Blog

5 Tricks of the Trade For Thick, Dense-Packed Walls Behind Pro Clima Membranes With contributions by Matthew Brennan, National Sales Manager at Thermocell; Jesse Matthews, Quality Control at RDH (formerly carpenter at The Fourth Pig Green and Natural Construction). At 475, a large number of projects we work on use dense-pack cellulo … read more

The Value of Air and Vapor Control Foundational Elements Of High Performance Enclosures We’ve heard the chorus of misinformation throughout years of speaking to builders across North America: “Buildings need to breathe – you’ll destroy them if you make them airtight”. “In a cold climate, if you don’t put a vapor barrier on the inside o … read more

Path Toward Perfection EASTON COMBS Architect's High-Performance Home in Egremont, MA Project Spotlight: Location: Egremont, Massachusetts, USA Project type: Single-family new construction Builders: Little Deer & Company Architects: EASTON COMBS Architects Assembly: Vented rainscreen - MENTO 1000 - plywood - 12" vertical I-joist str … read more

Project Spotlight: Phoenix Haus - Launch of the H19 Passive House Project Spotlight Location: Mesa, Colorado, USA Project type: Single-family new construction Prefab Builders: Phoenix Haus Design and Passive House Certification: Shape Architecture Assembly: 2x framed wall with densepack cellulose, continuous wood fiber insulati … read more

Ten Golden Rules for Foam-Free Flat Roofs When insulating a flat roof wood structure, 475's goal, as always, is to do it in the most healthy, structurally sound, durable, and ecologically friendly way - achieving truly high performance. This means we try to generally avoid using foam above or below the roof deck (for more on that, see … read more

475 On-Site: High Performance Timber Framing with Bellwether Craftsmen of Vermont Project Spotlight Location: Huntington, Vermont, USA Project type: Single-family new construction Custom Design Builders: Bellwether Craftsmen Assembly: Timber frame, INTELLO X wrapping 2x6 wall with densepack cellulose, continuous Gutex MULTITHERM ext … read more