an interview of me and episode 2 is about a larger commercial efficiency program.  Episodes 3 and 4 give us a better understanding of Devon and his goal of building a master facilitator community as well as discussing some interesting building science around windows and heat pumps.  

Links to Full unedited versions of each podcast can be found in the show notes

Loosely Devon’s Art of Construction deep dive series revolved around BS and Beer Metro Denver. But in reality, BS and Beer is only a platform that brings together lifelong learners who turn out to be the master facilitators affecting change in the construction industry.  I see now the journey that Devon took me on as cohost on these podcast and am thankful that I had the opportunity to take it with him.

Devon Tilly on LinkedIn

Mountain View Windows

The Art of Construction

Deep Dive Series Episode 1: Foundations in Building Science

Deep Dive Series Episode 2: Energize Denver

Deep Dive Series Episode 3: LIVE BS + Beer Q&A

Deep Dive Series Episode 4: Building science in action, with heat pumps

Mar 24, 202401:28:50
#4-2024 BUILDcast-FOCUSED (Navien Hydro-Furnace)
Mar 20, 202408:48
#3-2024 BUILDcast - FOCUSED (10 Minutes on the Federal tax Credits)
Mar 15, 202409:53
#6-2024 Robert Tino Sonora Clinical Professor of Finance and adjunct professor of economics at the College of Business, University of Montana

#6-2024 Robert Tino Sonora Clinical Professor of Finance and adjunct professor of economics at the College of Business, University of Montana

Mar 10, 202401:12:20
#5- 2024 Enrico Bonilauri – A report on the performance of 12 Building Standards

#5- 2024 Enrico Bonilauri – A report on the performance of 12 Building Standards

There is no doubt that Enrico Bonilauri is a passionate advocate for performance based Passive House construction. He has recently researched and publishing a white paper report comparing twelve building standards used in the United States which concludes that current building codes and building programs fail to deliver resilient and healthy buildings for their occupants.

His conclusions are the result of modeling 50 homes to determine the minimum compliance requirements in each of the twelve building standards using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) software.

Enrico boils his thoughts down to why Passive House performance-based construction should be widely adopted by stating in his paper that, “… one of the greatest challenges the American construction industry faces is to start setting specific goals to how a building performs. That is, instead of setting prescriptive requirements for individual building components.”

We see all the time that builders just want to be told what to do prescriptively, if instead, we concentrated on what we must do to perform would we be in a better place?  I don’t know but we will figure it out together through my conversation with Enrico Bonilauri of Emu Passive.

Enrico Bonilauri on Linkedin

Emu Passive Report on Building Standards

Emu Passive Report on Building Standards YouTube

EMU Passive Building Science

Ice Box Challenge

ANSI/ASHRAE STANDARD 228, STANDARD METHOD OF EVALUATING ZERO NET ENERGY AND ZERO NET CARBON BUILDING PERFORMANCE

Feb 25, 202401:01:46
#4 – 2024 Kohta Ueno from Mentee to Mentor
Feb 13, 202458:18
#3-2024 BUILDcast Focused: Short, Concentrated, Informative
Feb 07, 202405:49
#2-2024 BUILDcast-FOCUSED: 9 minutes with Martin Holladay
Feb 02, 202410:46
#3 – 2024 Paul Raymer – The Renaissance Man of Building Science

#3 – 2024 Paul Raymer – The Renaissance Man of Building Science

Paul Raymer comes from a long line of inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. He’s added writing to the mix, and has published 4 novels, three of which follow his protagonist, Jon Megquire’s, trials with buildings and murder, and three handbooks, including the residential ventilation handbook, that give one the information needed to select and install appropriate ventilation systems for any home.

Paul’s not an engineer, but he has the mind of one. Taking a correspondence course in consumer electronics launched his entrepreneurial and inventing carrier. He’s started several companies and invented and developed a wide array of products in a number of different industries. Around the time of the oil embargo in the late 1970s, Paul was swept into the magic of building science when he moved into an old inn on Cape Cod that needed a lot of work and a lot of energy to keep warm.  He has become an expert in ventilation and is currently working with the consulting firm ICF and the EPA’s Indoor airPLUS program.

