Building A Safe Home - Homeowner Q&A On Mold Prevention and Building Materials
Architect Cheryl Seko answers homeowner questions about preventing mold and water damage. Keep HVAC equipment in conditioned space to prevent duct condensation, start foundation crack fixes with exterior drainage, and use radiant heating over forced air to minimize airborne particulates. She covers tradeoffs for ICF, hempcrete, and other materials that go beyond minimum code.
Chapters
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our final live in the Mold Safe Building Live Stream series that we're doing for free for all of you out there. I'm Cheryl Seco. If you haven't watched any of these in the previous four or five days, we're on day six. I'm Cheryl Seko. I'm a licensed architect. I have my own story created connected to water damage and mold in buildings. I am the founder of our company that we've created for this very purpose of sharing information that will help people called the Dwell well Institute. And as a licensed architect, I specialize now in water damage, mold prevention and really building defects overall that can be termed and usually is termed a forensic architect. So I'm looking at the causes and a lot of professionals don't have the opportunity to do this. I'm saying opportunity. It's because so many things have happened to me and my family in our own homes that I've been forced to look at buildings years years later. So builders are often they got the first year of warranty, even architects and engineers, you know, maybe the first couple years we see what's going on and if there's a problem, but not 7, 10, 15, even 20 years later to see how did our buildings. And so that's what I focus on. So in these last five days, I came on live, so go check those out if you have not seen them already. Those five days I came on live and I talked about three tips on some very basic home building steps that I talk about and see as issues in buildings over and over again. As a recap, those day one, we talked about site and climate. Day two, we talked about building design. Day three, we talked about foundations. Day four, we talked about the roof. And on day five, we talked about walls and openings and got into a few more materials on that day. Today is day six, which is we've added as a bonus day because we realized that this was going really fast and that there were a lot of questions that people have. So we created this bonus day to have an opportunity to answer your questions. And I do have a long list of questions here ready that you sent in advance. So I so we're going to go over those. But just to recap a little bit more here, the series was put together because mold and water damage is a growing problem we're seeing in every type of building, but especially in new homes, actually. And this is all across the United States, Canada and even the world. My own family and I dealt with mold in our own home on more than one occasion. And I think we were exposed on many other occasions and we experienced some really serious health issues that took years to overcome and, and have spent a lot of money on our recovery and also on the things we had to do to fix the problems that weren't necessarily something I did wrong. In my design of the house that I built for myself, it's more the human beings that are involved in building it. And it's really easy to make mistakes. And I focus on where are those easy places to make mistakes so we can pay attention. So my mission is to help others avoid the experiences that I've had to deal with myself, whether it's health or correcting building problems. In this free series and in all my paid courses, classes and consultations, I always am addressing the root cause. We're not talking about quick fixes, band aid solutions, cover it up just to get to the next day. If we don't find the root cause, mold will keep coming back and that ongoing expense is what can really be devastating. So we want to fix our issues one time and one time only and be done. Ultimately, addressing root causes improves your health and in more cases, in more ways than we probably even can know. We're talking about air quality. The air we breathe is ubiquitous and it's the one thing we can't live without. And so if we're breathing poor air quality day after day, whether we know it or not, then that is something critical that we need to address and it will long term save you money in the end if you address these things sooner rather than later. Don't keep forgetting about them or look the other way or put your head in the sand. Nothing gets cheaper over time when it comes to water damage and mold defects. We want safe, healthy homes and so we can have healthy families. So before we get into Q and A today, as I mentioned, in all the five days, I'm inviting you to join me as a student in my signature home building course, Build a Safe Home. It's an interactive online course, so it's not just that you're watching modules I'm coming on frequently to answer questions. There's six in depth units that cover the fundamentals of mold aware home building. They're going to help you become a more informed homeowner. But I also want to let you know if you're a professional, if you know what a professional that I a professional. And I'm sharing the things that I didn't know, the things that I was confused about, the things that I ended up researching more Because I thought, how could that be? So this course is just as valuable for professionals as it is for homeowners. And both will be helped and see so many insights to avoid costly issues related to water damage and mold. So this could be, you know, the really the perfect insurance policy. You can complete it at your own pace. There's no deadline to be done. I recommend considering it as you have basically all these modules of appointments with me that are prepaid through buying the course. And you can watch that at any time at your own pace. Just sit down and watch them. I'm sharing photos, I'm sharing resources, and I'm sharing the most important things that have come up time and time again with my clients so that it could be most affordable for you guys out there. And you can watch them over and over again. So I'm going to go through what the curriculum actually is because it's not just those five days that we talked about here for 20, 30 minutes. So unit one, site and climate. These are the modules. There's an introductory module to the whole course. Then we talk about climate. So critical what you build in one place. And Arizona is not going to be the same as Minnesota. We talk about site selection, permits and planning. Critical to plan surveys, what kind of surveys you're going to need to have and site grading so that you can have good drainage on your site. Unit two, and this is kind of the order you should go through your building process. Unit two is building design. So now we have a site. We have to figure out what kind of building we're going to put on it. And that usually needs to be site specific. Even if you're buying some stock plan, we want to adapt the plan to your specific conditions and situation, climate and site. So those lessons are the building design basics. We do kind of an overview. Then we talk about design vocabulary so you can be really informed to talk to your professionals and your contractors. Design phases. This is a way we as architects learn to design buildings. And it's really important to get a well built building to follow these phases. Design styles. Then the next section we talk about is floor planning. There's going to be things we can choose to do and not do in our floor plan designs that's going to make a difference for mold walls and roofs in terms of designing those elements. And then the final module in that section is critical. It's on the design of your H vac, heating, ventilation, air conditioning system, your electric systems and your plumbing systems. So all of those things need to be designed together so that's unit two. Unit three is foundations. There's a foundations overview, which may be more similar to what we did here in this free online event. But then we go way more in depth on design details and images that I'm sharing and resources where you can read more on slabs. Then there's a whole module on crawl spaces, another module on basements, a module on foundation drainage alone. So every kind of foundation is going to need drainage. We talk about waterproofing and damp proofing, and we also talk about foundation choices that you will need to make along the way. So that's in lesson unit three, Unit four, which was our day four quick overview. There's a lot more to talk about. Know that we do an overview and then we talk about roof slope way more in depth and define that and talk about the pros and cons of different slopes. We talk about roof water control. We talk about venting and insulation in depth, in terms, in terms of even designing that. We talk about other roof details that are critical to know that are going to be involved in what materials we need to select and make sure being done correctly and how our roof is built. And then we talk about