(This is the twelfth in our series of reflections on real construction decisions for one of our local projects: The Bishop Passive House)
Once assemblies have been designed and materials ordered, the thermal performance of a new building or home can depend on careful installation of the smallest details. Specifically, thermal bridges - those areas where heat and cold move through materials in an uncontrolled fashion - can lead to significant energy loss over time. For this reason, one of the primary principles of Passive House is to have zero thermal bridges.
In this video, contractor Mike Horgan walks us through how to recognize thermal bridges (they like to hide!) and the strategies that were used on Bishop Passive House for mitigating them from the foundation up. The video runs about 4 1/2 minutes.