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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 generally avoid using foam above or below the roof deck (for more on that, see … read more

Reason Foam Fails #7: Unhealthy Off-Gassing & Dust Spray foam throws off two forms of toxic poison: off-gassing of the volatile organic compounds and uncured chemical dust. Spray foam is a two-component chemical system: Part A and Part B. When the chemicals are properly prepared and precisely mixed, under the right site conditi … 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