Off-Gassing From New Furniture and Cabinets: How Long It Lasts
In September 2022 I was in a newly renovated kitchen in Maplewood, New Jersey, two weeks after cabinet installation. The […]
Materials & Surfaces
Rooms for Recovery
Setting Up a Home Space for Recovery After Surgery: Access, Light and Air
In November 2023 I was in a house in Chandler, southeast of Phoenix, doing a pre-discharge home visit for a […]
Air & Moisture
Radon at Home: Testing, Levels and Mitigation Costs
In January 2024 a homeowner in Bethel Park, south of Pittsburgh, called about a radon test result of 7.2 pCi/L […]
Rooms for Recovery
Limestone, Heat and a Shaded Patio in Austin: Outdoor Rooms for Hot Summers
At 3:40 pm in August 2023, the air on a back patio in Hyde Park, Austin was 104°F. My infrared […]
Rooms for Recovery
Thermal Comfort Is Not a Thermostat Number: Radiant Asymmetry and Drafts
In January 2024 I sat in a wingback chair in a 1790s farmhouse outside Rhinebeck while the owner, a woman […]
Rooms for Recovery
A Garden Wall and Screened Courtyard in Atlanta: Masonry as a Buffer Against Noise
In August 2022 I was doing a site assessment in Sandy Springs, two blocks from Roswell Road, where a 1960s […]
Materials & Surfaces
Hard Floors, Rugs and Acoustics: Making a Room Feel Calm
In October 2022 I was doing a consultation in a converted loft in Minneapolis where the owner had installed white […]
Air & Moisture
Filtration and Street Air: MERV Ratings in a Bronx Apartment Building
In April 2023 I was called to a six-story brick building in Riverdale because two third-floor tenants were complaining about […]
Light & Quiet
Blackout, Dimmers and the Bedroom That Helps You Sleep
In March 2023 I was reviewing a bedroom in Beaverton, west of Portland, where the owner had replaced blackout curtains […]
Materials & Surfaces
Cold Walls and Condensation: Insulating a Masonry Basement in Appleton
In February 2023 I was in Grand Chute, just east of Appleton, looking at a concrete block basement wall that […]
Air & Moisture
Mold After a Leak: The 48-Hour Window and What Testing Tells You
In August 2023 I was in a two-story house in Katy, west of Houston, to tune a media room. The […]
Rooms for Recovery
Adding a Room for Rest: A Nassau County Addition Planned Around Quiet
In the spring of 2022, a family in Garden City brought me in on what looked like a straightforward addition: […]
Air & Moisture
Whole-House Dehumidification in Roswell’s Humid Summers
In July 2023 I was in a 2,800-square-foot house in Roswell running commissioning checks on a two-stage heat pump installed […]
Light & Quiet
Circadian Lighting at Home: Color Temperature Without the Marketing
In February 2024 I was reviewing a lighting plan for a bedroom renovation in Littleton, south of Denver. The homeowner […]
Air & Moisture
Range Hoods That Actually Vent Outside: A Queens Kitchen Remodel
In November 2022 I was in a 1940 row house in Astoria doing kitchen ventilation work. The gas range hood […]
Light & Quiet
Sound Transmission Class: What the Number Means for a Quiet Room
In November 2022 I was consulting on a home office conversion in Naperville where the homeowner had framed a new […]
Air & Moisture
A Wood-Burning Fireplace in a DC Row House: Draft, Smoke and Indoor Air
In December 2023 I was in a 1905 brick row house on East Capitol Street where the owner had started […]
Materials & Surfaces
A Sealed Floor in a Dusty Climate: Epoxy in a Las Vegas Home Gym
In September 2023 I was in a Summerlin house doing an indoor air quality assessment. The homeowner had converted a […]
Materials & Surfaces
Low-VOC Is Not No-VOC: Reading Paint and Flooring Labels
In April 2023 I was in a split-level in suburban Columbus where the owners had just finished repainting the interior […]
Light & Quiet
Morning Light and a Long Island Sunroom: Glazing, Orientation and Overheating
In October 2023 I walked through a sunroom addition in Huntington that had been finished the previous June and had […]
Air & Moisture
Finishing a Basement in Atlanta Without Building a Mold Farm
In March 2022 I pulled up the carpet in a Decatur basement finished eighteen months earlier. The homeowner had noticed […]
Air & Moisture
Relative Humidity 40 to 50 Percent: Why That Band and How to Hold It
In January 2024 I was doing an air quality walkthrough in a 1940s farmhouse in the Hudson Valley, and the […]
Air & Moisture
Bedroom Air at Night: Ventilation Rates in a Tarrytown Colonial
In February 2024 I was in a 1927 Colonial on Grove Street in Tarrytown doing a duct leakage test, and […]