Library

Report about opportunities for ventilation when traditional methods are limited by weather conditions or by contaminants in the outdoor air.

Report explaining the issues and concerns with conventional ventilated crawlspaces and to outline prescriptive measures for improvements that will create healthier and more durable spaces.

Report describing the use of fresh air ventilation systems to eliminate the formation of icicles and ice dams along the eaves of roofs.

Report about indoor air quality related to indoor mold growth.

Guide describing the requirements by FORTIFIED Home™ for improving the home's resistance to high wind and hail.

LBNL webpage introducing heat island effect and cool materials concepts, and providing links to LBNL pages explaining cool pavements, cool roofs, and cool walls.

LBNL webpage providing resources and tools related to cool technologies, including the SRI calculator and the DOE Cool Roof Calculator.

Best Practices document providing an introduction to current photovoltaic and solar thermal building practices.

Report containing 37 fact sheets that provide technical guidance and recommendations concerning the construction of coastal residential buildings.

Report providing a collection of fact sheets describing guidance for constructing homes in wildfire zones.

Website providing information on low-energy and standard cooling systems, with a focus on saving energy.

Article describing the causes that form ice dams, as well as solutions for preventing future ice dams on roofs, focusing on air sealing to prevent hot air leakage.

Website providing certified rating programs to help manufacturers, builders, contractors and homeowners compare performance of ventilation products for air flow, sound, and other performance characteristics.

Article describing the impact of stack effect on building performance, highlighting how pressure differences caused by temperature and height affect air infiltration and exfiltration, and detailing strategies like compartmentalization and distributed mechanical systems to manage airflow and maintain...

Article from RMI on how climate change is leading to an increase in critical extreme heat hours and what smart building strategies can be taken to mitigate some of these effects including paint color and insulation.

Website with articles on home ventilation and indoor air quality.

Information sheet presenting the correct methods for building an insulated cathedral ceiling.

Article describing considerations for choosing a room-level air cleaner to improve indoor air quality.

Article from Washington Post on passive cooling measures for homes during extreme heat.

Article from Montana State University Extension explaining how proper insulation techniques can greatly reduce the risks of ice dams on roofs in cold climate zones.

Checklist for verifying FORTIFIED levels and documentation needed.

A structural insulated panel (SIP) roof has no embedded lumber in the structure, and therefore nothing substantial for attaching PV array and solar hot water mounts. Single or double lumber splines could be put into the panels, or I-joists at 4-foot intervals could be added.

Code describing the requirements for existing site-built single-family homes to receive roof-to-wall retrofits when re-roofing.

A document aimed at reducing the vulnerability of a gable end roof to wind damage in a hurricane.

Report describing the hurricane retrofit guide with focus on walls and wooded framed walls.

Paper providing a comprehensive overview of HVAC system design considerations and challenges specific to multifamily residential buildings, focusing on optimizing performance and addressing common issues.

Publication specifying HVI’s prescriptive procedures for testing and rating airflow of residential ventilation products in accordance with ANSI consensus standards.

Publication describing the requirements and procedures for the certified performance ratings program for residential ventilation products administered by the Home Ventilating Institute.

Website providing an online directory of more than 3,600 residential ventilation products lisiting flowrates, sones, watts, and other performance metrics; all listed products have been tested by the Home Ventilating Institute.

The study described in this white paper is based on building energy modeling with an important focus on the indoor humidity impacts of ventilation.

Article describing the effect metal roofs have on thermal performance in hot-humid climates.

Report documenting the results of a NYSERDA-funded research project to demonstrate the costs and benefits of a best practice systems approach to improving exhaust ventilation system performance in five multifamily buildings in New York State.

Study using simulations to understand the impact that shading and natural ventilation would have had on the survivability of non-air-conditioned buildings during the 2021 heat wave in the Pacific Northwest.

Fact sheet providing information on how to identify issues and improve performance in central exhaust systems.

Report detailing natural ventilation and passive airflow systems.

This research study used pollutant measurements, home inspections, diagnostic testing and occupant surveys to assess IAQ in 24 new or deeply retrofitted homes designed to be high performance green buildings in California.

Article describing the correct installation of clothes dryer exhaust ducts.

Article describing the second step of a three-step process for the installation a tubular skylight, using peel-and-stick flashing tape instead of roof cement, and integrating the roof underlayment with the flashing.

Article describing how to counterflash a chimney by tucking the upper pieces of counterflashing into the chimney mortar joints and overlapping them over the various pieces of base flashing, which are nailed to the roof deck.

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

Fact sheet describing the newly developed Ventilation-Integrated Comfort System (VICS) that reduces space requirements and eliminates costly ductwork for separate heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, all while enhancing performance, addressing the demand for energy-efficient homes, and...

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

Report describing the results of a 21-home field study investigating the effectiveness and failure rates of whole-house mechanical ventilation systems installed in Florida homes over the last 15 years.

Report covering reservoir claddings, back ventilation and vapor throttles.

Report discussing how to create livable space in the attic that meets IRC code requirements by either creating a ventilated roof assembly, or and unvented attic assembly.

Blog article citing the risks and downsides of attic ventilation fans from a building science perspective.

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

Article showing steps for kick out flashing at roof-wall intersection.

Report targeting the growing number of homes utilizing deep retrofit measures and new construction practices to realize sufficiently lower infiltration levels that require mechanical ventilation as prescribed by ASHRAE Standard 62.2.