gutters and how those are attached and those are built and detailed so that they can be done as well as possible. And if we've planned this stuff in advance, there's a much better chance it's going to happen. And even if we planned and we know to look for them under construction, we can catch when things are being overlooked that we might have planned to be there and then we notice they're not there. So that's unit four. Unit five is walls and openings. So we have a module on walls and openings. Wall, a whole module on materials. We talked a bit about materials in our free session. We talk about drying and drainage so critical we want to actually assume that our walls are going to get wet because they are. So might as well know it and assume it and then figure out how they're going to dry. We talk about that and we talk about a system called Rain Screens in Depth that would be your premier type of wall system that, that I would argue should be done in every climate and on every project in some way. But there's a lot to talk about there. So that's in unit. Those are all in unit five. And then we do have a bonus module that we didn't get to on the live event, but it was on contracts, because contracts are as critical as everything else because we want to ensure that the people that are working with us the people on our team, the people that we're paying to do the work that they are going to do the processes and follow the details that we've suggested and that there is beholden to doing a good job as we are beholden to pay. So we talk about construction contracts, why do contracts matter? And where to obtain really good neutral contracts that protect the homeowner, the client as much as it protects the building professional. And we have a PDF sample contract in that module. So. So as you can tell, there's a lot of content in this course, a lot that I couldn't even do in any kind of a free session. And I created this course to this detail actually I tried to do it in a, in a really short format and I could, there was so much content to share that I couldn't really cut it short. So it became much bigger. I have prefer 8, I've gone to a university accredited university to study architecture for 7, 4, 5, 6 years and I have 12 hours of continuing education that I've done for my entire, every year, for my entire 35 years of being a licensed architect. And because of all that education I realized how complicated things were. And my goal was to try to, as concisely as possible, put together a fast track solution for homeowners and other professionals. So if you're a professional, you're going to be able to take this stuff to the next level really easily. But as homeowners, you're going to at least aware of what you need to know to be confident. And so in addition to all that, each of your projects are unique. I know that and they always will be, which is why can I just design a perfect plan and you can put it anywhere? No, because our sites and climates are different. So there's always going to be elements that are of uniqueness to our project. And I fully, fully, fully expect specific questions to your specific project. So in addition to all that content, which is interactive, you can watch it over and over again. I have monthly live Q and A sessions with myself and other students and my team for a year. After you purchase this, it's included and you have access forever to a private student group where you can ask questions anytime in that group. And that is my primary focus. When people ask a question there, I'm on it, or my assistants are pinging me to let me know to be on it. So I'm there to help you. I'm there for your support, I'm there. Your friend in the background that knows stuff, that you can bounce a question off to. So hopefully you're saying wow, that is a lot of content. Because I feel like it was a lot. It is a lot of content for sure. With the Q and A the private student group, that's a lot. If with the purchase of the Build a Safe Home course we do have even more bonuses because my goal is also value. I like a good deal and this is a great deal. I am confident in saying that if you calculate how many hours of time that you can hear me explaining things all unique, I'm not repeating myself and charged my hourly rate, you would see the value. We're going to talk a little bit about that. The bonuses are before you buy or rent. That's a three part video series webinars that I had done in the past that are 90 minutes each when you include the questions in there. So basically that's three of those looking at details to train your eye. That's free With a Build to Safe Home course. I review property listings. I look at signs of mold. All the things that will help you both in choosing homes if you're going to renovate or if you're going to try to buy them new. But also that if you ever build that you know that you don't want that to happen in your home. And you can see that I'm not making this stuff up. That alone is normally 197. It's free with enrollment this week. Moisture Matters 1i it's a one hour building fundamentals masterclass that is a webinar that I did actually I did it originally as a keynote to to wood building professionals at a conference. And so I made that into a webinar and it talks about how moisture affects buildings and how to manage it for success. I mean the background of all this is really critical so we can think for ourselves. That's my goal too is not to just take what I say. I want to help you think about this stuff. So when something comes up that maybe I didn't talk about or it has never been crossed your mind that we have the tools to deductively reason and use our knowledge to figure out like well that doesn't seem like it would make sense because of X, Y and Z. So that's normally $47 and that's free with enrollment this week we offer this is one is huge one year free in my Dwell Institute membership community and I have a video lesson vault there of more than 60 videos anywhere between. I think the least I can talk about anything is 10 minutes. But up to over 30 minutes on these individual lessons that have come out of the individual questions that I've seen come up over and over again that are more detail oriented. So this is not in replacement for the Build a Safe Home course. This is just going to another level on more detail. And so you get a free year in there. There's a lot of building topics, including things like tubs and showers, toilets and sinks, attics alone. I talk about permeability and insulation in there. I have. I talk even more in depth on downspouts and gutters. What else? I talk about some specific. A lot of specific materials. I talk about wood. I talk about masonry. I talk about stucco. Just a whole module on, you know, several courses on each of those things. Yeah. So again, with more building resources, we have started bringing on other experts in various topics to share their knowledge. So I'm bringing on special guests. I'm a perpetual student too, so I learn things in those. And a lot of other things that we've already learned get reinforced. And it's just great to have some other speakers and know that there's other people doing really good work. And so I'm look on the lookout for those people. If you know of anyone I should bring on, feel free to let us know at Facebook through our contact information on our website. Because, yeah, I want to help other people too. Doing really good work. So normally that Dwell well institute is almost $600 for a year. That's free with the Build a Safe Home course now. So with enrollment this week, and then we are adding two other additional bonuses that we haven't added before. And that will be access to my Wellness on the Road webinar, which is again, I think it's another about an hour or I think it's over an hour. I think the presentation's an hour. And then we do. There's a recorded Q A with that. Again, it's talking about trailers and RVs and camping. You're gonna have to live somewhere while you build, but you also are always. I do those things just to find relief from the stress of focusing on. On building defects. That's a $47 value free with your enrollment this week. The Fungus Among Us is the second bonus. That's a master class webinar that I have done on several occasions. It's on mold, indoor air quality and the challenges we face in our modern homes. And that is also normally at $47. And we're giving it away free this week. So that's almost $1,000 in just bonuses. And the course alone is worth more than $5,000 easily. Plus the value of ongoing Q and A calls just to be able to come on and ask. So the current price is not $5,000. It's not $4,000. It's not even $2,000, at least not yet. The current price right now is $1200, $1297, which is a huge, huge value. Knowing that you get over a thousand dollars in benefits and bonuses. And what else do you get with this course? Okay, there's three things that I think are critical. You're going to get confidence. You're going to get confidence in knowing that it's possible, that all this stuff we're trying so hard to do are possible. And you're going to have better understanding of the building process