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Consultation for the Design Stage
FOAM-TECH’s founder and president, Henri Fennell, was trained as an architect and has over thirty of experience providing energy products and services. For the past ten years Mr. Fennell has supported architects, engineers and building owners with consultations on thermal envelope designs. Notable involvements include:
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Seventeen years of experience with infrared diagnostics (currently diagnostic capabilities include: blower door testing; fog testing; snow; frost, ice, and dew pattern analysis; and remote temperature and humidity monitoring.
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Extensive work with residential, major business, and government clients.
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Provider for American Institute of Architects/Continuing Education Service (AIA/CES).
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Author of several white papers and presentations for major industry conferences.
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Member of the State of Vermont’s Advisory Committee for the Vermont Residential Energy Building Standards.
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Participation in the development of models and standards for NAVC/DARPA Projects related to the development of Cold-Weather Specifications for electric vehicles.
Mr. Fennell’s extensive experience with thermal envelopes enables FOAM-TECH to provide a wide variety of consulting services for people in the process of designing and planning new building construction.
Building Envelope Design Reviews
Building Envelope Failure Prevention
A significant portion of FOAM-TECH’s work involves diagnosing and repairing building envelope failures; consequently, we have learned that many of these failures are due to similar causes which we can identify in advance during a review of the architectural layout and detailing. Some building configurations are “red flags” for ice dam formation and other building envelope problems. It is possible to identify the critical areas that typically lead to failures and avoid them by working with the architect or engineer to refine the details during the design process.
The design review focuses on:
Architectural plans
Specification reviews
Building envelope products
Building envelope performance
Plan reviews are a win-win situation for everyone involved as they can save the costs of callbacks and disputes over the responsibility for building failures.
Clients can take advantage of our Thermal Envelope Strategic Track Program (TEST), a progression of services commencing with design and specifications reviews and ending with quality assurance testing.
Project Feasibility: Building Envelope Budget Pricing
A building is a major expense both during construction and over the lifetime of the building. FOAM-TECH can review your architectural plans and material specifications and suggest options that can either save money during construction or reduce energy expenses during the building's lifetime. Examples of design or material options include:
Alternative insulation systems.
Stressed skin panels instead of sprayed or injected insulation.
The use of rigid foam sheets sealed with polyurethane foam.
Building Envelope Code and Regulatory Support
Increases in energy cost and a hightened awareness in the need for conservation has driven many states to develop improved building and energy codes. Vermont’s Act 250 energy guidelines is an example of an energy code designed to increase energy conservation on a statewide level. Mr. Fennell’s experience as an energy conservation consultant and service on the State of Vermont’s Advisory Committee for the Vermont Residential Energy Building Standards gives FOAM-TECH the knowledge and ability to assist clients with code and regulatory support on their building projects. FOAM-TECH can ensure the building envelope will meet or exceed building and energy codes before the plans are submitted to authorities and that the building envelope will perform as expected.
Heat Loss Projections
FOAM-TECH has the capability to perform heat loss projections for buildings by working with architectural plans, specifications, and software programs. A heat loss projection done while a building is in the design stage can help with anticipating expenses, making sure your heating system is optimized for the building, and that the thermal envelope meets or exceeds all energy codes.
