Library

Article summarizing for potential homeowners items to check or demand from the builder in designing a home for a cold climate.

Article describing how omission of two small but critical wall details, a kick-out flashing and a weep screed, lead to extensive water damage to a wall.

Factsheet describing the importance of building enclosures and their impact on energy efficiency.

Article outlining the casuses and solutions for ice dam problems.

Guide detailing best practices on how to build wall assemblies with absorptive claddings such as brick, stone that drain and dry well.

Research study describing field testing performed in 32 two-story Florida homes to characterize wind washing failures of the house air and thermal boundary.

Article describing walls and moisture development on them.

Technical report assessing the market for Low-e storm windows based on market data, case studies, and recent experience with weatherization deployment programs.

Webpage featuring hundreds of illustrations of masonry construction details for brick, congrete, stone, tile, stucco, etc.

Guidebook providing useful examples of high performance retrofit techniques for the building enclosure of wood frame residential construction in a cold and somewhat wet climate.

Siding installation guide for Ply Gem Siding Group products.

Fact sheet describing how typical wall moisture barrier systems work, the moisture barrier system and common problems associated with them; also published in FEMA P-499 “Home Builder’s Guide to Coastal Construction: Technical Fact Sheet Series.”

Article describing how moisture accumulates inside of structures and issues that result.

Report providing extensive guidance on controlling moisture in building envelopes through proper selection and installation on air, water, thermal, and vapor barriers.

Practical guide describing the management of moisture during a building's design, construction and maintenance.

EPA guidance document providing information on moisture control in buildings.

Article discussing moisture control in buildings as well as building design and construction strategies for keeping buildings dry and allowing buildings to dry out if they do get wet.

The next generation of building enclosures is a key step toward achieving high-performance goals through decreasing energy load demand and enabling advanced space-conditioning systems. Yet the adoption of high-R enclosures and particularly high-R walls has been a slow-growing trend because...

Website providing guidance about mold and moisture for homes, schools, multifamily and commercial buildings.

Online course providing an overview of mold prevention and mold remediation.

Report on a study monitoring moisture conditions of double-stud wall assemblies with different insulation in Devens, Massachusetts.

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.

Article describing mulch requirements and benefits.

Building science insight into crawlspaces.

Report presenting the results of a study evaluating retrofit solutions for addressing the effects of wind washing on homes.

Manual describing design, detailing, material selection and troubleshooting for plaster, IEFs, and drywall, with information on continuous insulation, air barriers, rain screens, and ratings for fire and sound.

Fact sheet from Wisconsin Focus on Energy explaining how to prevent future ice dams on homes by learning about their formation and mitigation of contributing factors.

List of recommendations from IBHS on how to protect homes from ice dam formation.

An example of a form a building codes department created to ensure builders are fully aware and have taken steps to provide drainage so that water doesn’t accumulate behind siding. This example is from the city of Newberg, Oregon.

Article describing moisture and ice dam issues in attics and how to air seal the attic floor.

Report proposes high performance duct measures for inclusion in California Title 24 building energy efficiency standards for 2016.

Fact sheet describing methods for flashing and air-sealing windows and doors.

Report describing extensive renovations to a historic home.

Reports describing a mathematical methodology for assessing the seismic performance of buildings.

Article outlining the key issues related to the protection of the building envelope against seismic forces.

Report from FEMA describing techniques for floodproofing structures.

High-density sidewall cavity insulation can be a major comfort and savings boost. It saves energy by slowing both conductive and convective losses, but only if the right things are done and done right. This always requires site-specific thinking.

Fact sheet describing building envelope performance measures applicable to residential and small commercial construction.

California Energy Commission report presenting the concept of cool walls and providing guidelines for their building- and climate-appropriate use to conserve energy and reduce emissions.

Job Process sheet for the manufactured housing industry showing how to split and notch insulation batts to fit around electrical boxes and wiring in a factory production environment.

Standard describing a simple, relatively cost-effective approach to evaluating the ability of a variety of materials to support microbial growth using a small chamber method. A preview of the standard is available at the link, with the full version available for purchase.

Specification describing criteria for manufactured polymeric materials used to provide a rainscreen function, a means for the drainage of liquid moisture and the ventilation of vapor moisture that enters an above-grade exterior wall assembly which was published in the year 2019, and is available for...

Standard describing a test method measuring air-leakage rates through a building envelope under controlled pressurization and de-pressurization which was published in the year 2019 and is available for preview and purchase at the reference link.

Standard describing two techniques for measuring air leakage rates through a building envelope in buildings that may be configured to a single zone which was published in the year 2022 and is available for preview and purchase at the reference link.

Information sheet describing correct application of stucco.

Fact sheet describing water management in a residential building.

Report describing use of the Energy in Modular (EMOD) method to design, produce, and deliver affordable, net-zero energy, low-carbon, and healthier buildings through industrialized (factory) construction of modular buildings; modeling of whole buildings and subassemblies of components, pods, panels...

Document providing an overview of the Thermal Bypass Checklist for the ENERGY STAR Qualified Homes program.

Guide describing details that serve as a visual reference for each of the line items in the Thermal Enclosure System Rater Checklist.