to be able to talk confidently with your building team and make good decisions and, and rationalize the decisions and the choices that you have to make. So confidence is number one. Number two is you're going to have awareness. You're going to get a fundamental knowledge base of insights to understand the risks of decisions and make choices that are going to help you to prevent mold and moisture problems well into the future. So that's awareness. Number two, number three, also critical that we all need is support. You're going to get my support, the support of my team and the support of the other people doing the same thing. So I have a community of definitely over a hundred people, I think. I don't know what the exact number is, but I know there's three, three digits in it. And it's over a hundred people all doing the same things, all researching the same topics, all learning things, who oftentimes they contribute information on things that they've learned that's helpful for everyone as well. So you're, you're going to be part of a community and that would be with me, my, these other homeowners or home buyers or home builders doing the same kind of work. And I do have building pros in there as well. So, yeah, so this is a huge value. You're going to get your confidence again. You're going to have awareness and you're going to have support from me and my team through those Q and A's and that, the live chat support groups. So I do have some testimonials before we get to the questions and I, I don't know how many questions are here, so hang on to your boots because I think there's at least 10. So I didn't count them. They're not numbered. So let's just. I just want to share what people have said about my course quickly. I'm proud of this. I'm proud of my team. I couldn't do this without my team and Crystal, Mara, Dave, none of this would be possible without them. And they're also here to support you as well. So this course has. This is one of the quotes. This course was very informative and made me think a lot about the structural concerns because we want our buildings to stand up of building a mold freeing home. That's from Diana. Another quote from Ray. It was such an eye opening experience to take this course just from the street to see somebody's home and see that there could be potential moisture issues that this person never could see before without this course. Another quote is I'm so grateful to Cheryl for providing this course. We want our next house to be built using good principles I of moisture management. And now I feel better equipped to evaluate potential builders and their practices. I have a much better idea of what questions to ask and what to look for in a builder. Critical. Critical. Thank you whoever said that. Another quote. Lots of information from a unique vantage point that is not offered anywhere else. That's true. So join us as a student, homeowners, professionals, whatever your background is. I'm a constant student. I've said that already. If you're building your home or if you're running, renovating or you're doing a major remediation, renovation, rebuild, it's all a big deal. We would love to support you on your journey to wellness. So now let's answer the questions that have come in and if you want to put in any other questions, if we have time, I'll be happy to answer those as well. So we have, let's see, somebody named Cheryl, great name, asked a question. How do you design and build a home to prevent condensation in the H Vac ductwork from the temperature differential in an attic? Okay, so we talked about that a little bit in the building design section. We really don't want to have. So the, the condensation is coming from cold air meeting warm or warm air. Excuse me, warm humid air meeting a cold surface. Our air conditioning surfaces are ducts. The metal ribs in flex duct, our AC air conditioning air handler components are all metal. They have metal components and if warm moist air hits them and they're cold, we're going to have condensation. If you have a condenser in your attic, you're going to have a condensate drain because air conditioning is about taking humidity out of the air. We're going to condense the warm air and the moisture in the air and we're going to need to drain that. So how to design a home and prevent this is to not have your, your AC in an unconditioned attic. Unconditioned means it's not heated or cooled. We need to have our air conditioning and our heating elements. Not in a garage, not in an attic, not in a crawl space that's unconditioned. They need to be in a conditioned space. It could be a conditioned basement, it could be a conditioned crawl space which may be like a short basement. And it could be in a closet, a utility closet, a mechanical closet on the main floor. Or if you have a two floor house, it could be on the second floor. But we want to have it be taking in air that's the same air quality and the same air temperature that you're trying to produce in your home. If it's heating, we don't want it in the super cold surface and it's super cold area. If it's cooling, we, we want it to be in a similar humidity location and similar, similar temperature. Think about it. It's common sense. What's the point in running 50 degree air, 55 degree air? That's what we're doing in air conditioning through an attic space that might be 180 degrees in the dead of summer. It makes no sense because it doesn't make any sense. The only thing it makes sense for is for people doing an inexpensive build, not recognizing the danger of that and then trying to save money and not knowing that long term that you're going to spend way more money fixing the problems you're going to have than you would ever spend to make sure that that unit is somehow in a conditioned space. So how that happens is going to depend on your situation. But the easiest one is have it. All right? It's the two easiest ones would be to have it in, in your main living space in some way or to, to condition and heat and cool your attic. Make a room around it that's easily accessible so you can go look at that drain. We don't want to have stuff in a place we're not going to go look at it. Because just like our bodies age and stuff happens over time and we were good one day and the next day we got a broken wrist or whatever it is. Our buildings are aging too. And they need to be supervised. They need to be have vigilance and so don't put our equipment in a place where you're not going to see it on a, on a regular basis. Then we want to monitor the conditions around it. Know what is the humidity in that space, where that unit is, what's the humidity and what's the temperature. And then notice, oh wow, that's changed. I wonder why. Maybe the condensate drain is clogged and now there's a pool of water in there like a swimming pool and it's raising the humidity. I better go check. I better go change my filters. And it's easy to do not forget about so. Good question, Cheryl. We do talk about that in the course in the Design section. So TJ's asking has a basement wall of cinder blocks that had years of water coming through. The cracks are present in the cinder block and some visible cracks in the concrete floor also. Best way to repair these. Number one is going to be fixture site drainage. Because cracks come from movement in the ground below the foundation. And any cracks in concrete or in cinder block foundations are because something has moved. It wasn't built that way. So why does dirt move? Dirt moves from differential wetting. Often that has to do with gutters overflowing with downspouts dumping next to a foundation with downspouts not being extended so that water goes away and then comes back and or that there's just poor site drainage and water from the sky is hitting the ground and rolling towards the foundation. So then we end up with water sitting next to the foundation, sometimes concentrated in one place more than another. And that will ruin every foundation over time. It's called differential settlement. Due to water infiltration into the ground. The ground wants our building to be sitting on soil that's uniformly has the same conditions. So if it's get a little bit of water then it's uniformly the same amount of water. But also know that concrete and concrete block are very, very porous. They're a giant sponge and we cannot have water soaking into those. So that's what the cracks are from. So the first thing that needs to happen is, is stop the root cause of why that's happening, which is going to be something outside and then you can seal the cracks. But I would be monitoring them, I'd maybe measure them and then on a regular basis go down. You know, you could even put little tick marks on a, on a post it note or card or something. So you go down and see has it moved. If it's moving actively moving, that's a big structural concern. And something that is going to probably need another a professional to help with Figuring out why. Why is this happening? But start with drainage. Outside gutters, roof downspouts, site drainage plants can affect our foundations as well. Big trees, big roots and sprinklers. One thing we