Library

Report providing wildfire protection guidance for homeowners in California.

Website providing an online calculator for determining energy and cost savings from installing radiant barriers in attics.

Information sheet with the definition and uses for a raised truss.

Illustrations of range tip-over outcomes with and without door locking mechanism.

Research study about two test homes that are examined with the goal of providing case studies that could be applied to other similar New England homes.

Report describing methods for reducing the cost of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The RERH specifications and checklists take a builder and a project design team through the steps of assessing a home’s solar resource potential and defining the minimum structural and system components needed to support a solar energy system.

Webpage containing downloadable fact sheets covering carpet-related topics including Indoor Air Quality, Asthma and Allergy, Cleaning Products, and Environmental Sustainability.

Report identifying efficient, connected, smart, and flexible GEB technologies and their future potential, including barriers and opportunities, recommendations for policymakers, and research needs.

A student manual for containing information on residential sprinkler systems.

Report describing the costs, benefits, and challenges of attic insulation retrofits in HUD-code manufactured homes.

Q&A article discussing how to address moisture issues in an attic in a wet and humid coastal climate.

Initiatives of smoke-free housing policies in New York State.

Guidelines to assist builders in designing and constructing homes equipped with a set of features that make the installation of solar energy systems after the completion of the home’s construction easier and less expensive.

The RERH specifications and checklists take a builder and a project design team through the steps of assessing a home’s solar resource potential and defining the minimum structural and system components needed to support a solar energy system.

Specifications to assist builders in designing and constructing homes equipped with a set of features that make the installation of solar energy systems after the completion of the home’s construction easier and less expensive.

Webpage describing the basics of solar plus storage operations on homes.

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.

Literature review from NFPA on the use of insulation to protect the piping in home fire sprinkler systems from freezing conditions.

Standard that defines the roles of and minimum requirements for mechanical and natural ventilation systems and the building envelope intended to provide acceptable indoor air quality in low-rise residential buildings; published in the year 2019, and is available for preview and purchase at the...

Standard that covers the minimum performance and acceptance criteria for an air barrier (AB) material or system for framed walls of low-rise buildings with the service life of the building wall in mind. This link directs to a preview of the current version of the standard, published in the year 2019...

Standard that covers the minimum performance and acceptance criteria for an air barrier (AB) material or system for framed walls of low-rise buildings with the service life of the building wall in mind. This link directs to a preview of the version of the standard that was published in the year 2011...

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...

This standard specification covers the classification, composition, physical properties, and dimensions of mineral fiber (rock, slag, or glass) blanket intended for use as thermal insulation on surfaces at various temperature ranges. This version of the standard was published in the year 2019 and is...

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 that describes the principles for the design of a hot box apparatus and the minimum requirements for the determination of steady state thermal performance of building assemblies when exposed to controlled laboratory conditions. The current version of the standard was published in 2019, and...

Article describing ways to protect roofs from water infiltration by using self-adhering underlayment in vulnerable locations such as roof valleys, eave edges (to help deal with ice dams), rake edges, roofs to vertical walls (such as dormers), sidewall protection, the bottom of dormer valleys, and...

Report about the impact on the loads when common safety factors are applied to the load calculation process using two houses that meet the 2009 IECC prescriptive path modeled as the accurate baseline.

Document identifying differences between the requirements for construction documents for high performance housing and the documents that are typically produced for conventional housing.

Research study providing a comparison of selected retrofit activity typically done, versus that same retrofit activity approached from an integrated high performance remodeling and quality management perspective.

Recovery advisory presenting key wind retrofit guidelines for buildings located in hurricane-prone regions. These retrofit guidelines are intended to help building owners and designers prevent or limit wind damage and water infiltration during high-wind events.

Presentation by the Washington University in St. Louis Office of Sustainability on saving energy.

Question and Answer article in Energy Design Update describing the cost and savings benefits of electronically commutated motors (ECMs) for HVAC equipment.

Fact sheet providing the wind resistant provisions of the 2015 International Residential Code.

Report illustrating CAD drawings and modeling of bracing layouts for a gable roof truss.

A book describing seismic retrofits to help contractors and engineers understand how to properly retrofit a home in a cost-effective manner.

Article describing the risks associated with vented and unvented crawlspaces in different climate zones.

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

Research study investigating the thermal efficiency of fasteners, namely drywall screws and siding nails, in high-performance wood-framed walls.

Research study describing a detailed 3D computational fluid dynamics model that evaluates the thermal performance of uninsulated wall assemblies.

Factsheet providing design guidance for engineers describing how to characterize snow drifts on roofs in three dimensions rather than two, as anticipated in the 2022 edition of the standards, ASCE 7 - Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures.

Training course describing how to incorporate trees into an energy-conserving landscape.

Document presenting analysis results, focusing on relative humidity (RH) excursions, which are defined as unique events of indoor RH above a threshold.

Guide describing details that serve as a visual reference for each of the line items in the Water Management System Builder Checklist.

A builder checklist guide for the water management of properties with appropriately-designed building technologies.

This text is one of series of supporting documents that provide guidance on implementing the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for drinking-water quality; intended to support improvement of water safety within buildings.

Web-based manual providing guidance for removal and preventing entry of nuisance wildlife.

Article discussing the risks that can occur from undercutting bedroom doors to provide return airflow from bedrooms, as well as corrective measures that can be taken to address these risks.

A list of exterior building products and materials approved for use in wildland urban interface zoned homes. These products are non-combustible or ignition-resistant.

Presentation about the combustion properties of wood.