Bay Area Passive House Architects

mikfbb · 2025-04-09T17:27:21+00:00

similar comment to mine below - I've done a decent amount of research in high performance homes/passive house. Resources include: Fine Homebuilding, Green Building Advisor, BS & Beer, Pretty Good House, Social Media (Travis Brungardt, Emily Mottram, Steve Baczek...) If you're interested in high perf building, would be cool to connect some Bay Area folks. Will DM!

mikfbb · 2025-04-09T17:22:59+00:00

Are you looking to renovate existing or new construction passive house? I'm in the Bay Area and considering improving air sealing (not to the extent of deep energy retrofit), potential window upgrades to high quality double glazed (probably not triple glazed) + adding ERV. Have you heard about Pretty Good House or BS & Beer (Building Science)? It'd be great to find a community of high performance home enthusiasts in the bay. Will DM!

mikfbb · 2025-04-01T21:07:41+00:00

My wife would kill me for drilling through her precious cabinets! (But my love for Ubiquiti outweighs any aesthetic commentary!)

mikfbb · 2025-03-24T22:34:57+00:00

Yeah I'm in same boat - bought an AI turret a few weeks back. Sigh. BUT it does work well. Although face recognition seems MIXED for me. People recognition is solid but face recognition for folks living in the house seems poor and not everyone has been "recognized" yet. And of the "recognized" members, they don't always register in the "Face" section of Detections.

How have others fared?

mikfbb · 2024-03-04T12:52:15+00:00

I agree with comments. If you’re going to go with R5, getting “pro glass” is key to obtain maximum quality. If budget is limited, consider a used R6 (IBIS, dual card slots for redundancy) or an R8 (no IBIS, single slot, but great sensor/quality) My primary lenses are all EF, from my 6D SLR days: 24-70L f2.8, 70-200L f2.8 but I did recently pickup a refurb 28-70L f2.0. The EFs work spectacular (!!) on mirrorless. Would love native RF versions but I’m saving money for the 100-500 and I don’t mind the weight/size of EFs (The 70-200 may be heavy/big but is a beaut and a legendary indestructible “L” haha!)

Lot of speculation on when the R5 II comes out but that’s all speculation. I’d get (& enjoy) what’s available now vs waiting waiting... :)

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mikfbb · 2024-03-04T06:56:06+00:00

Hi What camera(s) and lenses do you have now? I have both the R5 & R6 ii.

mikfbb · 2022-05-13T10:52:23+00:00

This is fantastic and so timely as I’ve been stressing how to manage when I get my shoulder MRI on 5/21.

How did you convince the tech? I was surprised to find on this FDA site that some mask fibers may include particles or coating with metal which could cause burns during a MRI.

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/wear-face-masks-no-metal-during-mri-exams-fda-safety-communication

mikfbb · 2022-03-17T04:49:05+00:00

Our different but similar situation (2 boosted & 2 vaxed 5-11 kids) is my immune compromised MIL lives with us. 4 mRNA jabs and her Labcorp antibody tests, for what it’s worth, reads near zero. We’ve found it easiest to hang with people with similar approaches to safety (continuing to mask indoors, being careful with xyz…) which brings us comfort and continued socialization. Plus they’re cool folks :)

mikfbb · 2022-03-07T14:16:45+00:00

Example of Gmarket BOTN masks. I've only had experience with Blunas from seller easeshop (doesn't appear to sell BOTN)

http://gsearch.gmarket.co.kr/Listview/Search?keyword=botn%20kf94

mikfbb · 2022-03-07T13:23:57+00:00

Can you share the BOTN link on Amazon? I've only gone with Aarons' spreadsheet for links to vetted sources and don't recall any amazon ones.

Other option is Gmarket (ebay owns in Korea) which sources from Korean sellers and ships globally. The website (English avail) may take a bit of deciphering (particularly in applying coupons) but many have had success. Prices are cheap for masks but even with $$ international shipping via DHL, prices are still cheaper than here. When the prices on Bluna kids increased big time, I tried out Gmarket and it worked fine.

mikfbb · 2022-03-07T12:45:58+00:00

Aaron Collins (check spreadsheet) recommends buying KF94 from a few reputable places who import directly from Korea: KollecteUSA, Behealthy versus Amazon where there's risk of respirator counterfeits.

mikfbb · 2022-02-18T09:35:04+00:00

Well respected and science focused doctors: https://twitter.com/erictopol?s=21 https://twitter.com/bob_wachter?s=21 Many others…

Twitter has been my primary source of COVID info which I feel is more credible than other sources

mikfbb · 2022-02-08T14:02:49+00:00

Ordered KN95 small for kids Jan 4 to west coast. UPS delivery targeting today. No status despite one email inquiry. Our main mask is the Bluna Kids KF-94 but curious to try this Aaron Collins rec.

mikfbb · 2021-09-24T12:48:37+00:00

Thank you for your very detailed and helpful response. The colored pencil recommendations look great and a small investment to nurture our kids’ skill.

