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Library

This library contains research reports produced by the Building America program and other building science resources used to support this Solution Center. The materials cover both new construction and existing homes. Use the search box and/or the filters to explore hundreds of residential building resources. Access to some references not produced by Building America may require purchase from the publisher. Documents are listed alphabetically. While we continually update our database, links may have changed since posting. Please contact our webmaster if you find broken links.

Showing results 1 - 50 of 109

Author(s)
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Organization(s)
FEMA
Publication Date
Description
Fact sheet summarizing the changes to the flood provisions in the 2012 I-Codes that appear in the 2015 edition.
Author(s)
International Code Council
Organization(s)
ICC
Publication Date
Description
2015 edition of code for commercial buildings that brings together all structural, plumbing, mechanical, fuel gas, energy and electrical provisions for all buildings except detached one- and two-family residences and townhouses up to three stories.
Author(s)
International Code Council
Organization(s)
ICC
Publication Date
Description
2015 edition of code establishing a baseline for existing building retrofits to reach appropriate safety levels under new construction requirements covered in other ICC codes.
Author(s)
International Code Council
Organization(s)
ICC
Publication Date
Description
2015 edition of code establishing minimum regulations for plumbing facilities, including fixtures, water heaters, water supply and distribution, sanitary drainage, storm drainage, etc.
Author(s)
International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials
Organization(s)
IAPMO
Publication Date
Description
Code set from IAPMO explaining plumbing standards. 2015 publication.
Author(s)
Rutkowski
Organization(s)
Air Conditioning Contractors of America
Publication Date
Description
The manual covers residential zoning issues - multiple, single-zone, and central multi-zone systems - and includes advice on working with homeowners to adapt the heating or cooling system design to meet modern home design features.
Author(s)
Arena Lois
Organization(s)
Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings,
CARB,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
NREL
Publication Date
Description
Report analyzing design heating load sizing methods for superinsulated homes in cold climates and comparing them to the actual energy usage to determine if the building load calculation methodology should be changed for calculating the design heating load of these homes.
Author(s)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Organization(s)
FEMA,
EPA,
NIH,
OSHA
Publication Date
Description
Guidance from HUD, EPA, NIH, and FEMA for workers who deal directly with asbestos.
Author(s)
American Society of Civil Engineers
Organization(s)
ASCE,
Structural Engineering Institute,
SEI
Publication Date
Description
Standard describing the minimum requirements and expected performance for the siting and design and construction of buildings and structures in flood hazard areas that are subject to building code requirements. The current version of this standard was published in the year 2014, and is available in...
Author(s)
American Society for Testing and Materials,
ASTM International
Organization(s)
ASTM
Publication Date
Description
Standard specification covering elastomeric cellular preformed gasket and sealing materials. This version of the standard was published in the year 2011 and is available for preview and purchase at the reference link. Other versions of the standard were published in the years 2021, 2015, 2006, and...
Author(s)
Building Science Corporation
Organization(s)
BSC
Publication Date
Description
Document presenting some of the key technical properties of many of the most common building materials.
Author(s)
Brand Larry,
Cautley D,
Bohac D,
Francisco P,
Shen L,
Gloss S
Organization(s)
Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit,
PARR,
NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership,
NorthernSTAR,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
NREL
Publication Date
Description
Report on a simplified test procedure for combustion safety that is easier to implement and should produce fewer false positives than the previous procedure.
Author(s)
Mark Parlee
Organization(s)
The Building Consultant
Publication Date
Description
An article illustrating common errors found in fiber cement siding installations. Many of these errors and poor flashing examples apply to siding materials beyond fiber cement siding.
Author(s)
Tile Roofing Institute,
Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA)
Organization(s)
Tile Roofing Institute,
Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA)
Publication Date
Description
Installation manual outlining proper installation practices, industry standards and the code requirements of roofing tiles.
Author(s)
Keote Shreyas Ashok,
Kumar Dhanendra,
Singh Rishabh
Organization(s)
Journal of Energy and Power Sources,
Indian Institute of Technology BHU Varanasi,
IIT BHU
Publication Date
Description
Article describing construction best practices to help reduce the wind-induced pressure loads on a low-rise building during a hurricane.
Author(s)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Organization(s)
HUD
Publication Date
Description
