“If a building doesn’t last, it doesn’t matter.”
Why it matters: Designing and building homes that hold up to the challenges of Mother Nature IS the job of the architect and builder.
🥊 The bottom line: Water kills buildings.
- But using the right practices and materials can keep the water out.
🔭 Zoom out: Have you ever traveled and seen buildings that are hundreds or thousands of years old and wondered why we can’t seem build anything that lasts?
- Older buildings had several advantages in terms of durability.
- Walls and roofs were built in a way that air moved in and out of the building more rapidly.
- The solid lumber that was used could dry if it got wet — manufactured products like OSB and MDF don’t dry like that.
- Heating was usually accomplished with large fireplaces, which would dry out the roof and walls — like a kiln.
🤔 If the old methods led to more durable buildings, why don’t we still build that way?
- Control — it’s only by building air tight and well insulated buildings with the right HVAC systems that we can condition our spaces like we want.
- This leads to better comfort, health and energy efficiency.
- It also means we need the right water management strategy.
✅ For your Smart Homeowner list
- The question you should ask your contractor whenever you’re having work done on your house is
- Where does the water go?
Best,
Travis
This content is a summary of Episode 2 of The Build Show Network’s free 10 unit series called “Build Science 101.”
Click here to check out the course.
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