Library

Fact sheet providing an overview of the FEMA document Wind Retrofit Guide for Residential Buildings.

Report summarizing the requirements to strenghthen new homes against property damage caused by high wind occurrences per the IBHS Fortified Homes High Wind Standard for New Homes.

Fact sheet summarizing the changes to the flood provisions in the 2012 I-Codes that appear in the 2015 edition.

Florida building code including all the amendments and additions by Florida for the wind-borne debris regions and the high-velocity hurricane zone.

Report summarizing the requirements for strenghtening and protecting the roof, openings in the house, and creating a continuous load path to strengthen walls and foundation per the IBHS Fortified Homes Hurricane Standard for New Homes.

Guide describing the requirements by FORTIFIED Home™ for improving the home's resistance in severe thunderstorms, straight-line wind events, and high winds at the outer edges of tornadoes.

Guide describing the requirements by FORTIFIED Home™ for improving the home's resistance in severe thunderstorms, straight-line wind events, and high winds at the outer edges of tornadoes.

Report providing builders in the hot-dry and mixed-dry climates with guidance for building homes that have whole-house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark with no added overall costs for consumers.

Article from the Sierra Club explaining 5 steps to take to ensure your home's resistance to wildfires, including site maintenance and roof construction guidelines.

Guide providing information for homeowners and renters on how to clean up residential mold problems and how to prevent mold growth.

Report telling consumers the risks of radon, how radon gets into a home, and steps consumers can take to reduce radon exposure in their homes.

Article describing methods for venting a vented attic and a roof assembly over an unvented attic.

Guide developed to help contractors, building operators, and city officials successfully adopt cool roof and pavement technology.

Information sheet about unvented fireplaces and combustion safety.

Energy Star web page providing guidance on attic ventilation.

Standard providing nationally recognized, manufacturer-endorsed set of inspection tasks for HVAC maintenance.

Document reporting results from a study done to evaluate effects of automotive emissions from attached garages on the indoor environment.

Case study examining the problem of unwanted air transfer from garage to living space and the effectiveness of garage exhaust ventilation or house supply ventilation to provide a solution to that.

Website describing indoor air quality, and common indoor pollutants and how to reduce exposure to them.

Website describing archived program inforamtion for the Air Sensors International Conference, hosted by the University of California, Davis.

Manual describing best practices or home construction in Alaska and northern climates.

American Cleaning Institute website homepage.

Standard detailing the specific requirements for all face, back, and inner ply grades as well as formaldehyde emissions, moisture content, tolerances, sanding, and grade marking which was published in 2020, can be acquired through a subscription with the ANSI webstore.

Updated detailed information about Formaldehyde.

A publication highlighting recommendations that contribute to improved overall performance in the structural shell and focus on good connection details to tie together exterior walls, roofs and floors.

Report explaining how to develop, practice, and maintain emergency plans that reflect what must be done before, during, and after a disaster to protect people and their property.

Guidance from HUD, EPA, NIH, and FEMA for workers who deal directly with asbestos.

Webpage providing mapping tool for obtaining ground snow load, based on ASCE 7-10, for any location in the contiguous United States, with the exception of locations requiring a case study due to extreme local variations in ground snow loads. Fee required for some data.

Document describing recent discussions on indoor carbon dioxide (CO 2) levels.

Technical fact sheet describing ways to construct asphalt shingle roofs to be more resistant to high winds and hurricanes; also published in FEMA P-499 “Home Builder’s Guide to Coastal Construction: Technical Fact Sheet Series.”

Report describing information for builders and retrofitters about eliminating hazards and coincidental energy losses that come from attached garages.

Report about a project that examines implementation of advanced retrofit measures in the context of a large-scale weatherization program and the archetypal Chicago, Illinois, brick bungalow.

This report outlines research activities that are expected to facilitate the adoption of energy retrofits by remodeling contractors and roofing contractors using retrofit panels which applicable to many existing house designs in most climates and markets.

Technical article describing issues and moisture concerns related to weatherization efforts.

SPFA website signup page to access SPFA documents.

Article from California Earthquake Authority on the benefits of retrofitting homes to withstand earthquake forces, with a focus on foundations, walls, and chimneys.

Information sheet about sealing combustion appliances to ensure good indoor air quality.

Report providing water management details for roof assemblies.

Presentation describing details for installing structural insulated panels (SIPs).

Expert meeting focusing on identifying gaps and barriers in combustion safety that need to be addressed by future research, and to develop data-driven technical recommendations for code updates so that a common approach for combustion safety can be adopted by all members of the building energy...

Report comparing a variety of roof insulating strategies to present their advantages and disadvantages according to several comparison criteria.

Article describing the control layers (air, thermal, and vapor barriers) needed to build homes successfully in very cold locations.

Document containing recommendations on how to brace roofs and gable end walls based on lessons learned from analyzing the destruction from hurricane Andrew.

An article discussing how different metal roof materials and attachment methods affect the ability of the roof to thermally expand and contract and the durability of different solutions.

Source for information about Carbon Monoxide including health effects and measures to reduce exposure.

This is a guide for establishing smoke-free policies in public housing and multifamily properties.

News article from SFGate explaining and giving figures on how chimney failure is the most common type of damage to homes during an earthquake.

Information sheet summarizing inspection and testing of combustion appliances taught during the 2006 Florida whole-house weatherization training as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hot Climate Initiative.

Study investigating measured cooling energy performance in side-by-side identical homes with varying roof types, including cool roof technologies.