Green Building Advisor web site with many free features, plaster far better than drywall in mold-resistant EU buildings

[Guest guest]

This looks as if it could help a lot of people.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/

" Green Building Advisor (www.greenbuildingadvisor.com), a new Web site

from The Taunton Press and BuildingGreen, publishers of Fine

Homebuilding and Environmental Building News, opened its cyber doors

in January. Former Fine Homebuilding editor S. on and

BuildingGreen's residential project manager, Yost, pooled their

resources and years of hands-on experience to create this interactive

tool that emphasizes quality practices for builders, architects,

designers, and homeowners.

A majority of the site is free, including " Green Basics, " which will

educate those unfamiliar with the principles of green building. It

includes a multimedia encyclopedia that covers design, construction,

and code issues as they relate to house parts and building systems.

Topics such as heat pumps, radiant floors, and stormwater runoff are

discussed in a green-building context. " Green Basics " will give users

a knowledge base to use other parts of the site confidently, on

says.

Blogs written by GBA's advisory team covering everything from energy

efficiency to business are also free. The advisory team, which

includes building-science guru ph Lstiburek and FHB contributing

editor Mike Guertin, is made up of experts from all over the country

in many building-related disciplines. " We want expert opinions from

every region of the country because climate is a huge factor when

you're talking about healthful, energy-efficient homes, " says

on.

Other free features include case studies of homes, complete with

actual energy-use data, as well as a product guide organized by house

part.

For an annual fee of $150, members can access the site's " Strategy

Generator " to build a checklist based on the parameters of a specific

project. If you're building a new house in Washington or remodeling a

bathroom in Florida, you learn how to build it right for that climate.

Members also gain access to more than 1000 downloadable construction

details. These drawings can be dropped into a CAD program or saved and

printed as a PDF. "

Also, I recently read the answer to a question posed by Branislav a

few months ago as to why there are fewer problems with mold in Eastern

European construction..

" Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and many other

countries still require that builders use plaster instead of gypsum

drywall and coincidently do not have as many mold problems as are

found in the United States. "