I think writing is Paul’s real passion, however, so I put a link in the show notes to all his books. He says that “Writing is the transfer of information and ideas.  It is like writing music or painting, photography, or any other art.  The right words can create sounds or smells or images or people.  It weaves together the magic of imagination in other human minds.


Paul Raymer on LinkedIn

Paul Raymer books, blog, and more:

ASHRAE Standard 62.2. - Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings

Indoor airPLUS

RESNET ANSI Standard 380

Jan 29, 202450:42
#1-2024 BUILDcast /FOCUSED: short and sweet info for you
Jan 20, 202404:18
#2-2024 Martin Holladay - a self-made building scientist
Jan 14, 202401:07:09
#1 - 2024 Pat Huelman, a career in Building Science Education and Research
Jan 01, 202458:11
#26 -2023 Ken Levenson Executive Director at The Passive House Network
Dec 18, 202357:06
#25 -2023 Lisa White Associate Director PHIUS on all things PHIUS
Dec 04, 202356:19
#24 -2023 Ross Trethewey Principal Te2 Engineering. Making HVAC design understandable.
Nov 20, 202301:00:54
#23-2023 DOE’s Building America Solution Center and the Building Science Advisor

#23-2023 DOE’s Building America Solution Center and the Building Science Advisor

The Building America Solution Center grew out of the Department of Energy’s Building America Program. A Program that has been a source of innovations in residential building energy efficiency and performance for over 25 years. The Building America Program leverages cutting-edge building science research to develop the solutions and best practices needed to advance energy efficiency in the homes we are building today.

The Solution Center is the platform the Department of Energy is using to disseminate and provide access to the expert information on hundreds of high-performance construction topics, including applied building science, air sealing and insulation, HVAC, windows, indoor air quality, and much more. Recently the Solution Center added the Building Science Advisor which is a no-cost, web-based tool that provides expert guidance on the moisture durability and energy efficiency of new and retrofit wall assembly designs. The Building Science Advisor helps teach building science principles and can inform residential building designers, builders, engineers, and students of building science, on how to specify energy-efficient, moisture-durable wall systems, with a simple, intuitive user-interface. The tool leverages expert knowledge and a database of thousands of pre-simulated hygrothermal models to provide rapid feedback and expert guidance on wall assembly design, tailored to your specific climate zone. If you use this simple modeling tool you can fail fast and move forward quickly while limiting risk exposure and increasing cost effective design.

It was a pleasure speaking with the national lab team of experts that help bring this tool forward for our collective use and who guided me through their carrier pathway as well as us through the Building Solution Center and specifically the Building Science Advisor tool.

Building America Solution Center

Building Science Advisor

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Washington State University


Nov 19, 202301:09:12
#22-2023 Todd Usher Addison Homes – Builder, Professor, Energy Rater
Oct 22, 202354:23
#21 -2003 Bill Spohn President and CEO of TruTech Tools
Oct 09, 202345:18
#20 -2003 Matt Everson Defining the damage, a builder’s guide to Insurance scope of loss reports.

#20 -2003 Matt Everson Defining the damage, a builder’s guide to Insurance scope of loss reports.

A Scope of Loss Report is the insurance industry term for an estimate of the rebuilding cost of a lost house due to a severe event like fire, hurricane, or tornado. It does not reflect the cost of the house that will be rebuilt. It reflects rebuilding the specific house that was lost, exactly as it was, to the current building codes. The goal of which is so that the insurance industry knows what to payout based on the policy that was purchased.

BW Builder was created in the aftermath of the Tubbs wildfire in 2017. Matt Everson and his partner Bill Wallace saw that insurance companies counted on the fact that disaster victims couldn't find a good way to report their losses and collect the insurance they deserved. Insurance companies also don’t define how these losses must be reported, yet they rely on the disaster victim to report the loss themselves.  

