Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Design High-Performance Homes That Are Durable, Healthy, and Comfortable
Part of the Sustainable Building Essentials series, Essential Building Science teaches you how to manage energy and moisture in residential construction to create homes that last longer, perform better, and feel more comfortable. This highly visual guide makes complex building physics accessible, giving you the tools to design, build, or improve high-performance houses with confidence.
What You'll Learn
- Understand Heat and Moisture Dynamics: Learn the fundamentals of thermal dynamics, moisture transfer, vapor drive, and condensation.
- Design for High Performance: Discover the rationale behind energy-efficient, durable, and healthy building design.
- Think like a Building Scientist: Develop critical thinking skills to evaluate buildings as complete systems and create effective thermal and moisture strategies.
- Apply Real-world Solutions: Case studies and examples from across North American climates show how to solve real building problems.
- Improve Old and New Buildings: Gain insights and tools for dramatically enhancing the performance of existing structures or creating better new builds.
Written by Jacob Deva Racusin, a sustainable building designer, educator, and co-owner of New Frameworks Natural Design/Build, this guide draws on decades of experience in mechanical, water, energy, and enclosure system design. Jacob is a Building Performance Institute-certified Envelope Professional and Building Analyst, program director of the Building Science and Net Zero Design Certificate Program at Yestermorrow Design/Build School, and co-author of The Natural Building Companion.
Transform the way you design and build homes with practical, science-based strategies that make buildings healthier, more efficient, and resilient. With clear visuals, actionable insights, and step-by-step thinking frameworks, Essential Building Science gives builders, designers, and DIYers the confidence to achieve high-performance results.
Explore the full Sustainable Building Essentials series for comprehensive guidance on foundations, walls, insulation, mechanical systems, finishes, and more—everything you need to create durable, efficient, and sustainable homes.
"Where the heck was Jacob Deva Racusin 40 years ago when I started my career? You could have saved me, and thousands of others, a whole lot of expense and trouble if you had troubled yourself to be born a few decades earlier, and gotten this wonderful gem out to us all a bit sooner. That grouse aside, you have done a masterful - and delightful - job of presenting the complexities of building physics in a way that anyone can understand and use to their benefit. If you want to build well, folks, read this."
— Bruce King, Structural Engineer and author, New Carbon Architecture
"This is the book that builders, designer and homeowners have been waiting for... even if they don't know it! In the coming years, understanding building science principles will be considered as important as drafting skills and driving nails. Jacob Racusin explains everything you need to know in a concise, direct and meaningful way. Anybody who reads this book will immediately start to make better buildings."
— Chris Magwood, Co-founder and co-director,The Endeavour Centre, and author, Making Better Buildings
"Jacob Deva Racusin has provided as clear and concise a summary of building science for residential building as I can imagine. This volume is an invaluable introduction, teaching tool and resource for homeowners, educators and builders. I hope there will be a dog-eared hard copy or an oft-accessed e-version of Essential Building Science on every residential building (or renovation) site in North America."
— Tim Krahn, P. Eng.
"Getting the building science right in a house - so your home is healthy, durable and energy efficient - can be a daunting and complex process, but Jacob has distilled this down to principles that are easy to understand. Racusin provides clear guidance for putting these principles into action, including details of building assemblies that work. The contents of this guide are essential for builders and architects, as well as for future homeowners to know what to look for and what to ask for in good design."
— Andrew M Shapiro, Energy Balance, Inc.
"Too many of us are suffocating in a stew of mold and toxic chemicals as our buildings disintegrate around us. In this essential book, Jacob Deva Racusin distills the basic tools builders and homeowners need to make efficient homes that start out light on the planet and last a good long time."
— Tristan Roberts, Executive Editor, BuildingGreen.com
Jacob Deva Racusin is a sustainable and natural building designer, builder and educator. He is co-author of The Natural Building Companion , contributor to The Art of Natural Building and Systems Director and Co-Owner of New Frameworks Natural Design/Build, focusing on mechanical, water, energy, and enclosure system design and quality control. He is also a Building Performance Institute-certified Envelope Professional and Building Analyst. Jacob is the program director of the Building Science and Net Zero Design Certificate Program at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School, and has taught natural building and building science at various universities and building schools. He and his family live in a 2000 sq ft high-performance, natural home in the mountains of northern Vermont, where they run a small-scale Permaculture-inspired homestead.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Part I: Rationale
Chapter 1: Establishing Goals
Part II: Fundamentals of Building Physics
Chapter 2: Thermal Dynamics: Understanding Heat Loss and Gain
Chapter 3: Moisture and Hygrothermal Dynamics
Part III: Developing Strategies
Chapter 4: Moisture Control
Chapter 5: Thermal Control
Chapter 6: Examples of Building Assemblies
Chapter 7: Buildings As Whole Systems
Endnotes
Resources
Index
About the Author
A Note About the Publisher