Building science is about understanding a house as a system and knowing how all the components of a house work together. This month Carl Seville, CR, owner and president of Seville Consulting, and Paul Raymer, chief investigator of Heyoka Solutions, LLC, lend a hand in explaining building science.

“I think that in order to understand how components work and how one element affects another one you have to understand building science,” says Raymer. “That relates to just about everything, like how green building is holistic building, and how that works with building components. I think a lot of building component manufacturers look at their element as a solution to a single problem rather than at the whole science of the building.”

Building science is essentially the management of heat, air and moisture in buildings. Heat refers to heat loss and gain where it is important to keep a home cool in summer and warm in winter. Air is the movement in and out of a home as well as within the building. Moisture describes bulk moisture, including rain water and leaks, and moisture vapor which is created inside the house from human use and interaction with the house or moisture driven into the house from outside.

“I look at remodelers as being problem solvers,” adds Raymer. “They come in and talk to the homeowners about the problem they want solved, and it’s vital the remodeler understands how all of the components work. You can’t solve a problem like a dry house by simply putting in a humidifier. It’s probably too dry because it’s too leaky and has too much infiltration, and if you put in a humidifier you’re going to cause a significant amount of other problems.”

One of the problems with homes is that most homes are wood built and are very susceptible to moisture. Also, because of varying climates in the United States, different areas have to build walls differently to deal with things like moisture.

There are three ways that heat really moves in and out of a house: conduction, convection and radiation. Conduction is heat moving through a solid. So if it’s hot outside and cold inside, the heat moves through the walls because heat always wants to move from a hot area to a cold area. The key is to stop that from happening, usually with insulation.

“What is even more important in some climates is convection, which is heat movement through the air,” explains Seville.