The two fluids that have made me look the dumbest through the years have been water and alcohol—and alcohol has been a distant second to water, unfortunately.

I am frequently amazed by how creative water can be in finding its way to those parts of a building where it will do the most harm. Over the decades, a large majority of our warranty work has involved repairing damage caused by water, and even after 30+ years of revisiting past projects to see how they’re holding up, I’m still surprised and chagrined by the way water continues to be totally capable of outsmarting me.

That’s why one of the sessions at BE15 that has me most excited is Terry Brennan’s “H2-Uh-Oh: Moisture Risks and How to Manage Them.” I’m sending a lot of my crew to the conference this year, and though I won’t say I’m requiring them to attend Terry’s session, I am definitely communicating how happy it would make me if they did attend. More importantly, they themselves will be glad:

Terry is consistently one of the most entertaining and informative speakers at any conference he’s at, and BE15 is extremely lucky to have him.

Terry has been thinking longer and harder about water problems than anyone except maybe Bill Rose. That’s why the EPA picked him to be co-author of their on-line book “Moisture Control Guidance for Building Design, Construction and Maintenance.” This guide is an outstanding resource—your tax dollars have been put to very good use.  

Years ago, the “Building Energy Conference” was called the “Quality Building Conference.” This session gets right to the essence of quality buildings—both design and construction—and I recommend it highly for all architects, contractors, and owners who care about how well their buildings function over time.

Learn more about BuildingEnergy 15: http://nesea.org/be15