don't often see those sprinklers going off at night, sprinkling our buildings. Look for that. The second question from TJ Thought about putting a bathroom extension over a garage. TJ that's going to depend. And you can do it. Maybe. I mean, you have to talk to a plumber because you got to get the water in the drain somewhere. The drain is going to be the bigger issue because you're not. You're going to have a pipe that has to go into the ground and connect to your other sewer pipes, whether it's a septic or whether it's going to city sewer. And so you usually, for ease of cost, you want to be as close to where that's happening already that you can connect to to and not have to do that from scratch because that would require some pretty big digging projects. The other thing to think about is your climate. Is it a situation where you have freezing in the garage? Possibly. And you don't want freezing pipes. And so where's the water coming from? How does it get to this place that's above a garage? Most people are not heating their garages. If you can, I do recommend it. I did heat mine, but I used radiant heat. And it wasn't. It was heated to, I think in. In the dead of winter in Chicago, we heated it to 50 at the most, maybe even 45 if it was super cold outside. But that's relatively heat. You know, that's relative heat. If it's 15 below outside and my inside of my garage is 45, the temperature 45, that's. That's warm and, and that was good to not have to worry about freezing of anything in there. And actually a refrigerator or freezer will run in that temperature where it won't run if it gets too cold. So that is. So that depends. But I would start with how is the water draining out of this location and where we getting water from? And then structurally over a garage. Does this floor system support the load of a room? So that is the structural piece that we can't ignore. And is it going to be really bouncy because it's not really adequate. So those kinds of things. And then you also have to venture. Plumbing has to have a vent. It usually goes off the roof. Three from TJ had a lot of questions. If a person needs the AC unit really Low for health reasons. What are ways to keep condensation from occurring? I'm assuming that means the temperature really cold. What are ways to keep the condensation from recurring is to manage your humidity. So condensation is a function of both temperature, a cold surface and relative humidity. So if your humidity, warm air holds more moisture than cold air. So just know that too. It's not just humidity, it's relative humidity to the temperature that you have. So if it's as you cool the temperature, then the air doesn't hold as much humidity. It doesn't hold as much moisture. Just say that. So what might be 50? I talk about this a lot in the in my courses, but I don't know how to concisely say that. What if it's if it's 90 degrees outside and 70% humidity when you cool that down, say if it's now it's 70 degrees. That same humidity that was 90 is probably going to be 100 at a colder temperature. So as you cool the temperatures, you're going to have to keep lowering and lowering your humidity. And if you can't with the air conditioner, which is part of what air conditioners do, then number one, you're going to need a dehumidifier separately. And number two, I'd be looking for why you cannot reduce that humidity more. Because in most cases somebody has a burden. There's somewhere where water is being stored in the wall in the attic and the in the slab in the foundation in a crawl space that is contributing to the reason why you can't get the humidity low enough. Could also be in a bathroom behind a shower wall under a toilet. Toilet seals. Leaks are big. Good questions. TJ okay, next question from Galen. I think I have to keep moving along here. Site drainage question. There's only 10ft between my house and my neighbor and he doesn't have gutters. The space between the houses is level and retains water. What is the best way to move water away from the house? You mentioned this week that French drains are a bad idea, but I didn't understand what you suggested. Instead, thanks for your accessibility and info sharing. Oh, thank you. So French drains next to the house are a bad idea. So make sure that I hopefully said that and I just want to be clear. There are places for French drains, but never next to your foundation. So if you have 10ft between your house and your neighbor, I don't know if that means you have 5ft of lot line to your lot line and then 10 and he is 5ft and so there's a total of 10ft, or whether you have 10ft to the lot line and he is 10ft. In either case, the only thing you can do in existing situation like this, and it's really not fun when your neighbor doesn't have gutters. In theory, they are not allowed to drain their water on your property, so you can talk to the building department about that. But what the only thing you can do is provide a type of swale French drain system at the property line that has to go one way or the other. And you're going to figure out which way is the natural flow. The easier way, maybe half goes one way and half goes the other way. But where you can collect the water that's coming and it can be just from the ground. Maybe the ground is higher above you on that side. We need it to go into a swale. A swale is a bit of a ditch, but you can actually do that with a French drain. And you're just going to need to go low enough that the water from your house, the downspouts from your house and the gutters that are coming off your house can also go there. So it's going to have to accommodate the volume that you're expecting. And you're also going to want to make sure your side is a slope up. So some people end up with a retaining wall on one side at the lot line, so they're actually dropping down to where their property is, so they can actually be draining away so that the water is hopefully going to be accommodated at the property line. And if it's 10ft, you'll have a lot easier time doing that. If it's only five, I'd still. That's the only. That's what you'd try to do. I'd still try to do that. You can talk to your neighbor about gutters and downspouts, or you can talk to your building department to see if there's something that they need to do to keep their roof water on their own property. And then, then you broach that situation. But yeah. So French drains are fine as long as they're. Ideally, my rule of thumb is 10ft away from your foundation. If you don't have 10ft, then do what you have, but never, never, never run them right adjacent to the foundation. So just to clarify that information, I hope that helps, Galen. So Jennifer is asking, what are some ways to prevent moisture damage and naturally treat mold damage in modular wood homes? Thank you for your time and research that you're sharing with us. Thanks for saying that, Jennifer. You're welcome. What are some ways to prevent moisture damage and naturally treat mold damage? So mold and moisture damage is coming from a moisture content in wood that if it would get sweat, we have to allow it to dry. So there is a number and I do have a course on wood in the Dwell Institute, part of the building course where I'm talking about this for 30 minutes of about, about the moisture content in wood. And so there's something called an equilibrium moisture count just kind of briefly. And so whatever your MO, whether it's inside or outside, the number may be different. It's going to depend on your climate in Arizona and in the heat of summer it's going to be a different number than it's going to be in North Carolina at the same time of year. So we want to know what your equilibrium number is. And that is not going to be kiln dried to 19. So when lumber is coming out onto a job site, kiln dried 19% moisture content, it has a lot more drying to do. I do recommend that people are building to try to get moisture content. 