Construction Progress: Week of May 13

The mounting track and conduit of the vapor panels have been installed and polished off this week. The electricians took longer than expected this week which pushed the drywall installation and window installation back another half week or so. The window on the north side of the Bedroom Module (that would be the window in the bathroom) was installed as a test. Tyvek was installed on the exterior face the wall before the window was installed. Tyvek is a permeable membrane which limits air infiltration while allowing moisture to escape to the outside if it gets to the inside of the wall. When the rest of the windows and doors are installed, this same process will be used.

The North Wall of the Bedroom Module with Permeable Barrier and Window Installed

By June 15 all exterior finishes should be on and interior nearing completion. At this point the mechanical engineering team will be able to install the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (also referred to as the HVAC system). Once installed, the HVAC system will be tested to insure the optimum indoor air quality (IAQ), an adequate number of air changes per hour (this plays a large part in the providing an optimum IAQ), and one of the most important tests will be to insure the most efficient performance of the vapor compression panels. These tests will make the ELEMENT a pleasant, healthy and energy efficient house in which to live.