APPENDIX B

Tool Kit for
Building Evaluation

It is possible to put together a pretty good tool kit for a few hundred dollars. The key tools include a light meter, sound meter, windspeed meter, radiant and air temperature readers, and humidity gauge. A simple indoor/outdoor thermometer with max/min recording can be very useful, but recording thermometers like the HOBOs from Onset are even better and don’t cost much. A thermal imaging camera can also be very informative, but can cost $5,000 or more. Rentals are a good compromise, but not cheap. A blower door ($2,000-plus) and other tools can also be helpful, but are expensive and require more practice and training. A sensitive portable carbon monoxide monitor, perhaps $300, is also useful.

Simple and not very expensive meters and test equipment can provide more insight into energy flows and sustainable building design.

Airflow

One of the most challenging tasks is understanding airflow. Airflow through a building or yard is complex and often changing, depending on wind direction and intensity, which doors and windows or open, and where furniture is placed. Understanding airflow better can help you improve the performance of your building. Tools can range from a windspeed meter (best at higher airspeeds) to helium-filled balloons on strings to soap bubbles. Incense or smoke pencils are also helpful.

Balloons

Bright-colored helium-filled balloons with bright-colored ribbon and a weight for each balloon can demonstrate airflow patterns clearly. You can use different lengths of ribbon to contrast flows at different heights. They gradually lose gas, so plan on testing while they are fresh. Try different combinations of open windows and fan placements to find the best ventilation pattern.

Bubbles

Bubbles are also informative, especially for outside flows. Indoors, little bubbles are good, but outdoors bigger bubbles are easier to follow. Here are a couple of recipes for bubbles. Karo syrup should only be used outside. With the right mix, the bubbles will last quite a while; you can even identify and follow very low-speed airflows, such as cold-air drainage. You can buy glycerine at many drugstores.

Indoor Bubbles

¾ cup cold distilled water

¼ cup dishwashing soap (Joy Ultra, Ivory, or Dawn)

5 drops glycerine

Big Outdoor Bubbles

3 cups distilled water

1 cup liquid detergent or no-tears shampoo

1 cup glycerine or light corn syrup

Smoke Pencils

Nontoxic smoke is preferred. A wide range of smoke puffers and pencils are available. The Chimney Balloon offers a nontoxic version for $25 (http://www.chimneyballoon.us/smokepencilstick.html). Some people prefer incense.

Blower Doors

Blower doors allow you to pressurize a building and explore airflows, leaks, and performance. Blower doors are often used for retrofit exploration and design, but also useful for commissioning new buildings. Blower doors, flow hoods, and duct blasters can be used to evaluate duct systems. For more information, see Keefe’s “Introduction to Blower Doors” in Home Energy Magazine (www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/94/940110.html).

Training

To better understand how to monitor and evaluate a building, attend a training workshop with Vital Signs, an outstanding program coordinated through the Center for Environmental Design Research at the University of California–Berkeley, with great support from members of the Society of Building Science Educators (http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/vitalsigns).

If you are an educator or will teach workshops, please join the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE). SBSE (www.sbse.org) is an association of university educators and practitioners in architecture and related disciplines who support excellence in the teaching of environmental science and building technologies.