15 lumber it is made it, it may be special order and there probably will be a little bit of work to figure out how to find it. But it does exist and the more we can ask for it, the more potential there will be for the wood industry to provide it. Because I've, I'm, I'm actually on the American Lumber Standards Committee as an architect representative and I go to their, their annual meetings and I've talked to people who are in charge of retail for wood wood industry all over the United States. And I said can you get it? And they said yes, but nobody ask. So let's ask. So yeah, so but it is going to be in terms of preventing moisture damage and mold. You have to amount, you have to make sure you don't have moisture content in your wood materials that are above the equilibrium number, meaning they're going to keep, they have more drying to do to get to the equilibrium number. Kiln dried lumber is coming out typically at 19% and will grows at 20%. That's really close our M.O. our moisture meters and I'm talking about a pin type moisture meter here and you probably need to have a professional one they that won't break your bank. If you're building a house, you should have one. But we also sometimes need to test deeper into the wood if it's a bigger member. So if it were say a beam, a 4x4 6x6 or something like that, 8 by 10. Then we might. We may have to test the moisture content deeper into the unit before we know that it's completely dry because it's drying from the cells. As the cells have taken on water. And sometimes it gets in the middle because of the end grain wicking in water, then it's going to dry. Has to dry through all the surface. So the surface might feel dry, but beyond the surface is still wet, and it's got to dry through the outer surface. And that's where we end up with mold. In behind drywall, like in some places in Texas, for sure. I have had a client that the whole house was five years, whole house full of mold because the. The wood structure was too saturated and water damaged to begin with. Whether it could be seen or not, we don't know. But obviously no one was checking moisture content before they put drywall up and there was more drying to happen. The drying happened, but it created huge humidity behind the drywall and created a. Created the conditions for mold to grow. After mold comes decay. Decay comes at 28%, not 100%. So that's another good fun fact to know. Modular wood homes, I mean, so it may be coming out that the materials are dry, but they still have to stay dry in a weather event, and. And that they have to be on a good foundation. So modular homes are really no different. So this course would address any kind of building that you want to do. You want to go do a steel arched building, fine. You want to do a geodesic dome, fine. All the same principles are the same that to keep that structure safe and mold free and good air quality, you're gonna have to do all the same stuff I talk about in all those modules that I talked about previously in. In the build a safe home course. So all buildings, it's kind of basics. Getting back to basics. Thanks, Jennifer. So Melissa has our next question. What is the best product to waterproof the exterior of an existing foundation? Concrete block and field stone. After excavating around the perimeter down to the footing. Thank you. Number one, I don't recommend excavating foundations. It's very dangerous. Dangerous for your structure. So just to be clear, I'm not recommending anybody excavate their foundation after it's been built. There are forces that are holding the foundation in place, and part of that is the dirt. When we start moving that from a house that's already been built, if the house was at homeostasis, which it should be, and then we start removing something that was exerting pressure on One side, there can be. There can be structural things that can move and change. So be very, very, very careful in doing that. And I would have a professional involved. But what's the best way to waterproof that is going to be the site drainage. When you put the dirt back, quite frankly, you can put up a capillary break if you've already, at that point, you've decided to do it. New construction, we recommend a capillary break, whether it's like this dimple fabric that a number of companies make that reduces the pressure of the water against the foundation wall and also adds waterproofing. There is different kind. There's many different kinds of waterproofing materials. There's rubbers, there's these, like I said, these dimple fabrics that are actually a sheet. I do recommend insulating walls from the outside when you have the opportunity. Best in new construction. And then you would have a footing drain in most cases. That's not a footing drain, is not a French drain. And nothing should be going in there. No gutters, no downspouts, no drainage goes into the footing drain, except draining the soil that's already there around the footing to prevent your footing from having any structural damage. And then that would have to go to a sump. You can do exterior sumps and even very cold climates. So that's what I would recommend. But there's a lot more to that than what I could say. And just answering your comment quickly, but hopefully that's helpful for you. But there's two kinds of things we put on foundations. One is called waterproofing, and the other one is called damp proofing. They're not the same, they don't cost the same. And in both of those, there's a plethora of, you know, hundreds of people that make different products for that. I wouldn't worry so much about VOCs on that, because it's outside, it's gonna be in the dirt. It's not in your house. There really should be no air movement from that material of any kind of fumes coming into your home. So that doesn't mean it's not going to be smelly when they do it. I'm sure it will be, but some of the best products that we need to use in waterproofing situations for sure do. Are kind of toxic. So just. Just, you know, use common sense. Is this really. Do I care about it here? And. And I. I've been sick, my family's been sick, and I don't care about there. I care about it inside my home. So, yeah, good question, Melissa, thank you. Next question is from Britt. Britt is asking what are the benefits and drawbacks of different heating systems such as baseboard radiant and forced air for those unable to build new? Actually, I think the same what's the best is the same whether you're building new or not. So and then the next question she has is, what is the best cooling option if air conditioning is only used for a few months of the year? Okay, so I'm going to tell you what I did in my own home that I built for my family in Chicago, where mostly that is a. That was, I don't live there anymore, but that was a heating climate. Chicago is a heating climate. Everywhere north of Chicago will be a heating climate, which means more months out of the year. Basically, September, we may not use anything. October through May, we're probably using heat. Then there's maybe three months of air conditioning. So what we did for heat was we did radiant, we did in floor radiant, but you could do radiant baseboards as well. And the reason why is because it's well known that if you don't move air around, you're not keeping bad things aloft. So people who have dust allergies are best with radiant heat because there's dust in the air. People who have mold sensitivity are best with radiant heat as well because there's mold living on the dust in the air. And if, and so all of the people that have are moldy and living in with air purifiers running 24 7, that's keeping stuff aloft. It may be something that you want to pace. You don't do it all the time. Let whatever's in the air, the dust, fall down where you can clean it. And if there's mold attached to it, then, then that'll fall down too. And nobody knows how long it takes for stuff to come out of the air once you're not moving it. So, and then if you are continually moving it, then you may be keeping it, the stuff in the air, the dust. And go ahead and look up dust, do Google images and look up what is dust. It's disgusting. So don't think that the dust is okay. It's biological matter. It's dust mites, teeny tiny, nasty looking dust mites. It's their fecal matter. Hopefully you're not eating. That's disgusting. It could be dead skin cells, hair cells, all kinds of stuff that we don't want to breathe. So the best way to heat, in my opinion, and it's not just My opinion, there's a lot of people who say this from allergy research and that kind of thing is to not move air constantly. So radiant. I did radiant floors in my house, and then. Or radiant baseboards. Hot water is fine. It's like if it. I mean, we all have all kinds of water pipes in our house. If the system isn't pressurized, meaning there's a hole in it somewhere, it won't work. So you will be. You will know immediately if it's not working that you have a problem. So we didn't. We had some leaks during construction from bad contractor decisions, but that is, it's pressurized with air during construction. And so when somebody does put a nail in one of those pipes, those pressurized pipes for the. For the radiant heat, there's a very loud pop, kind of like a gunshot. And when that happens, everyone knows that somebody hit the radiant tube. And then also, at the end of the day, if no one was there to care at the end of the day, somebody should be able to look at the pressure gauge and see if at the end of the day, is it all good or is it not good? And we did have one rogue contractor who I think put like four holes in our. In our. In our pipes in the matter of five minutes. And I'm sure he had to pay for the fixes, at least I can tell you I didn't. So. But we knew. Everybody knew when it happened. So. But that was for heat. We had to have cooling in Chicago, hot, humid, in the summer. So we had basically a separate furnace for cooling. We did run the ducts to be conducive for cooling. So cold air falls and warm air rises. So you generally want your warm air coming from the ground rising up, and your cold air you would want from high up, coming down. So we had return airs that we could switch, but we were only using it for cooling. We could have used it for heat if we ever wanted to, I don't think. I think one time we did when it was like 30 below at night. And we