Pretty Good House: A Common-Sense Approach To Energy-Efficient Buildi

You don't have be an architect or designer to understand the contents of this book. I totally agree that what we need pretty good homes. They don't have be passive houses. As long as we build a healthy and high performance home, getting a certification doesn't really matter.

I first heard of the Pretty Good House (PGH) concept through the Fine Homebuilding podcast. I wanted a small, high-performance house, but that's not what gets built on spec in the US. I liked what I was seeing in FHB, but a lot of it seemed to be focused on acquiring certifications like Passive House. It was clear to me that going after these certs doesn't necessarily make economic or practical sense. It's great for rich people who want to brag to their rich friends about how 'green' their 8000 sq ft. house is, but that ain't me, and it's probably not you either. The PGH saved me from despair. Finally, knowledgeable people talking about building reasonably-sized, high-performance houses for normal people with real budgets! It made me think maybe what I wanted was possible after all. I was very eager for the release of this book, and my enthusiasm has been rewarded. I am impressed that the authors managed to address two audiences, both PGH-curious builders and potential homeowners. I can't validate that this was 100% successful since I'm not a builder, but the level of technical detail provided was very welcome to me as someone who wants to understand the why and how of all aspects of a PGH. In contrast to Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House," which I found to be largely a disappointing piece of fluff (with pretty pictures of many not so "not so big" houses), the PGH book has a very satisfying level of technical heft to go with its pretty pics. It feels like a successful distillation of the years of great knowledge accumulated and shared among the Green Building Advisor and BS & Beer crowd. It was thoughtful to include nods to Pretty Good Remodeling, but that aspect of the book is definitely very underdeveloped. That's OK, because that topic is ripe for its own book. There has got to be as much, or maybe more, to learn and to know to get a PGRe(tm) right. If you are interested in houses that deliver comfort, durability, and environmental sensitivity, and incorporate the best that modern building science can provide, this book is for you, whether you are a homeowner or a builder. If you are a 'greener than thou' extremist or a tract-house developer who only cares about $/sq ft., you may not like this book, but you should still read it for perspective.In my opinion the PGH is the future of homebuilding, but for it to truly become mainstream a lot of constituencies need to be educated. Consumers, especially those with the ability to buy new, need to think beyond square footage and 'features' and see the value in comfort, durability, and sustainability. More spec builders need to take the lead, build a little bit better, and educate their customers, instead of unfairly blaming the consumer for wanting code minimum mediocrity. Mortgage lenders and the appraisal industry both need a giant smack upside the head so they will start valuing the quality of a house's structure, not just the number of bedrooms, baths, and square feet. There's a lot of work to do, but this book illuminates the path and explains why it's important. Congratulations and Bravo to the whole team for getting this book out. It's a beautiful, well-written and informative artifact that the world (or at least the US) needs.

I saw references to this book on social media. It is a nice-sized reference book giving lots of helpful homebuilding tips for people who want to build a well-thought-out and well-built home. Written by not one, but several experts in this field. Easy reading and nice photography.

Précis et complet. Quelques petites coquilles mais le meilleur livre moderne sur les maisons que j'ai lu.

