Consumer Resources

New Construction - Foundations

The following information may contain links to information that was not produced or reviewed by EEBA staff, but is provided as is as a source of information for consumers. Check out the following links to find the information that you are looking for:

• Foundations - Moisture Resistant Construction
  2001, Nathan Yost and Joe Lstiburek. Residential foundations rarely collapse, but they may allow enough moisture to enter the structure to eventually result in the building's collapse. This article summarizes strategies to keep foundations dry.
  Source: Building Science Corporation
• Basement Insulation Systems
  July 2002, Nathan Yost, M.D. and Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.E. The experience of Building Science Corporation with the two most common ways to insulate the interior of a basement have been bad. Continued use of these approaches by the home building industry will likely lead to a disaster of unprecedented proportions and may result in the construction of energy efficient homes being set back a generation. Find out the right way to insulate a basement to avoid this potential disaster.
  Source: Building Science Corporation
• Slab Insulation
  Improve comfort and save energy in homes with slab-on-grade floors
  Source: DOE Building Technologies Program

• Crawlspace Design
  November 2003, Nathan Yost, M.D. Houses are often better without crawlspaces than with crawlspaces. It ’s not that crawlspaces can ’t be built correctly; it ’s just that there rarely are built correctly. Poorly constructed crawlspaces are a major source of moisture problems in homes and they are a major cause of poor indoor air quality.
  Source: Building Science Corporation