What is Your Home Trying to Tell You?
Picture this: It’s your first winter living in your brand new Fargo, ND home. The temperature dips below freezing. Frost starts forming on all the windows, and you experience high humidity and temperature variations from room-to-room. What’s going on? It’s a new home, right? What could it be? Unresolved issues like this can reduce air quality and cost homeowners hundreds of dollars in additional heating costs annually.
After multiple interior home inspections and second opinions, the problem wouldn’t go away. The mystery deepened! Until, that is, the Benjamin Custom Homes team headed outside to examine the air intakes and exhaust for the furnace and the HRV. Once the vent covers were removed, it became obvious that the intake for the air exchanger was plugged from construction and the exhaust was open. This meant that the air exchanger was exhausting stale air without bringing in fresh air from the outside.
Within hours of clearing the intake, the comfort level improved substantially, the humidity fell back to normal seasonal levels and the condensation on the windows disappeared. By understanding pressures, a knowledgeable builder has the ability to resolve—or prevent—even the most challenging “circulation” problems.
The 21st century custom home is better insulated, tighter, and often more HVAC-equipped than ever before. But the best technology requires the attention of an equally sophisticated homebuilder. Over the last 23 years as a homebuilder, Benjamin Custom Homes has learned a few things about how to build new homes and renovations in challenging climates like ours.