Southfacers Insulate EarthCraft Home with Dekalb Habitat for Humanity

August 25, 2025|Southface Staff
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Overview

Southface Volunteers in the Field

This past August Southface team members volunteered with one of our EarthCraft Builders at a Habitat for Humanity DeKalb home in Stone Mountain. This new home is set to achieve the EarthCraft House certification, and a group of Southfacers spent the day installing insulation in the walls and floor of the home. This was a great opportunity for our team to spend time together in the field on a project that is closely aligned with Southface’s mission. Habitat for Humanity DeKalb has built several EarthCraft certified homes in the past year, and Southface has appreciated the opportunity to help with this project.

Southface volunteer team takes a quick selfie (Photo Credit: Southface)

Building to Higher Standards

This home has been built with 2×6 wall framing that allows for R-19 batt insulation, which is more than is required in a typical code-built home in Atlanta. In addition to the insulation, Southfacers helped with air sealing along the exterior walls since the home will need to achieve an air tightness of 3 ACH50 to meet EarthCraft standards.

Why Air Tightness Matters

For readers unfamiliar with ACH50, this term stands for Air Changes per Hour at 50 Pascals pressure and it is a measurement of how airtight a home is. The lower the ACH50 of a home, the less humid outdoor air can leak into a house while conditioned air leaks out. This helps homes maintain more comfortable indoor climates and helps homeowners maintain lower utility costs.

Southfacer Evan Blalock checks on insulation (Photo Credit: Southface)

Partnership in Action

Southface would like to give a special shout out to Thomas Billups, an EarthCraft Builder and Board Member of Habitat for Humanity DeKalb who has helped the organization incorporate EarthCraft into many of their new construction projects, and the Habitat for Humanity DeKalb construction team members who patiently worked with us as our team meticulously installed insulation in the house.

Southfacers leave good wishes for new home owner (Photo Credit: Southface)

Get Involved and Learn More

Habitat for Humanity DeKalb is ramping up new construction and rehab projects this year, all built to EarthCraft House standards—a program that helps create healthier, more energy-efficient homes.

Want to get involved? You can volunteer directly with Habitat DeKalb at dekalbhabitat.org/volunteer.

Curious about the green building program behind these homes? Learn more about EarthCraft at earthcraft.org.

And if you’re part of the Southface community and want to join our staff team the next time we volunteer, email Amelia at agodfrey@southface.org.