UnBuild It Podcast

Steve--the Zen master of deep discussion on all things building--explains how he thinks of these two terms. If you don't integrate, you end up solving during application, be it moving water off the building or transferring structural loads. This approach to designing, specifying, and constructing means the window package is connected to the HVAC system, the roof plan connects entryways to gutters, and a problem popping up on paper won't get better or easier on the job site. Although you might get discouraged with the dubious initial focus on beanie babies, hang in there for some insightful exchanges with Steve, Jake, and Pete.

Jake lays out the three major sound issues in homes--inside/out, room-to-room, sources of noise inside the home. Pete draws analogies between early 1980s airport noise abatement and early air tightness work. Steve, always listening carefully, finally offers how he designs for sound management.

Pete's resource: BuildingGreen feature article: "BuildingGreen...Quietly: Noise Pollution and What to Do About It." - https://www.buildinggreen.com/feature/building-green-quietly-noise-pollution-and-what-do-about-it

Join us as we learn all about Solar 101 - Part 2 with Dan Shifley of Dogwood Solar out of Columbia, MO.

Description: On his own, Steve blindsides Pete and Jake with this: how important is each of our backgrounds and how does that affect our approach to building?  And how can each of our perspectives be shared to build better buildings?

Pete's Resource: For each of us, what resource has had the greatest impact on your perspective:

- Pete: Bill Rose's Water in Buildings - https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/water-in-buildings

- Jake: Building Science Corp's website: https://www.buildingscience.com

- Steve: Gary Keller's The ONE Thing - https://www.amazon.com/ONE-Thing-Surprisingly-Extraordinary-Results/dp/1885167776

Funny that we want to both make indoor spaces separate from the nasty outside but also connect to the outdoors when it's peachy. Jake kicks it off admirably by linking air quality to CONTROL (surprise, surprise). This podcast will be one in a bit of a mini-series on the broader topic of Indoor Environmental Quality (including things like thermal comfort and acoustics) and the connected topic of ventilation and its IAQ role.

IQAir - https://www.iqair.com/us/ (good air quality monitor for homes)

Pete's resource: https://www.buildingscience.com/document-search (click on the box for indoor air quality)

Join us as we learn all about Solar 101 - Part 1 with Dan Shifley of Dogwood Solar out of Columbia, MO.

The Business Challenge - Life is too short to work for every client that comes through your door. Work hard to inform them of how you are different as a high performance building professional--including that you charge more because you are worth more--and then let the chips fall where they may. Because our project relationships are on the long side--anywhere from 3 months to many years--it's important to spend as much time vetting as attracting our clients.

Take Two because we only got to two questions on this podcast: What good are industry labeling programs, like Pretty Good House? And how do you identify high performance building professionals? They are kinda related. You don't want to miss Steve's rant on the 1st question, Jake's cut on the 2nd, and Pete's info resource to wrap up. 

Learn more: 

PrettyGoodHouse.org

Peter's Blog 

Peter's Questionnaire

Steve takes the lead on this podcast and ties innovation to one of his favorite clients. Here are the UBIP Big 3 Innovations: from Jake--Huber's ZIP-R; from Pete--AEROBARRIER; and from Steve--wait for it....Instagram. Bet you did not see that one coming. Steve wraps up this podcast with a listener request: tell us YOUR favorite building industry innovation so we can come back to this cool topic in the future!

Doors--tougher than windows, in terms of what we ask of them and proper installation. The boys talk about everything from deciding on swing/slide/pivot to thermal performance to triple-point hardware. And Steve gets pretty riled up, providing all of us a "door" into his thinking as an architect...