Library

An impact test report from projectile missile tests against brick veneer, verifying that brick veneers perform well to resisting hurricane force wind driven debris.

Case study describing Alachua County, Florida’s, green infrastructure strategy for land use development that incorporates rain gardens, ponds, swales, and native vegetation to manage stormwater.

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

Indoor airPLUS is a voluntary partnership and labeling program that helps new home builders improve the quality of indoor air by requiring construction practices and product specifications that minimize exposure to airborne pollutants and contaminants.

This document covers how broken windows can allow wind and rain inside the house and even lead to roof failure.

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

Article describing the insurance savings of a home with a hip roof versus a gable roof from the perspective of an insurance advisor.

Article describing how the configuration of surrounding buildings affects the wind loads on a hip roof in a low-rise building.

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.

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

Guide describing tools for island and hurricane-prone communities on redevelopment and rehabilitation of homes to prepare for future natural disasters.

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.

A publication describing how to protect coastal investments by adapting to natural processes and protecting coastal environments and shorelines.

Factsheet describing the concept of load paths and the important connections in a wind uplift load path; also published in FEMA P-499 “Home Builder’s Guide to Coastal Construction: Technical Fact Sheet Series.”

Guide describing sound mitigation measures to lower building natural disaster vulnerability to assist local officials and community decision makers in coastal areas.

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.

Web article describing many ways homeowners, contractors, and builders can make homes more resistant to hurricanes, tornadoes, high winds, floods, and hail.

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.

A presentation describing the standards regarding who is responsible for what part of the design to ensure the roof truss is properly designed and braced.

A Recovery Advisory guide reccomending practices for designing and installing metal roof systems that will enhance wind resistance in high-wind regions (i.e., greater than 90-miles per hour [mph] gust design wind speed).

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...

FEMA mitigation assessment team report following Hurricane Charley in Florida including observations, recommendations, and technical guidance for retrofitting hurricane-damaged homes.

FEMA Mitigation Assessment Team Report describing damages from Hurricane Michael in Florida in Oct. 2018 and recommendations for future hurricane preparedness.

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.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane's sustained wind speed.

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.