Indoor Air Quality

Indoor Air Quality Indoor air quality refers to the quality of the atmosphere in a building, including temperature, humidity, and the amount of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, radon, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter. You hear about it more these days because homes are being built more airtight and better insulated than ever before.…

electrical systems

Electrical

Electrical Power systems are important to any home, whether in the circumpolar north or elsewhere around the globe. As the technology surrounding electrical systems advances, appropriate and safe design practices must also keep the pace. Conserving power is even more important in cold climates because the cost of electricity tends to be significantly higher. CCHRC…

Plumbing

Plumbing

Plumbing Appropriately designed plumbing systems in climates that are subject to freezing temperatures are of utmost importance. All components of the water system must be evaluated carefully, including storage, supply, waste, vent, and septic systems. The more extreme the conditions, the more critical the need for a properly designed system. Proper plumbing design, materials, installation,…

Double Walls

Double Walls

Double Walls The double wall has been used to build energy efficient homes for a long time. While there are many ways to do it, the basic premise is to build one structural wall (typically the inside wall), build a second wall around it, and fill the space between with insulation. It has several advantages…

Furred In Walls

Furred-in Walls

Interior Furred Wall An interior furred wall is a common method of achieving a cost-effective, energy efficient, highly airtight wall. A compromise between a conventional wall and a super-insulated wall, the “furred-in” wall improves your energy efficiency without the extra cost of building a REMOTE wall (which requires adding ⅔ the total insulation value on…

Integrated Truss

Integrated Truss Walls

Integrated Truss  The integrated truss is a prefabricated wall assembly that connects the roof, wall, and floor into a single structural piece that can be easily tipped into place. It was created for emergency housing situations that required extremely simple and quick designs but that could still perform well in the Arctic. In the first…

REMOTE Walls

REMOTE Walls

REMOTE Wall One of the greatest challenges of building in a cold climate is managing moisture in the building envelope. That’s because of a familiar concept called vapor drive, in which water seeks to go from a more concentrated state to a less concentrated state. What does this mean for your building? When it’s cold…

Windows

Windows In general, windows account for a proportionately small area of the thermal envelope. At the same time they are one of the most important parts of a home, used for light, ventilation, passive heating, and other aesthetic reasons. In cold climates, windows often represent a significant heat loss because of their low insulative value…