HOUSE ASKEW

This 3-story, 2300 sf brick rowhouse in Philadelphia is one of this city's first foam-free deep energy retrofits. Foregoing the toxicity and underperformance of spray foam, and instead using Building Biology and Passive House principles as guides, this gut-job renovation will have a 21st century building enclosure as a model house for the Anthropocene. Hygrothermal modeling using WUFI will help ensure bi-directional vapor diffusion of accumulated moisture, helping the vapor-variable air barrier and dense packed cellulose greatly reduce this homes annual energy bill while reducing its contribution to climate change. This electric-only, "frack-free" house is solar-ready to push it closer to net-zero energy, and as a bonus will not support the hydraulic fracturing industry in its operation.