Yesterday we posted this picture asking for your thoughts on the building science issues. Here are the issues we found: Notice that the home owners have extended the downspout in an effort to fix this problem, but issues still exist. There is fungus growing on the exposed rock...

Can you identify the building science issues at this historic home?

This high performance Penn Laird home continues to be built by Trost Custom Homes. Here is a pictorial update of the project. Here are the past updates Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Over the past few weeks I have been reminded multiple times: the most important element in building is having a good plan in place before starting construction.  “BY FAILING TO PREPARE, YOU ARE PREPARING TO FAIL.” ~ Benjamin Franklin It is hard for many to justify the...

“Resilience is the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance. It is the capacity to bounce back after a disturbance or interruption of some sort.” ~ Resilient Design Institute...

Following up on the blog question posted yesterday. This is a photo taken between a vented attic and a conditioned space. The dirty line at the bottom of the insulation shows the path of air infiltration from conditioned to unconditioned space. This is a typical problem in...

This is a photo I took between an unfinished vented attic space and a finished conditioned space. What building science issues do you see? Answers to follow in tomorrows blog.

There is a lot of emotion wrapped up in the process of design. A client trusts you with their hopes and dreams. You translate those words, pictures, and thoughts into lines on a paper creating intersections and relationships. Proportions, scale, function, and aesthetics are...

As the sound of midnight rings in the New Year A brand new opportunity for quality architecture will appear.   Let’s raise our hopes that good design will be included in the budget for your building dreams.   May your columns be proportional, kitchen efficient, your...

As we stand here on the verge of a New Year, I cannot help but look back and evaluate what we accomplished in our 26th year in business. To sum it up, 2013 was a good year, but there is still work to get done. We continue to be one of the fortunate firms in the area that has seen...