have a lot. We had a lot of windows. So it was. We. We did want a little extra boost, but that was the only time in 14 years that I think we ever turned on the heat component of the forced air. But then, you know, you're only using your ducks three months out of the year, so they don't need to be as clean cleaned as often. And. And you are keeping stuff aloft at that time. I don't know of any other way to cool. Well, so that's what I would do. That is what I did. So. Good question. All right, we have a question from Linda. Linda's asking if a person can't afford to build a new home, it seems that it would be close to impossible to find a safe home to buy or rent. I'm fascinated by your talks, but also very depressed about how hard it is to find a safe place to live. Oh, Linda, I'm so sorry. I don't want to depress anyone. And you are right, though. It is. It is difficult. But I also want to tell you that I'm doing it right now. So we. We sold our house very quickly. It was too big. All of our kids were gone, and we were ready to do something different. Our kids are all over, actually. There's around the world. And so we decided we wanted to go do something fun for us. And we ended up deciding to leave Illinois. And then our goal was to find a place that was going to be as easy as possible to find a place to live. So I chose a location, and there are many of these where I don't use your conditioning hardly at all. And I chose a location that it is going to be cold in the winter, but it's easier to fix cold in the winter and put on another coat than it is to take off clothes and manage humidity and condensation. Just a fact. So we chose a location prime, or we sold. Chose a number of locations that would be. That are naturally dry and that we could have windows open as much as possible and not use air conditioning for the most part. So we are in Wyoming, but we also looked at Colorado and Utah. Idaho might have some locations. We looked at Montana as well, and so there are states that have these conditions. Then we. We ended up renting a house, and it was difficult and very stressful. So number one, I would say pray. So I. If you have faith, that's when it's time to put in the hands of God, because it is really, really hard. And that's what I did. But we did find a house. There weren't a lot. We looked at a bunch of bad rentals and then ended up finding one that was on new construction. So. But it was like the only one that was available. But. So I, I. All the glory to God is what I can say on that. But we. We were open to other locations. So you want good food, you want some place where it's easy to live, where you can access the doctors that you need and that you can see your family. Obviously that's important. As well. Anything that makes you feel good, but that's how we did it. But I have family living in other places and I think there are ways to buy or to find something. You just have to decide what's going to be the easiest fix. In some cases it's going to be buy an older home that isn't fixed up and know that you're going to fix it up. You're going to gut the bathrooms at the minimum and the kitchen and then be focused on overhangs and side drainage and then anything else inside you can probably fix. So please don't be depressed, Linda. It is possible. It is possible. Keep the faith and, and keep learning so that when you see the thing that has fewer bad things, you can identify that. And then try not to buy at the top of your price range so that you can afford to fix something if you must. And I'm here to help with that too. So thank you for asking that, Linda. Okay, I have a question now from jc. Have you heard of earth floors? Yes, I have made from some type of adobe maybe instead of a cement slab. So no need of a vapor barrier underneath. Could there be an earth floor? Yes, there could be an earth floor, but the vapor barrier is to stop the moisture in the ground and say if you only have ground, then the moisture, the ground is coming into your home. And so you'll still have to manage it. You'll have a lot of humidity. So you could. The other thing that I, I don't really understand all of how that is good thing because we had dirt floors during the pioneer days, but we had a lot of ventilation in log homes and what they were building. Mold is made by fungus, right? Mo this from fungus. And, and our dirt is made by decomposition of organic matter by fungus. So if you mold test dirt, it's full of fungus of all kinds. That includes mold spores because that's how we break down organic matter. So that's, that's nature's recycling system. So we don't have leaves and woody debris all over the planet. So I don't completely get that. And in terms of moisture management, you're just going to be living in a very humid environment and you might as well put a concrete slab without a vapor barrier and don't cover that. And then at least you can clean it a little better, I think. I don't know. I've never had it. I have researched it and it kind of escapes me as why, why I would want to do that. But I do have had clients that have wanted to do that. And, and I respect that. And if it's working for you, then great. And it certainly is climate dependent. I think the only. There are certain places where they're doing it successfully that are very unique and so do pay attention to that. Don't take something that's working over in some part of Oregon that's a high desert and say oh, I'm going to do that in Indiana. Probably not going to work. But yeah. Okay. And then there's another question. Would the plumbing be in the conditioned space for access? Yes. Put your plumbing in the condition space. We talked about that already. Such as heating and cooling system. You're going to definitely need a dehumidifier big time. That's why it'd be better just to trap the moisture under vapor barrier and put concrete on it. In. In my view, I assume. Let's see that the heating. Cooling would be in a conditioned space. Yes, always. Could the heating system be. I don't know what this is. Catchlow and masonry with a backup of electric heat pump or mini splits. Oh, it must be some sort of a. Some sort of a chimney type fuel burning or wood burning thing. I have to look up that name. I actually haven't heard of that. But there are. Yeah, you could totally do that. You can totally do that. Use any kind of masonry burning, fireplace, furnace system, burning pellets, wood pellets or whatever you. It is that you're going to burn as a bag and then you can use the other stuff as a backup. That's not a problem. You have one source. So you just have to make sure your design is going to be one that is going to get the air to move around as well as possible. Sometimes they use fans with that. I have seen those. Yeah, I think it's great. It's kind of being off the grid. I think that's a great idea. So. But I will look that up. I don't. I'm not familiar with that specific brand of product or name of product. So thanks for mentioning it JC because I have something else to look up. Okay, so we have another question from Irina. A backup battery. We're getting really late. This is a long question. She's talking about solar panels. So I just want to talk about one thing about solar panels because this is a really long question that I really can't answer here. I think today I want to get to some of your questions that you've asked individually. Solar panels are one of the biggest causes of water damage in attics and leaks because we're adding them after we have the roof in many cases. So if you want to do solar panels, make sure you're doing it when you're doing the roof and that all the connections are completely waterproof. The other thing you have to know is that under being under a solar panel is a huge EMF burden while they're working. And then the third thing I'd let you know is that they don't work when it's cloudy out very well, hardly at all. And if they're snow covered, they don't work at all. And in the winter they don't work very much because there's not much daylight. So we have solar panels on our trailer and we went to Florida for the month of November and into December last year. And our solar planet, we could not have lived off the solar panels without electric because it was only light out from 8 to 5. I mean it's literally dark as night at 6 and the sun is very low in the sky. So it's not very strong to generate a lot of solar power. So. So that's what I'm going to say about solar panels there. I have something about ICFs from Megan or Megan. No, they're not best for resistance. ICF says this is concrete form. There is. I do have an article that I share sometimes about a foundation leak in icf. It's a big problem. They can leak the same way as anything else and it could be a good product, but you can't not do it. You still have to do everything else they talk about. Big overhangs will be your friend. And how do the windows get installed in that system? It's a little tricky. So yep, there's no perfect solution that I just hadn't heard of. And that's why I don't talk about it. They I did consider it for my house and that's a whole nother topic. But I'm gonna move on