BUILDTank / buildCAST

At ETRO construction they say that “this isn’t just what we do-its who we are,” and that describes Shaun St-Amour to a T.  Shaun is the Manager of Revive at ETRO, a Construction company based in Vancouver British Columbia. Revive is ETRO’s division that focuses on creative, cost-effective strategies to restore, upgrade and modernize buildings and structures for the next generation of owners and tenants. Shaun brings his breath of experience to manage ETRO’s revive team to center their attention on performance using passive house construction principles and methods. It’s just who he has become as it’s now ingrained in his being.

Enjoy your listen and thanks for liking and listening to the buildCAST

Shaun St-Amour on LinkedIn

ETRO Construction

British Columbia’s Energy Step Code

Passive House Accelerator

Shaun on Instagram @shaun_stamour

Welcome back to my conversation with Ed May. As you may remember, Ed, is a partner at Building Type, a design consulting firm that concentrates on passive house energy modeling and successfully guiding projects to certification and/or just achieving their performance goals. The conversation picks up where we left off discussing how Passive house integrates with code compliance. We also speak to his work with Honey Bee open source software and his thoughts on resiliency and indoor air quality.

Ed May on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

⁠Building Type ⁠

PH-TOOLS ⁠open-source tools⁠ for Passive House energy modeling

Building Type ⁠Learn⁠

⁠Parsons School of Design⁠

Parsons Solar Decathlon ⁠Team⁠

More information about ⁠Construction Instruction

Welcome to part one of my conversations with Ed May.  Ed, is a partner at Building Type, a design consulting firm that concentrates on passive house energy modeling and successfully guiding projects to certification and/or just achieving their performance goals. Ed’s carrier started as a carpenter/builder who then got his master’s in architecture at Parsons School of Design. These two worlds collided when he became a faculty team lead of the 2009 Parsons DOE Solar Decathlon project.  Ed now spends his time on the science of building performance including energy modeling simulations,envelop detailing, hygrothermal analysis, and helping to develop open-source software that ties it all together. In our conversation Ed openly explains the pros and cons of passive house and high-performance buildings.

Ed May on LinkedIn

Building Type

PH-TOOLS open-source tools for Passive House energy modeling

Building Type Learn

Parsons School of Design

Parsons Solar Decathlon Team

More information about Construction Instruction

My discussion with Doug Hansel of DHP Energy follows his move from being a respiratory therapist to becoming a building science consultant. We begin with work that he has done documenting the R-value of installed insulation and then move into how he has blended respiratory health, indoor environmental air quality and his new passion for building science.  He has created his own Frankenstein ERV system that he feels meets the modern needs and realities of our housing today.  Broan and others manufactures of ERV are listening.

DHP Energy LLC.

Doug Hansel on LinkedIn

Air Quality Index Explained: How AQI Affects Our Environment

IQ Air

Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) QAP program

https://airbarrier.org/qap-overview/How to measure spray foam insulation density

Build Equinox Advanced Air Quality Management

CADR Rating Explained

Sean Vo US director of Sales and Partnership and Vanessa Wright Sustainability Manager spoke to me about LEVVEN Electronic, the company they work for.  Interestingly LEVVEN basically sells one product, radio frequency controlled switch that replace normal toggle or dimmer switches in a home and comply with the new 2021 IECC section  R404.2 Interior lighting controls requirement that permanently installed lighting fixtures be controlled with either a dimmer, an occupant sensor control or other control that is installed or built into the fixture.  

Sean and Vanessa explained to me how these fixtures actually work, which took awhile for my dense brain to understand, and how their installation can improve a home’s performance beyond control electrical usage. House tightness, cost of construction, and future uses for the technology were all touched on.