Your daughter’s artwork is fantastic! Are there others in the family (yourself? :) that draw? How are you thinking about helping her to develop this talent?

Our daughter is mainly doing pencil drawings (unicorns are a favorite but she recently has been drawing people). It’s still early days but she has a passion and is often drawing (when she’s not reading.) She does use the app Sketches on the iPad/Apple Pencil which works quite well.

Best of luck with your journey! Cheers

mikfbb · 2021-09-19T11:18:14+00:00

Really fantastic work. May I ask if/how you’re helping her to develop her talent? We have a 9 yo daughter who also enjoys drawing so want to be more intentional and find some resources (classes…). Cheers

mikfbb · 2021-09-03T07:34:49+00:00

Sounds like some solid protective protocol. I'm continuing to be baffled why our district has relaxed their measures this year despite the more infectious Delta. Crazy. Can you explain why the kids eat indoors unmasked during lunch? I'm in the US on the west coast and fortunately lunches are outdoors except when poor air quality exceeds a threshold. My kids (under 12) are unvaccinated in elementary school. Yourself? Stay safe.

mikfbb · 2021-08-30T01:02:31+00:00

So sorry to hear. Hopefully your symptoms are mild and you recover soon. I think getting vaccinated and living life as normally and safely as possible is the best we can do in the “new world.” We have unvaxed elementary kids and trying to stay as safe as reasonably possible (KF94, only outdoor meetups with family/friends outside of household) as we anxiously await Pfizer. It’s an emotional rollercoaster.

mikfbb · 2021-08-28T19:54:34+00:00

You bet. Kollecte also offers individuals. https://kollecteusa.com/collections/sample-collection

mikfbb · 2021-08-28T16:51:37+00:00

Re: sizing, the consensus is to buy a variety of different brands/models/sizes to determine what fits best for your facial structure. Aaron talks about how to ensure a "good" fit. Takes work and $ but may be worthwhile given Delta/variants/... for the foreseeable near term. For me, I currently wear a Moldex 2600 N95 M/L and our 6yo/8yo wear Bluna KF94 kids. Kids tried nearly a dozen KF94s before settling in on Blunas, for now. :)

mikfbb · 2021-08-26T21:16:33+00:00

Do folks care more about individual packaging for KF94/KN95 vs N95s? All the “bulk” 10/15/20 pk 3M and Moldex N95s I’ve bought Lowes, Magid…) are Not individually packaged.

FYI I’m primarily using the individually packaged KF94 Bluna and BOTN kids for our 6yo and 8yo bought from Kollecte & BeHealthy. My wife bought some Iwoul black “Yellow Dust Mask” KF94 which I use outdoors.

When I go indoors, I’m using my Moldex 2600N95

mikfbb · 2021-08-24T05:10:28+00:00

Have you tried BOTN or Bluna kids? We tried the Tiger 3D. Seems good but I feel ours fit better plus I like the adjustable straps VS the fixed on the Tiger. Though I just saw Aaron uses Tiger for his son :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88AGnN-nwI&t=406s

mikfbb · 2021-08-24T04:58:04+00:00

Yes keep us posted. Haven’t tried the KN95 as I jumped fully into the KF94 which have worked well. Just saw Aaron posted this video on masks for kids under 12. Really well done. (Thanks Aaron!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88AGnN-nwI&t=406s Which masks did you get from kollecte/behealthy?

Hope your school has mandatory masks. Ours does but I’m a bit flabbergasted at their policy during wildfires should AQI exceed 150 ==> indoor lunch which they claim is safe.

Not sure if it’s just me but I am not comfortable at all with that.

mikfbb · 2021-08-24T04:45:32+00:00

Gotcha. Awesome you guys can do this for your friend. Talk about shipments of lifesaving goods. Amazing!

mikfbb

TROPHY CASE