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BSC File RR-0201: Advanced Framing—Using Wood Efficiently From Optimizing Design to Minimizing the Dumpster
Americans have been building homes with wood—shaping logs, joining timbers, nailing studs—for almost 400 years. Our current approach, stick framing, grew poplular in the mid-1800's because it too less skill, required simpler tools, and took fewer people than timber framing. We apparently really like waste haulers, too.
BSC File RR-0202: Basement Insulation Systems
Heat loss from basements accounts for a significant portion of the energy loss from a home. In many jurisdictions, basement insulation is a building code requirement. Cost usually determines the type of insulation system used.
BSC File RR-0601: Analysis of Indoor Environmental Data
This report summarizes indoor temperature and humidity data that have been collected from houses by the Building Science Consortium of the US Department of Energy Building America Program.
BSC File RR-0401: Conditioned Crawl Space Construction, Performance and Codes
This paper discusses the differences between vented, unvented and conditioned crawl spaces. Best practice construction techniques and assemblies for conditioned crawl spaces are discussed, the results of a field monitoring program are presented, and the code language addressing crawl spaces is explained.
BSC File RR-0701: Whole House Ventilation Systems Options—Phase 1 Simulation Study
A comprehensive literature review was made to investigate whole house ventilation system options, various simulation and engineering analysis tools and techniques, and baselines for comparing the current project results.
BSC File RR-9401: Development of Moisture Storage Coatings for Enthalpy Storage Wallboard
Two moisture-storage coating mixtures developed and tested between late 1990 and early 1991 could provide a low-cost, building-integrated method of managing indoor humidity in hot and humid climates.
BSC File RR-9301: Phase-Change Material Wallboard for Distributed Thermal Storage in Buildings
Development and testing were conducted for a prototype phase-change material (PCM) wallboard to enhance the thermal energy storage capacity of buildings with particular interest in peak load shifting.
BSC File RR-0001: Measurement of Ventilation and Interzonal Distribution in Single-Family Homes
Ventilation air change rate, local mean age-or-air, and interzonal ventilation air distribution were measured for two single-family homes and eight ventilation systems.
BSC File RR-9801: Vented and Sealed Attics in Hot Climates
Sealed attic construction, by excluding vents to the exterior, can be a good way to exclude moisture-laden outside air from attic and may offer a more easily constructed alternative for air leakage control at the top of residential buildings.
BSC File RR-0702: Monitored Indoor Moisture and Temperature Conditions in Hot-Humid US Residences
Indoor moisture and temperature conditions and equipment operation were measured and analyzed for 43 homes in warm-humid and mixed-humid climate regions of the United States.
BSC File RR-0203: Relative Humidity
What relative humidity should I have in my home? Seems like a simple enough question. However, the answer can sometimes be difficult to understand.
BSC File RR-0301: Unvented Roof Summary Article
This article was written to tie together and summarize the various papers on unvented conditioned cathedralized attics found on our website.
BSC File RR-0405: Community-Scale Evaluation Results
Using four Building Science Consortium Building America community-scale projects, this paper investigates the nature, strength, and durability of connections between high performance dwellings and developments.
BSC File RR-0403: Air Barriers
Air barriers are systems of materials used to control airflow in building enclosures. They typically completely enclose the air within a building.
BSC File RR-0404: Roof Design
Roofs can be designed and constructed to be either vented or unvented in any hygro-thermal zone. Air barrier systems are typically the most common approach, however, air pressure control approaches are be-coming more common especially in cases involving remedial work on existing structures.
BSC File RR-9908: Design Methodology and Economic Evaluation of Central-Fan-Integrated Supply Ventilation Systems
Residential ventilation systems can be categorized as supply, exhaust, or balanced systems. This effort focused on establishing a design methodology for central-fan-integrated supply ventilation systems.
BSC File RR-9907: Measured Air Change Rates and Distribution Ventilation Air in a Single Family Home
A single-story, single-family, 1350 sq. ft. house located in Las Vegas, NV was outfitted with two separate ventilation systems. The systems were independent of each other, and were operated at different times to evaluate the relative difference in air change rate and distribution of ventilation air induced by their operation.
BSC File RR-9904: Unvented-cathedralized attics: Where we've been and where we're going
Current work is focusing on the performance and durability of unvented-cathedralized attics in hot-humid climates with both tile and asphalt shingle roofing.
BSC File RR-9905: Air Pressure and Building Envelopes
Understanding the significance of the complex flow and pressure distribution problems created by the interaction of the building envelope with the mechanical system and climate can lead to changes in building design, commissioning, operations, maintenance, diagnostics and rehabilitation.
BSC File RR-0303: Ventilation and Air Leakage
Buildings leak water and air, which is normal and unavoidable. Therefore, designers should not fixate on preventing leakage, i.e. making buildings “airtight.” Because even if all cracks were sealed, buildings have doors and windows.