Regardless of being underinsured a policy holder is due the full amount of their policy, not 70 or 80% of the policy value, which is on average what is being paid out. So, BW Builders began creating accurate scope of loss reports for property owners who must demonstrate the value of their loss. These estimates are incredibly detailed, down to the number of nails used, and are not created in the typical way that a builder prices building a house, yet builders are in the unique position of having accurate knowledge of the cost of construction in their specific market. 

Through technical innovations and a desire to help, not further harm, Matt and Bill provide estimates at a fraction of the cost of the typical private insurance adjuster. They are now getting the word out on how to do this work. They are actively recruiting other builders to use the systems they developed to help disaster victims recoup what they deserve from the insurance industry to rebuild their communities.


Matt Everson on LinkedIn

BW Builders

Article - Santa Rosa firm helps wildfire victims navigate battles with insurance companies.

Article - Colorado Division of Insurance releases underinsurance estimates for Marshall Fire homeowners

United Policyholders

Sep 25, 202301:05:15
#19 -2003 Steve Baczek bridging between architecture and sound building science.
Sep 10, 202301:07:21
#18 -2003 United Policy Holders, Marshall Fire, Natural Disasters, and the disaster of dealing with insurance.
Aug 28, 202301:09:20
#17 -2023 Dr. Diana Fisler at the crossroads of building technology innovation and market adoption
Aug 13, 202301:08:45
2023 - #16 Craig Maierhofer Vice President of Business Development at Alpen High Performance Products AKA All things High- Performance Windows
Jul 31, 202301:06:44
2023 - #15 - Pamela Bookstein, if you are not talking about it, you’re giving it away.

2023 - #15 - Pamela Bookstein, if you are not talking about it, you’re giving it away.

Jul 17, 202359:46
2023 - #14 Building Better with Karen Benner
Jul 05, 202349:19
2023 - #13 Mike Missimer Principal Owner MGI Mechanical Services and Rockview Designs
Jun 19, 202301:12:58
2023 - #12 Gayathri Vijayakumar Principal Mechanical Engineer at Steven Winter Associates
Jun 04, 202359:19
2023 - #11 Keith Dennis President, Beneficial Electrification League
May 20, 202301:01:15
2023 - #10 Anna Perks Founder of Perks Deconstruction
May 07, 202355:05
2023 - #9 Glenn Mathewson Creator of BuildingCodeCollege.com
Apr 24, 202301:03:20
2023 - #8 Off Site Construction with B Public Prefab and CEO Founder Edie Dillman
Apr 09, 202301:03:56
2023 - #7 Ed Fronapfel Forensic Engineer and Principal Investigator on Zero Clearance shaft liner Area Separation Wall E119 Burn Testing

2023 - #7 Ed Fronapfel Forensic Engineer and Principal Investigator on Zero Clearance shaft liner Area Separation Wall E119 Burn Testing

Ed Fronapfel is a forensic engineer who I first met when he taught a thermography class I attended.  Later he became the student when he participated in an Energy Rater class I taught. Ed has built and sold several successful engineering companies on the back of his ability to distill information and present it in understandable ways. Over the years we have been discussing the disconnect between energy and fire codes in relation to shaft liner area separation wall design and function. I was starting to get involved with work being done to understand how to air seal the assembly to successfully pass blower door testing requirements of the IECC. Ed, in the meantime, had been working to be qualified as an expert witness in construction defect litigation. He now has been involved in over 80 trials in District and Federal Courts and provided over 800 depositions and hundreds of arbitrations.

 

Our paths crossed again at the Colorado Chapter of the ICC Education Institute, where we were both teaching, right before the Covid shutdown. I learned that Ed had an opportunity to fund some ASTM E119 burn testing on Shaft Liner wall assemblies and became the facilitator to organize and get the testing completed. As you can imagine we both have been frustrated not being able to speak to the results of the testing that was performed, and now that we can, I am very grateful to Ed for the opportunity I was given to be involved in this work, and the story you are about to listen to.