because we're running out of time. Whoops. Hit my phone. Darcy is asking, is there some way to use radiant heat safely if it leaks in the concrete? We wouldn't know for some time. Now I actually mentioned that. Darcy. If it leaks, you're going to know immediately because the system won't work. You want to if you're not using your heat. I don't know why it would. It doesn't just leak randomly, but you could be checking them. The pressurization. There is a. So there in my house there was a panel and there was a pressure gauge and so we did have a leak. And we wondered if it was coming from the radiant heat system. It was from the plumbing, actually. But the first thing we did was open the manifold is what it's called. And we opened that panel, which is really easy, was in the laundry room. And then you could see that it's all pressurized. It's pressurized fine. So there's no leak. If you have a leak there, it loses pressure. So it's pretty easy. So no, you would know right away. If you have a leak and you're using it, you'll know immediately if you are have. If it's under construction, you'll have a loud noise. If it's in a concrete slab, it's very hard. It is hard to fix. But I don't know why. I. I don't really think it's very common that they just all of a sudden, especially pecs, are using pecs now that something actually happens to them. We haven't been using pecs that long. So it's hard to say what's going to happen in 50 years. But I think you get a lot. You're going to have a lot of years out of it. And that's in southern Minnesota. Great place to do that. So I'm gonna get to some other questions here. Trying to move my mouse. We're over an hour. I hope this is okay, Crystal, for me to keep going. Megan is asking thanks for this series. You're welcome. Thanks for being here. Very helpful to have a refresher on this material. I purchased the how to build a safe Home. Oh, yay, Megan. So you're one of the people that are in there. Well, good. And you know where to go for all this information and. And refresh yourself. Thanks for being a part of our community. Jess is asking, are wood logs or panels better than drywall for humid climate? Also, builders can't seem to find MC content 15 wood. Where can we source it from? What are your thoughts on log cabin? Okay, so number one, wood logs. So wood naturally absorbs humidity and then releases it when it can. So wood is actually great. And wood panels are great in humid environments. It doesn't just like. Wood doesn't just grow. They use wooden saunas, for heaven's sakes. You can wood in aquatic centers for the structural components is a big deal because the chlorine in the pool doesn't affect the wood in any way and the humidity doesn't cause a problem and you don't have condensation. So wood and humidity in and of itself isn't a problem. Obviously, if you have dirt and dust and a lot of it. And you have a lot of mold spores from something that can be on any material. So I think that's fine. It's the paper on drywall that's often pre digested mold food that's causing problems. But I would say that I think wood breathes better in terms of ability to hold water. And then if it's drier later, then it can release the humidity. Then it does move. It does move. Just know that builders can't seem to find MC15 content wood. You have to go to the lumber material dealers association in your district. So there's one for different parts of the United States. This is. I know they have it in Canada too, but I know more about the United States. So there's different regions. I. The national association of Lumber Material Dealers is out of D.C. if you need help with that, you can reach out to me and I can try to connect you to people who should know. But it's going to be like an association that's going to have to direct you to which one of their members can do this in your region. But it is done, apparently. Just not that I totally get it, not that easy. But it is possible. And we have to keep asking. It's kind of like my husband, we're gluten free and my husband would go get coffee and he'd always be asking, do you have any gluten free muffins or anything? And they never did. He knew they didn't, but he just wanted to say it so that they knew people wanted it. So that's kind of the same thing here is keep asking, keep asking. And you could ask where the distribution is from where, who your local, your local distributors are and see if you kind of go up the chain and see if they have any member, anybody that in the region that they can get that source that from. But worst case, you can reach out to me and I'll try to help because I am on that committee. What are thoughts on log cabin kits? And you think any kind of a kit is, is fine. It just still has to go with everything else we're talking about. So it still has to be built the same way that all of our buildings have to be built with the same kind of good flashing and overhangs and good foundations which are never part of a kit. So site drainage and all those things, they're all different, you know, so there's probably better quality log cabin kits and lesser quality log cabins have a limited amount of insulation and they do Move and they're high maintenance. That would be what I would say. You do have to have a finish on your logs that are exposed to you via the sun and so just know that. But yeah, they're really cool. So. But it is a specialty thing. It is a specialty thing. So you got to look at all the different kinds that are possible. Okay. I think this might. How many more do I have that are asked from today? Oh, I have a few. Crystal. Let me know if you think we should just stop and I should ask. Answer these in writing. Sarah, here in Florida we've basically re designed ourselves to having to remediate and renovate any home we buy. Yeah. Possible to make it safe or do everything we can to try to build. I'm living in a house that's three years old that we bought. I do. There are some things that I'm not addressing yet that could be a problem. It's not a problem now and I'm in a climate where I hopefully it won't be a problem. But that's all a risk we take and sometimes we just have to live for the moment and get a few years in and then see how it's going. That's what I would say about that. I do have a desire to build again. This work that I'm doing is taking up a lot of my time. So that would be a bit of a challenge. But also we don't have land and we haven't decided where we want to be 100 or to find land. So our life has been really crazy with moving twice in the last year into a rental and then into a house we bought. And we did do some work on the house that we bought before we moved in. So so like we took out all the carpeting. Two year old carpeting, we took it all out. And so managing all that is tricky. I fully expect the bathrooms to leak at some point. The shower and we'll deal with that when it happens. We're doing our best to not, you know, run water on the walls and we're hoping it's not going to happen. But the foundation looks good. We did have to fix some things inside drainage. So even in a two year old house. All right, so hang in there Sarah. Florida is tough. I will say Florida is tough. Site drainage, site drainage site drainage and big roof overhangs and gutters for Florida and then try to get your H Vac in your bill in your living space. Tracy, what is asking what are your thoughts on insulated country concrete form? So we had one From Megan on the same question. They're fine if you have somebody that is experienced at building them. I would not ask someone who hasn't done a lot of them to do it. There's definitely ways they can go wrong. So it's a very specialty item. And I didn't do it in my house because I didn't have somebody that I was confident that could do it and do it well. I was teaching people to do things as it was. And so it was better to stick to wood construction and the tools that they're used to using than be paying. It's not inexpensive and you still have to do all the things that I talk about anyway. So it came down to what can I control for the least amount of money for me to get what we wanted. And that turned out to be more conventional construction. Although I did do heavy timber. So I have heavy timber construction. And I did radiant floors. I guarantee you I did not. Or I can tell you because we sold it. I didn't get my money out of the radiant heating floors, but we loved every minute of having them. