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The Quantum Passivhaus Way: Combining Award-Winning Preservation With Pre-Fab Passive House Methods In Ontario Project name: Elora Schoolhouse - 37 McNab Street Location: Elora, Ontario, Canada Project type: Single-family home on heritage site, preservation + Quantum Passivhaus engineered PHI certified pre-fab panel system Date o … 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 avoid using foam above or below the roof deck whenever possible (for more on tha … read more

Foam Fails Reason #7 Unhealthy Off-Gassing & Dust Spray foam produces two forms of toxins: continuous off-gassing and chemical dust. As a two-component chemical system, spray foam is made by mixing Parts A and B. When the chemicals are prepared under the right conditions and precisely mixed, the chemicals will have a complete … read more

Reason Foam Fails #5 Excessive Shrinkage Fine Homebuilding, Feb/March 2012 With the growing use of foam plastic insulation in building construction, first in commercial roofing and then too often metastasizing over the entire building enclosure, it is being used increasingly as an air barrier component. This is a problem for … read more

GLAVEL Foam Glass Gravel Now Available in North America Good news about Glavel! Building owners and developers in need of an alternative to petroleum-based sub-slab insulation and an overall boost to their sustainability characteristics, Glavel’s foam glass gravel is the solution. Rob Conboy, CEO of Glavel, Inc., the Vermont-based company … read more

Project Spotlight: Simple Life Homes' Foam Free Prefab Assembly Creating Comfortable, Foam-Free, All-Electric Senior Homes In Ontario’s Ski Country There are several hot topics we look out for here at 475: foam free building, Smart Enclosures, prefab manufacturing, and frack-free (all-electric) housing. This is a rare project spotligh … read more