Library

Guide for homeowners describing how to find and seal basement and attic air leaks, determine if attic insulation is adequate, make improvements safely, and reduce energy bills.

Article describing tree health, environmental considerations, and details on how to preserve trees.

A brochure educating homeowners on how to protect their home during seismic events.

Report describing testing and analysis on deep energy retrofits of existing single-family homes in the U.S.

Paper describing a proposed method for quantifying tree and vegetation evapotranspiration effects on city climate

Guidance document from the UN environment programme on climate-resilient buildings and communities practices, including guidance on heat waves, drought, hurricanes, and flooding.

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

Article describing methods for thermally isolating a garage in a Passive House-certified multifamily building.

Document describing three methods for elevating a home out of the flood zone.

Report providing product manufacturers, fabricators, contractors and installers, design professionals, owners, and real estate developers with technical performance and cost guidance for scalable zero-carbon-aligned new construction pathways and retrofit packages to achieve zero carbon retrofits and...

Report providing guidance on wet floodproofing crawlspaces, unfinished basements, and garages.

Report providing guidance to homeowners and business owners on protecting crawlspaces from flood damage.

Fact sheet poster describing how to add exterior, continuous, rigid insulation to the exterior walls when replacing siding on an existing home.

Study from Appalachian State University on passive solar design to take advantage of local climate zones for energy conservation.

Technical report describing the SPS (Structural Panel System), an innovative implementation of the "perfect wall" concept, situating environmental control layers on the exterior side of structural components for improved constructability, cost-effectiveness, and performance, validated through the...

Report describing the experience gained from AIA’s Disaster Assistance Program with first-hand accounts of disaster response and recovery, case studies and other best practices, including approaches to designing buildings to be more adaptable to uncertainty.

Website article interviewing the inventor of the Larsen truss, a history of its use, and a discussion of its advantages and disadvantages.

Article describing shade trees and how to plant, maintain, and replace them.

Article about different types of weather resistant barrier.

Report providing information regarding the benefits and challenges associated with the installation of earthquake-actuated automatic shut-off valves (ASVs) or remote-control valves (RCVs) to stop the flow of natural gas into buildings in the event of an earthquake or rupture of the gas line.

Paper describing an experiment to quantify shade tree impacts on cooling-related electricity consumption, finding that there may be sizable benefits in hot regions.

Report that collected field data from a whole-home program in Illinois are utilized to compare marketplace-installed measures to the energy saving optimal packages previously developed for 15 housing types.

Report on adding insulation to load-bearing mass masonry buildings.

Safety brochure from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) describing the dangers to children of furniture tipping over if it is not securely anchored.

Website providing consumers with information about the risk to children from appliances and furniture tipping over and ways to anchor furniture and appliances to prevent this hazard.

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.

Wall bracing calculator simplifying the design of residential structures that comply with 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018 or 2021 International Residential Code (IRC) wall bracing requirements.

Report covering moisture and leakage issues associated with spray foam insulation application to the underside of roof sheathing.

Report about a building project in the marine climate.

Power Point PDF presentation on historical architecture in New Mexico

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.

Web-based mapping tool offering a fast, reliable way to look up key design parameters specified in Standard ASCE 7-10, 7-16, or 7-22 for a specific address or location which is free to use and can look up data for eight different environmental hazard types: wind, tornado, seismic, ice, rain, flood...

Technical report describing the thermal performance of 40 common building envelope details for mid- and high-rise buildings, including analyses to optimize energy efficiency and reduce thermal bridging.

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 focused on foundation insulation R-values for cold climates and the design, construction, and performance implications.

A report that evaluates the force it takes to crack stucco of various thicknesses.

A basic guide walking through the various types of valves useful in mitigating the effects of earthquakes and other seismic events on natural gas pipelines for residential use.

Document providing background and approach for the prep work necessary prior to adding attic insulation - focusing on combustion safety, ventilation for indoor air quality, and attic ventilation for durability.

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.

Article by the Canadian Government on attic ventilation and considerations for moisture and ice dams.

Article describing the building science implications of insulating vented or unvented attics.

Article describing the research into insulating vented versus unvented attics.

SPFA website signup page to access SPFA documents.

Webpage from Suntegrity Solar describing different backup power generator options to prepare for future power outages.

Report describing approaches to insulating basements in homes built to meet Energy Star levels of performance of heat loss reduction.

Information sheet describing techniques for insulating basements.

Fact sheet providing information on building-scale and utility-scale battery storage for disaster resistance.