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. So it doesn't seem like anybody buying homes cares. Although I will say the person that bought our home, the couple that bought her home, was really excited about them. So. So that. That makes me feel good. But. And we did get the price that we asked. It's just that we could. We didn't feel like we could ask enough to. To get paid what we spent. So let's just say that. So. But I would do it again in a minute. In a minute. And that may be a reason we want to build is because I just want to have radiant heated floors again. And radiant heat, it's very. It's a very even constant heat, which is. Can be a bad thing. So in places like a California or something where it's only cold at night, it's nothing that you turn on and turn off. You kind of have to leave it because it's slow to respond. And so if you leave your. You don't turn your thermostat off down at night with radiant heat. You just kind of leave it at a good temperature. Ours was zoned, so we had different temperatures in different parts of the house. So it was real efficient that way. But there's a lot to that topic. And I actually haven't done a masterclass on radiant heat alone. I probably could it. I may have to find someone to talk about that though, because I think there's people who know more than I jc my thoughts on shipping containers and hemp crete. Okay. Hemp crete isn't structural. It's a finished material. So you still need a structure. Hemp crete is new ish. And I don't think it's going to solve any major problems. But that doesn't mean that it might not be valuable. Know that in terms of deforestation, that they're taking down forest in Asian countries to grow hemp. So there's a lot more to some of the stories we hear than the things that we are heard, though. Let's just do hemp. Hemp is like farming. So the reason that we have deforestation in the rainforest countries and like in South America and in those kind of countries is because they're taking down the rainforest to grow coffee. They're taking down the rainforest to have ranches, to have beef, you know, Argentinian beef. You can't have your beef be living in a forest. You can't grow coffee in a forest. So some of the things that we think that we're buying, maybe we shouldn't buy, they're actually contributing to deforestation in ways that we don't think about and that maybe people aren't talking about. And hemp would be one of those, in my opinion. It's very processed. It is a kind of a grass, it's a leaf. But I, I mean, there may be good value in it. And, and all I will say about that, I did do a module on that in the Dual Institute, and so they talk way more about that there. But it's just, it's not structural. So you still have to have a structure. And that structure has the potential to be condensating. If it's steel, if it's wood, it's going to break your, your insulation plane. You're going to want to have big overhangs to protect your wall. Just because it breathes doesn't mean you want. It's absorbing water back and forth. So that would be my thought on hemp Crete and on shipping. And trainers are metal. So depending on your climate, think about living in a coffee can in Texas right now, you know, with the sun beating on your metal box or your, you know, your metal shipping container, you have, you're gonna have to really focus on condensation. The other thing I'll say about shipping containers is that I did live in Europe for two years with my family and our stuff went there and back. We lived in the Netherlands and our stuff went there and back in a shipping container. And on the way back we had a Ton of mold and our stuff that had gotten wet in the shipping container. So yeah, maybe it was a big wave. I don't know. I've heard of people not having their shipping or having their shipping containers fall in the ocean. So we're glad that didn't happen. But we did lose some mattresses that were just thrown out and insurance covered it obviously. But we had wood that was damaged and so, you know, again, there's no perfect thing. And then what is the shipping container sitting on? What kind of foundation are we going to do? You're probably not going to move it around anyway. So is what are the advantages to that? And steel needs very, very good continuous insulation. I would ideally do that on the outside. And then what are you going to cover it with? Flat roofs aren't going to end well. That is a flat roof on a shipping container. So I, I think they're interesting. I, I do read about them all the time and I like to look at the pictures and stuff. I'm just not 100 sure that they would last long term or be any better than anything else we would do. Stick boat. Good question. And I think that's all of our questions. Oh, J.C. asked the S.O. j. Oh, you asked that same. Oh, there's one more from Jim. Okay, let's see. This is my last one. Jim. How to insulate a sunny south facing stucco wall with a low overhang and guard against mold in the wall. So stucco is one of those reservoir claddings. And I do talk about that in some of the bonuses that you get in the vill. The safe home course. Reservoir cladding is a cladding material that absorbs water and stucco does. It's also easy to have cracks in it. So the sun is going to create an inward vapor drive of if that gets wet. So the best thing is going to be. I don't know what low overhang means. We want to have a big overhang as much as possible in that wall. And then I'd be looking at windows and openings of any kind. Those are usually what leaks. And then I'd be looking at rising damp coming from the ground. So any of our walls get hit on everything. You know, they can get hit all over. They get hit in the opening where that opening could leak and then water could travel. They can get hit from the roof. If the roof leaks, it can go in the wall and then, and then we can get water in our walls from the ground. Wicking up building properly is we want to address all these things and make sure it doesn't happen to us. It is unfortunate that this is not something that's done regularly in new construction. I wish it was. It is my goal and my mission. Someday somehow, if anybody has connections, let me know to, to be able to talk about this stuff to people who are making codes. But the codes I am familiar enough with to know that there's a lot of politics and all that and there's a lot of people's self industry interests to accommodate. And so it's difficult and cost is always a thing. Some people don't care. They don't care about any of this stuff. They just want cheap and so they should have a right to have their cheap thing that isn't going to be durable. And they, you know, they have their right to be sick. To be honest. For those of us that do care, we have to find a. We have to figure out how to have a higher standard. And that's why I say code is minimum, not best practice. Building codes are our best, bare minimum, not best practice. And that we just have to inform ourselves as much as possible to do the best we can. And that goes with everything. And health would be the same way. I mean I continue to have health issues and so does my family. And most part I'm. I'm really blessed and feel thankful that I can do most everything I want to do. But I still have these rashes which you might be able to see. And, and so there's still little hills for me to climb. But I'm educating myself constantly on stuff related to health. And it's the same thing with our buildings we have. We just have to do that to take control of our own lives and our own living situations and do the best we can. You can live in a really small space, but we still have to build it well. So in worst case there are some trailers that you could consider and. Or camp in a tent in your backyard, especially during warm weather. That's probably what I would do. So sign up free to get the extended replay access. So this stuff is all going to come down very soon off Facebook. I'm not going to guarantee what day it won't be beyond Tuesday on Facebook, but if you want to get extended access to the replays and watch them, then you need to sign up with an email because I'm live right now. You may have be just seeing this. 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I did it for free initially just hoping that it could be helpful for people and that I knew I had this information to share that people people could own that there is so much support including the with the education that will help you build your your dream house, your safe place, no matter what kind of safe home you're looking to build. See the links in the comments and visit. Let's see Visit the links in the comments where you can see the whole curriculum, the bonuses and get instant access to everything you need to enroll. August 10th is our next private student Q A. So it's like this and we spend. We've spent an hour. If I have to come up with more because it gets so busy I will. But we are generally spending an hour. They are recorded. You can send questions in advance when you're in that course and and then you can watch them recorded. I haven't missed a question yet. So August 10th is our next one. So sign up before then to be on our next Q and A. We are so thankful to have you all here and that do like and subscribe if this stuff is helpful and continue to follow the work that we're doing. Sign up for the Vill the Safe Home course and join us in the community and be a part of this growing movement that we're creating to build well and build safe homes so that we have the best practice, best air quality possible. And thank you to my team who are behind the scenes helping with all these questions and, and keeping keeping our our, our access running and our ability to do this work in front of you and in front of the people who need it. So thanks again for being here and I will see you next.