Sean Vo on LinkedIn

Vanessa Wright on LinkedIn

LEVVEN

Nick Burch is the Director of Finance at SASHCO, a family owned and operated business that is celebrating their 90th year of operation this year. Nick got his real start at SASCHCO filling caulking tubes as a baby. As they say, labor laws were less strict in the ’80s, but really, he worked on the floor manufacturing caulks and sealants while growing up. We learn more about Nick and the history of this 90-year-old company and the business philosophy that has made it a success all these years. I know you will enjoy this listen and will learn some interesting management and business strategies.

SASHCO Products that work

SASHCO’s history timeline

Caulk and Sealant Catalog

Get a SASHCO Pro Sample Kit

Welcome back to Part Two of my conversation with Carl Grimes. Our conversation picks up where we left off explaining more of the five principles and then gets into how Environmental health is impacting the building of homes.

Enjoy

Hayward Score Healthy Home Director Carl Grimes, has a unique combination of experiences. He has personal experience of the disabling impact of an unhealthy home, and professional experience working in the Indoor Air Quality field. Both these experiences lead him to the Hayword Score where they are helping people live healthier lives by first believing in the negative health experiences they are having in their home, and second by offering a tool that can help homeowners understand these experiences. Carl understands that moisture and mold are not the only things that lead to poor indoor air quality and is trying to work out the synergistic interactions between occupants, house, and building science that can result in either a health supporting or health degrading environment.

Carl Grimes on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

⁠Hayward Score⁠

Indoor air quality ⁠Association ⁠

The Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory⁠(Symptom Star)⁠

⁠ASHRAE Guideline 10-2023⁠ -- Interactions Affecting theAchievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments

Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance ⁠(TILT) ⁠- ChemicalIntolerance

Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and RestorationCertification ⁠(IICRC)⁠

⁠ANSI S520-2025⁠ Standard for Professional Mold Remediation

Hayward Score Healthy Home Director Carl Grimes, has a unique combination of experiences. He has personal experience of the disabling impact of an unhealthy home, and professional experience working in the Indoor Air Quality field. Both these experiences lead him to the Hayword Score where they are helping people live healthier lives by first believing in the negative health experiences they are having in their home, and second by offering a tool that can help homeowners understand these experiences. Carl understands that moisture and mold are not the only things that lead to poor indoor air quality and is trying to work out the synergistic interactions between occupants, house, and building science that can result in either a health supporting or health degrading environment.

Carl Grimes on LinkedIn

Hayward Score

Indoor air quality Association

The Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory(Symptom Star)

ASHRAE Guideline 10-2023 -- Interactions Affecting theAchievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments

Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT) - ChemicalIntolerance

Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and RestorationCertification (IICRC)

ANSI S520-2025 Standard for Professional Mold Remediation

Ken Nelson is well known as an applied building science and indoor air quality (IAQ) expert at Panasonic North America. Our conversation wandered through the three ventilation strategies and further explained Panasonic’s Oasys System, which I really did not realize is an innovative approach for heating and cooling not just whole house ventilation. Ken is passionate about the subject and seamlessly explains the benefits for all stakeholders as well as some of the stumbling blocks we need to look out for during installation.

Ken Nelson on LinkedIn

Panasonic Ventilation

Panasonic Oasys

Randy Plumlee specializes in energy code and building performance with SPEER or the South Central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource which is one of six regional Energy Efficiency Organizations. Jason Helm is the CEO for Texas Home Energy Professionals. In this conversation you will hear the three of us debate whether the International Energy Conservation Code requires both Whole House controlled mechanical ventilation and local, or spot, exhaust ventilation systems to be tested to achieve the flow rates required by the International Residential Code or IRC.  This is of special interest to me since I introduced the proposal in the 2021 IECC for this testing requirement and I definitely have a point of view. Randy and Jason do as well.  Let’s see what you think after listening to the conversation

Randy Plumlee on LinkedIn

SPEER

Jason Helm on LinkedIn

The Home Energy Rating Systems Council

RESNET

Home Certification Organizations (HCOs)Building Science Institute (BSI)

John Krigger's Residential Energy