Library

Glossary of terms used by the National Flood Insurance Program

Resources describing the National Flood Insurance Program's technical bulletins for flood zone construction, including foundation walls, corrosion protection, floodproofing, and breakaway walls among other topics.

DOE Energy Saver webpage providing a brief summary of natural ventilation for houses.

Database of NFRC rated windows.

Document describing recommended modeling rules, potential compliance credits, and eligibility criteria for residential night ventilation cooling systems for California’s Title 24 energy efficiency standards.

Document providing supplemental information for code enforcement professionals about headers in nonbearing walls.

Standard/specification establishing requirements for fenestration products to be referenced by model codes.

American Lung Association web page providing information on particulate matter and indoor air quality.

Article from Smarter Homes NZ on home building techniques that incorporate passive cooling.

Website providing guidance on passive heating, cooling, and lighting methods.

Article from Williams College on the key elements of passive solar design for homes.

Report providing information about improving the energy efficiency and long-term durability of the buildings that are being reconstructed post Katrina in New Orleans.

Article investigating how a linear input/output relationship can be used as a simple model of the performance of a combination hydronic heating system over heating only, DHW only, and combined loads.

Brochure describing what permeable pavement is, where to install it, and how to maintain it.

Report describing a laboratory assessment on the performance of Rheem 120-volt heat pump water heaters (HPWH), aimed at identifying optimal installation locations for these new "plug-in" models based on comprehensive testing under various conditions.

Database describing FEMA preparedness webinars including natural hazard preparedness.

Article describing how ice dams form on residential roofs, how they damage homes, and solutions to prevent future dams.

Pamphlet describing proper mulching around trees and problems and benefits associated with mulching.

Article discussing fire safety for high-rise buildings.

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

Fact sheet describing analysis of potential heating and cooling savings from radiant barriers in attics.

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

Article describing rammed earth construction

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.

App developed by HUD to assist homeowners with lead paint and other hazards common to older homes.

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.

Website describing the U.S. Department of Energy's residential buildings program.

Resource that differentiates products in the marketplace that meet WaterSense requirements.

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

Web page providing an overview of room-level air conditioning systems such as window units and mini-splits.

Document serving as a resource to assist decision-makers in understanding how networked lighting control system attributes can satisfy project objectives at an appropriate cost and functionality

Website tool that can search for trees by name or characteristics and retrieve data describing tree attributes including site preferences and general characteristics and considerations.

Web page describing the basics of how to size and build a battery bank for electricity storage.

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

SEIA resources page.

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.

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

Standard that describes the minimum requirements for residential buildings to achieve acceptable indoor air quality via dwelling-unit ventilation, local mechanical exhaust, and source control. This version of the standard was published in the year 2022, and is available for preview and purchase at...

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...

A specification covering the application of Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) that act as permanent formwork for cast-in-place reinforced concrete beams & walls which was published in the year 2022 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.

ENERGY STAR webpage describing the benefits of storm windows and a link to a product list.

Webpage providing an ENERGY STAR climate zone map and criteria for ENERGY STAR storm windows per climate zone.

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.