In a sentence: The authors attempt to 80/20 the world of residential building science and give you best practices for best results while not being held down to specific arbitrary certifications that are generally more concerned with titles and recognition than actual practical application.Who should read it?: Anyone who is building a home, as owner or builder or designer. Especially those who want to improve the comfort of their home and don't have the wish or resources to pursue vanity and ego driven certifications like LEED or Passivhaus.The core message of the book which is inarguable accurate is that a code minimum home leaves a lot on the table in terms of longevity and comfort of a home and many certifying standards require a lot of steps that don't actually make a difference to the end user. Like almost everything in life you'll get 90% of the gain from just doing the next best thing not exhausting every last detail no matter how minute and how expensive. Paired with some more common sense the contents of this book are very helpful. This graph (picture attached) is a great example of what you'll face on almost every decision. 90% of the benefit is experienced in the first step. And this is on a uniform wall! On a wall with a lot of glass? Forget about it, check out 'building science fight club' for some detailed analysis of the math on this but if you have a wall that's 50% glass doubling the insulation only increases the overall performance by 5% not saying don't do it just understand what you're doing. I mean look at the performance jump below going from R20 to R40.They do trash talk basements and have a North East US bias in some of their discussions which is the authors general area I'm lead to believe but you should be able to ignore the stuff that doesn't apply to you.Additionally they bang the climate change bell which I find to be a less than useful argument, it's a call to a authority that requires the audience to respect the authority and I think the argument for a more environmentally and person friendly home stand on their own regardless of climate change.And this particularly annoys me because they admit that the homes being built no matter how efficient still contribute to climate change which is an annoying hypocrisy to me. If you truly believe that the planet is going to end because of anthropomorphic climate change then you need to build a cabin with no heat or a/c from recycled materials and live off the land. If you don't you're just demonstrating that you don't actually believe the risks and just want to feel good at night when you lay your head down that at least you're not as bad as your neighbors! The world will end less quickly if everyone was just like me! Bull, either believe the world is ending or shut up about it and enjoy your better built home like a damn man.Anyway, on to the content. (paired with good design book like 'the not so big house' it's more than enough to make you an excellent and informed builder or buyer, but keep learning b/c many elements will change as we learn more about certain practices and materials)'let performance inform the design but not to dictate a narrow path''radiant slabs are usually overkill for a pretty good house (PGH)''design to a budget, rather than budget to a design' (music to ears!)Climate (location) is going to influence many/all of the decisions about your house. The greater the range between day and night the more large thermal mass will help you as it has increasingly bigger effect where diurnal temperatures cover a wide range.So, know what zone you are designing for! And don't forget microclimate.For instance wind, blowing wind increases rate of heat loss by increasing infiltration and conduction.Sidebar: They claim architects receive 'rigorous' training and their credentials 'ensure a superior project' that's complete and utter hogwash, some architects are good, some are terrible and this is terrible advice, trust no-one, do the hard work yourself.Economics, they point out some useful references for energy efficient mortgages and other resources you should investigate. Despite my diatribe earlier if there's a rebate for solar and geothermal, freaking take it! The mortgage, construction industry doesn't respect the hard work you're putting into building a better home so you need to recoup some of your opportunity costs having build above and beyond the base standard.Calculating payback, they also do a decent job explaining how to calculate the payback on a decision which should be considered, the only problem with this sort of approach is unless you're experienced you probably don't know all the costs that are going to be needed over the lifetime of a home, and guarantee you don't know how to calculate the embedded carbon/costs anyway. And also you don't know how long something will actually last. Payback never gets reached if a hail storm destroys your solar panels on year 3 or you forgot that they degrade (because advertisers to broadcast this fact) and so your math is jacked to begin with. It's good to try and calculate these things but don't get too worked up about it. Take a look, make a call based on how it fits into your budget and goals and move on.Energy Modeling: Love this quote 'we can't predict precisely how a building will perform' that's good advice for all models, 'models are only approximations, they are most useful for comparing options' also generally true. Also I love this because it's coming from authors who think we know what the climate will be in a 100 years but not what their house will do next thanksgiving. Oh the selective arrogance.They touch on the importance of designers and builders being on the same page. Such good advice I say be both!'The way you feel physically in a home is directly related to how the house performs' - great line'designing a home that is emotionally uplifting is vital' - excellentBuilding envelope basics: This is an important chapter that should be read until understood. The envelope is absolutely critical to the long term life and performance of your home.Rule of thumb on insulations 10-20-40-60. 10 underslab - 20 basement walls - 40 exterior walls - 60 ceilings. My added caveat to this would be 'airtight 1st - then 10-20-40-60 - WINDOWS!' windows are gonna be your performance killer, hit some basic good insulation level and pour every extra cent into better sealing and insulated windows. For the same reason (heat takes path of least resistance) it's worth the time and money to do a continuous insulation barrier on the exterior and advanced framing to lessen studs when you can.Air sealing: 20-25% of your homes heat loss is via convection as it flows though cracks in the openings. Which means you're probably better off making a more air tight home than adding insulation in many cases. Unfortunately off the shelf OSB is not a good air barrier. In general your building envelope should be air tight and vapor permeable to allow it to dry in or out. Most are living in climates that require heating and cooling at different times of the year so this is why it's important to allow some drying in both directions. If you optimize too much for one scenario you'll likely create problems in the other.'humans need to breath, buildings need to dry' is a good mantraThe book ends with some great references on what materials to choose and what to avoid, as well as sections on things like appliances, test, owners manuals and more.Also note, they point out spray foam is a garbage product which I like, massively bad for the environment and yea sure it tests well on air sealing day one but what about year three, or your long term indoor air quality? If I was a betting man I'd put it being viewed alongside asbestos in 50 years.It's a great book and anyone who cares about a well performing home would do well to read it. The definitions and references alone are worth the buy.