Library

Report presenting seismic design and construction guidance for one- and two-family houses for homebuilders, knowledgeable homeowners, and other non-engineers.

Guidebook that provides information on earthquake hazards that can damage homes, the design and retrofit of earthquake resistant housing, and how to find more information on earthquake safety.

Webpage describing how to locate and manually shut off natural gas service at the meter.

Report describing ways to retrofit a home to make it more resistant to earthquakes.

Factsheet describing tips for building or renovating with a focus on disaster resistance.

Report providing information about energy-efficient heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) equipment options to help homeowners cut their energy use, reduce their carbon footprint, and increase their homes comfort, health, and safety.

Standards criteria supporting ICC HVAC duct support standards.

Report evaluating the relative effectiveness of various control and distribution strategies to improve hydronic space heating performance in existing low-rise multifamily buildings

ICC-ES Evaluation Report reviewing proprietary steel shear wall panels developed by Simpson Strong-Tie Company to resist vertical and lateral loads in walls resulting from wind or earthquakes.

Report summarizing approaches to addressing duct leakage in hot humid climates.

Article describing excess flow valves installed on gas lines to shut-off natural gas flow to a home in the event that a gas line is severed due to an earthquake, natural disaster, earthquake, etc.

Webpage detailing how to purchase and install the correct shut-off valve for homes in California, including differences between earthquake and excess flow valves and how to install each.

Report showing installers how to attach ducts, pipes, and associated equipment to buildings to minimize earthquake damage.

Website providing a probabilistic map of the expected number of damaging earthquakes around the U.S.

Report describing as-found interior platform return plenums, the magnitude of their contribution to the total amount of duct leakage, and techniques and results of retrofits executed by the HVAC trade during equipment replacement.

Document from IBHS explaining how to inspect homes for earthquake preparedness and retrofit solutions for homes that have suffered structural damage as a result of earthquakes.

Article describing dozens of ideas on how to retrofit a home so it is more earthquake ready.

Report presenting lab evaluation of five heat pump water heaters available in the US market today.

Report proposing mini-split heat pumps as a new retrofit option to replace resistance heating in the Pacific Northwest.

Report on the long-term performance of mini-split heat pumps.

Document presenting a cost effective method that was used by four builders in the Gainesville, FL area to construct interior ducts in over a dozen site built homes.

Report identifying the target market for solar water heaters and potential pathways and cost/performance targets that must be met for these systems to realize large energy savings.

Factsheet describing how to test the duct leakage of a manufactured home in the manufactured home factory.

Document pertaining to design and application guidance for combination space and tankless domestic hot water heating systems used in residential buildings, based on field evaluation, testing, and industry meetings.

Document intended for designers and installers of hydronic heating systems interested in maximizing the overall system efficiency of condensing boilers when coupled with baseboard convectors. It is applicable to new and retrofit projects.

Document with evaluation of 14 heat pump water heaters (including three recently released HPWH products) installed in existing homes in the northeast region of the United States.

Report providing guidance on how to implement a compact duct system inside a plenum truss bulkhead of a one-story, slab-on-grade home.

Report describing recommendations for optimizing flexible duct, constant-volume HVAC systems using junction boxes.

Document covering the technical aspects of buried and insulated ducts (BEDs), as well as the advantages, disadvantages, and risks of BEDs compared to alternative strategies.

Report describing the sealing and insulating of HVAC duct systems in existing homes.

Document illustrating guidelines for efficient installation of interior duct systems in new housing.

Document developed to help residential builders and retrofitters transition from tank-type water heaters to tankless water heaters.

Research study analyzing measured energy savings from a moderate retrofit by comparing post-retrofit performance with measured pre-retrofit monitored data.

Standard that prescribes a testing method to determine the efficiency of space heating and/or cooling thermal distribution systems under seasonal and design conditions. This version of the standard was published in the year 2014, and is available for preview and purchase at the reference link. The...

Standard using performance-based principles to determine dead, live, soil, flood, tsunami, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, earthquake, wind, and fire loads, and their combinations for general structural design. This version of the standard was published in the year 2016 and is available in both digital...

Standard using performance-based principles to determine dead, live, soil, flood, tsunami, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, seismic, and wind loads, and their combinations for general structural design. The current version of this standard was published in the year 2022 and is available in both digital...

Standard using performance-based principles to determine dead, live, soil, flood, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, earthquake, and wind loads, and their combinations for general structural design. This version of the standard was published in the year 2010 and is available in both digital and print...

Report providing a resource that communities can use to identify and evaluate a range of potential mitigation actions for reducing risk to natural hazards and disasters.

Report on the use of vapor diffusion ports to reduce moisture issues with buried ductwork in unvented attics in hot-humid climates.

Report detailing a three-winter study on unvented roof assemblies in a cold climate, assessing insulation material, ridge diffusion vent presence, vapor control membranes, relative humidity, and interstitial airflow. Results indicate that utilizing air-permeable fibrous fill insulations in unvented...

Report detailing a three-winter study on unvented roof assemblies in a cold climate, assessing insulation material, ridge diffusion vent presence, vapor control membranes, relative humidity, and interstitial airflow; results indicate that utilizing air-permeable fibrous fill insulations in unvented...

Conference paper making the case that moving ducts to conditioned space saves energy, is practical for production builders (when accompanied by careful pre-planning), and creates significant andmarketable energy savings for homebuyers.

Website providing information on tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms and more.

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.

Report updating and expanding on a 2005 study that found, among other things, that every $1 of natural hazard mitigation funded by FEMA between 1993 and 2003 saved the American people an average of $4 in avoided future losses.

Website containing USGS-related publications related to natural hazards.

Report describing the interactions, both positive and negative, between common green building practices and the robustness of residential buildings to withstand natural hazards.

Guide for electrical systems design including installation guidance and best practices for flood-prone areas.

Guide for fuel systems design including installation guidance and formulas for calculating loads and buoyancy forces for specifying number, type and capacity of strapping for hold-downs in flood-prone areas.

Standard establishing criteria for levels of health care services or systems based on risk to the patients, staff, or visitors in health care facilities to minimize the hazards of fire, explosion, and electricity.