Episode 46 — The FHB House Build as a Case Study
How to build a low-energy home that's not too big or too expensive
In this podcast extra, FHB editor Justin Fink, design editor Brian Pontolilo, and editorial director Rob Yagid are joined by FHB House designer Mike Maines for a conversation that looks at the 2016 FHB House project as a case study in building a progressive, low-energy home. They tackle the project from foundation to mechanicals to insulation to finished interiors.
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The Fine Homebuilding Podcast embodies Fine Homebuilding magazine’s commitment to the preservation of craftsmanship and the advancement of home performance in residential construction. The show is an informal but vigorous conversation about the techniques and principles that allow listeners to master their design and building challenges.
Resources mentioned in (or related to) this podcast episode:
- Read tons and tons of FHB House coverage at the FHB site.
- Watch all our FHB House videos.
- Here are all of FHB House designer Mike Maines’ articles at FineHomebuilding.com.
- MichaelMaines.com
- Podcast 40 featured a great discussion on sourcing the FHB House materials.
- Check out all the materials used in the FHB House.
- We need your feedback! Please do take the Fine Homebuilding Podcast survey!
The day after this extra episode was recorded, there was a special event at the FHB House site. The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association offered a tour of the FHB House. Attendees were able to earn credits for the event (see the last slide in the slide show below). Here are a couple links, and then a slide show of event photos, courtesy of NESEA.
- The NESEA page for the event.
- The NESEA main page.
- A FHB post by builder Mike Guertin reporting on the tour.
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The FHB House demonstration house in East Greenwich, RI, hosted an NESEA ProTour on Friday, March 31, 2017.
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Because this building is intended to help educate practitioners, some features were left deliberately unfinished, giving Pro Tour attendees a peek into aspects of a home that are usually “hidden” in the final product.
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FHB podcast host Justin Fink (far right) spoke at the NESEA event.
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The NESEA clearly supports the #KeepCraftAlive ethos of encouraging young professionals to pursue building trade careers.
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Attendees at the NESEA ProTour of FHB’s FHB House project.
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Attendees were able to earn continuing education units, specifically, 2.5 AIA LU/HSW, for participating.