Ed on LinkedIn

Acquisition of SBSA, Inc. expands Charles Taylor's U.S. Engineering and Technical Services Practice


Speak Expert Witness Directory

University of Denver Adjunct Faculty Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management

Mar 27, 202301:09:56
2023 - #6 Zack Giffin - Professional Skier, Tiny House Advocate, and Host of the popular show Tiny House Nation

2023 - #6 Zack Giffin - Professional Skier, Tiny House Advocate, and Host of the popular show Tiny House Nation

It doesn’t matter the size of the house that’s built, Builders are passionate about what they do. Zack Giffin demonstrates that in this conversation about tiny homes. In 2018 I happened to be at the code hearing where Appendix Q for tiny homes was adopted for the International Residential Code. This year I was asked by the state of Colorado to represent the energy code on a working group trying to figure out how to regulate the construction of tiny homes. It turns out that if they are built on foundations things seem to be fine, but when they are built on wheels there are issues that regulators and advocates must work out. Deciding if they are mobile homes or modular homes is the biggest issue, but in my world, the question is if they must abide by the International Energy Conservation Code. Some analysis has shown that they can easily meet the 2018 IECC using the Area Weighted U-value compliance alternative and the REScheck software, but now with the 2021 IECC tradeoffs are not as easy, and the insulation requirements would make the structure too tall to be on wheels. In Zack’s world regulating energy use in a tiny home does not make sense due to its size. I found it interesting that the fundamental question came down to first cost the same argument that the NAHB uses when pushing back against energy code. Regardless, ultimately the best thing about my conversation with Zack was that we did not agree on everything, but we were willing to hear each other’s views.

I hope you enjoy your listen.

Zack My Apologies for miss pronouncing your last name as well!

Zack Giffin’s website

  • Check out the skiing side of Zack's website.  I actually did not realize he was a professional skier when we talked.

Tiny Home Nation on Netflix

Zack on Instagram

Mar 13, 202301:14:56
2023 - #5 Jake Bruton of Arrow Building
Feb 27, 202356:36
#4-2023 Thriving in Construction, with Gene Myers, Founder of Thrive Home Builders.

#4-2023 Thriving in Construction, with Gene Myers, Founder of Thrive Home Builders.

Feb 12, 202301:02:48
#3-2023 Gary Nelson – They call him the "Father of the Blower Door"
Jan 30, 202301:16:55
#2-2023 Rick Schultz Water Efficiency Supervisor Town of Castle Rock Water
Jan 16, 202301:04:32
#1-2023 Teal Lehto Instagram’s “Wester Water Girl”, helps set the stage about water issues in the west and their potential impact on construction.
Jan 01, 202353:42
#28-2022 Allan Hubbell Residential Marketing Leader at Dupont and host of the “Residentially Speaking” podcast.
Dec 19, 202252:07
#27-2022 An Insurance Primer for Disasters with Tim Stuber Insurance Agency LLC.
Dec 04, 202201:15:32
#26-2022 Larry Acker ACT D'mand Hot Water Systems Systems

#26-2022 Larry Acker ACT D'mand Hot Water Systems Systems

Nov 20, 202258:17
#25-2022 Scott Sedam True North Development and Lean Building
Nov 07, 202201:15:53
#24 -2022 Energy Modeling Consistency with Neal Kruis Energy Modeling Director for RESNET
Oct 23, 202201:02:16
#23-2022 Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) Building Summit Exhibitor Recap
Oct 10, 202201:19:34
#22-2022 Skilled Trade Training in High Schools with Matthew Blomquist and Michael Degitis
Sep 25, 202201:06:00
#21 - 2022 Bonus Episode - Midwest Building Science Symposium recap from me and a few other attendees
Sep 18, 202229:25
#20-2022 Dan Gorham and the new Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety Wildfire Prepared Home Program

#20-2022 Dan Gorham and the new Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety Wildfire Prepared Home Program

Sep 12, 202201:06:07
#19-2022 A Conversation with Gord Cooke
Aug 28, 202201:00:03
#18-2022 Heart of A Building with Paul Kriescher
Aug 14, 202252:48
#17-2022 Travis Brungardt, Catalyst Construction, and the Midwest Building Science Symposium
Aug 01, 202257:13