Brochure helping homeowners identify hazards, work with contractors to remove the hazards, help ensure the work is done properly, and educate when they can return safely to the home.
Author(s)
Lstiburek
Organization(s)
BSC
Publication Date
Description
Article describing the difference between conditioned or unvented attics and unconditioned or vented attics.
Author(s)
Cummings James B,
Withers Charles R,
Kono Jamie E
Organization(s)
Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction,
BA-PIRC,
Florida Solar Energy Center,
FSEC
Publication Date
Description
Report on experiments comparing the cooling and heating seasonal and peak demand performance of different variable-capacity air conditioning and heat pump units.
Author(s)
Lstiburek
Organization(s)
Building Science Corporation,
BSC
Publication Date
Description
Article describing strategies for reducing the risk of ice dam formation on roofs in winter.
Author(s)
Less,
Walker
Organization(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Design and Construction Process chapter provides detailed guidance for each process phase: pre-planning, planning, construction, test-out and post-occupancy.
Author(s)
Less,
Walker
Organization(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Lessons Learned chapter focuses on successful deep energy retrofit projects throughout the U.S.
Author(s)
Less,
Walker
Organization(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Occupant Behavior chapter discusses how to assess homeowner behavior patterns and use these patterns to enhance overall energy savings.
Author(s)
Less,
Walker
Organization(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Over Time, Phased Guidance chapter presents a phased approach to deep energy retrofits.
Author(s)
Less,
Walker
Organization(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Reducing costs and Increasing Cost-Effectiveness chapter provides suggestions for controlling deep retrofit costs, including both 'do's' and 'don'ts.'
Author(s)
Less,
Walker
Organization(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Source Energy and Carbon Decisions chapter helps users carefully assess the impacts of switching from gas to electricity for heating end-uses, using source energy and/or carbon emissions...
Author(s)
Jack Spirko
Organization(s)
Permaculture Research Institute
Publication Date
Description
Article describing the difference between swales and hugels (berms used to create soil from woody debris).
Author(s)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Organization(s)
HUD
Publication Date
Description
Designer checklist covering hazards involving ground and surface water, rain and water vapor, HVAC and plumbing, sunlight, insects, decay, and natural hazards, and builder checklist covering all disaster resistance, sorted by building component.
Author(s)
Irtaza,
Javed,
Jameel
Organization(s)
Asian Journal of Civil Engineering
Publication Date
Description
Article presenting a numerical study of wind pressure on the low-rise hip-roof building by varying the roof pitch using computational fluid dynamics computer modeling and wind tunnel testing of hip roofs with different roof pitches: 15°, 20°, 30° and 40°.
Author(s)
Fernandez Nick,
Wang Weimin,
Alvine Kyle J.,
Katipamula Srinivas
Organization(s)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
PNNL
Publication Date
Description
Technical report evaluating the energy savings potential of radiative cooling technologies, particularly photonic 'selective emittance' materials.
Author(s)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Organization(s)
EPA
Publication Date
Description
This report is designed to meet ASHRAE 62.2-2010/2013 and ANSI/ACCA’s 5 QI-2015 protocol, thereby improving the performance of HVAC equipment in new homes when compared to homes built to minimum code.
Author(s)
Ribeiro David,
Mackres Eric,
Baatz Brendon,
Cluett Rachel,
Jarrett Michael,
Kelly Meegan,
Vaidyanathan Shruti
Organization(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy,
ACEEE
Publication Date
Description
Report describing the research gap in the connection between resilience and energy efficiency.
Author(s)
JM Peterson et. al.
Organization(s)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Report describing the methods and results of a field evaluation of the energy performance of cellular shade window coverings.
Author(s)
Peterson
Organization(s)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
PNNL
Publication Date
Description
Report describing a research study of the performance of interior low-E storm windows in two test houses at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA.
Author(s)
Herk,
Poerschke
Organization(s)
IBACOS
Publication Date
Description
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is interested in finding cost-effective solutions for deep energy retrofits (DERs) related to exterior wall insulation in a cold climate, with targets of 50% peak load reduction and 50% space conditioning energy savings.
Author(s)
Levy E,
Dentz Jordan,
Ansanelli Eric,
Barker G,
Rath P,
Dadia D
Organization(s)
Advanced Residential Integrated Energy Solutions Collaborative,
ARIES
Publication Date
Description
Report of a field evaluation of four novel roof designs to see how each design would reduce space-conditioned energy use so that the knowledge gained could be applied to the design of new manufactured homes.
Author(s)
Harrington,
Springer
Organization(s)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Publication Date
Description
Report presenting the results from several demonstrations of a new method for sealing building envelop air leaks.