BSC File RR-0205: Moisture Control for Buildings
When designing a building’s envelope and its interaction with the mechanical system, temperature, humidity, rain and the interior climate often are ignored.
BSC File RR-0402: Singing the "blues" in the key of "low-e"
High performance compact fluorescent lighting (CFLs) is not just about energy savings; it’s also about the other aspects of performance such as color rendering.
BSC File RR-0505: Residential Dehumidification Systems Research for Hot-Humid Climates
Twenty homes were tested and monitored in the hot-humid climate of Houston, Texas, to evaluate the humidity control performance and operating cost of six different integrated dehumidification and ventilation systems that could be applied by production homebuilders.
BSC File RR-9802: Performance of Building America Initiative Houses with Unvented Attics and Tile Roofs Constructed by Pulte Homes, Las Vegas Division
A residential attic model, contained in the finite element computer program FSEC 3.0, was empirically aligned with measured attic data from three roof research facilities in Florida and Illinois.
BSC File RR-9902: Mold Control in Publicly Funded Housing Developments
This presentation examines health related building problems in public housing.
BSC File RR-0204: Practical and Effective Approaches to Residential Ventilation for Production Builders
This presentation examines durability with respect to moisture, and how mechanical ventilation can be used to control it.
BSC File RR-0302: Roof and Attic Ventilation Issues in Hot-Humid Climates
A presentation examining the requirement for roof/attic venting in hot-humid climates.
BSC File RR-9302: Humidity Control in the Humid South
Humidity concerns in the southern humid climates are particularly difficult to resolve. This is because one of the most effective approaches to dealing with humidity in heating climates, ventilation, can cause major humidity problems in the humid south.
BSC File RR-9402: Establishing Priorities for the Design of Affordable, Environmentally Responsible Housing in Dallas, Texas, a Mixed Climate Zone
Twelve affordable, healthy, environmentally responsible single family houses were designed and built on an urban infill in Dallas, Texas.
BSC File RR-9701: Measurement of Attic Temperatures and Cooling Energy Use in Vented and Sealed Attics in Las Vegas, Nevada
Traditionally, building codes have required that attics of residential buildings be vented. The ventilation requirement varies between one square foot of net free ventilation area per 300 square feet of attic floor area (1:300) to one square foot per 150 square feet (1:150).
BSC File RR-9901: Air Distribution Fan and Outside Air Damper Recycling Control
Energy efficient homes are inherently airtight and require ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality. Recognizing this fact, two building code jurisdictions, the federal department of Housing and Urban Development and the State of Washington, require mechanical ventilation for homes.
BSC File RR-0003: An Advanced Systems Engineering Approach to Affordable Single Family Homes
This presentation examines the integrated system concepts of advanced framing, air flow retarder system, thermal envelope system, air distribution system and mechanical systems.
BSC File RR-0504: Integrating Systems for Green Design
The effects of building development on the environment are at the most basic level about durability. Building a house or community is really about the durability of people, the durability of buildings, and the durability of the planet.
BSC File RR-0002: Practical Approaches to Residential Ventilation for Improved Durability and Indoor Air Quality
This presentation examines how to provide durability for little or no incremental cost, as a goal of the Building America program.
BSC File RR-0004: Air Barriers vs. Vapor Barriers
Most of us are not aware of just how differently these two barriers work in building assemblies. This article makes the differences as clear as the polyethylene film that should (or more likely should NOT) be in your walls.
BSC File RR-0005: Transfer Grille Sizing
Sizing information excerpted from “RR-0006: Discussion of the Use of Transfer Grilles to Facilitate Air Flow in Central Return Systems.”
BSC File RR-0006: Discussion of the Use of Transfer Grilles to Facilitate Return Air Flow in Central Return Systems
Transfer grilles represent a cost-effective alternative to individual return ducts if they are properly configured for air flow, privacy, and aesthetics.
BSC File RR-0103: Water Management
This is a concise overview of the principles and steps to follow when dealing with water from the foundation to the roof.
BSC File RR-0206: Foundations—Moisture Resistant Construction
Builders for many years have put mechanical equipment and ducts in non-living spaces such as crawlspaces and attics primarily to save valuable floor space.
BSC File RR-0407: Installing a Window with Building Paper on OSB over Wood Frame Wall
Details on how to install a window using building paper as the drainage plane.
BSC File RR-9909: Drainage Planes and Air Spaces
Every exterior cladding system needs an air space and drainage plane for performance and durability. This article presents the right materials and spaces for most exterior claddings—brick, stucco, and wood, metal and vinyl lap siding.
BSC File RR-9911: Heating Choices
Based on Building America experience, this report is about selecting furnaces, water heaters, both or sometimes just one to accomplish both space heating and domestic hot water.
BSC File RR-9912: Discussion of Ventilation System Energy Performance and Cost
An hourly simulation study using DOE2.1E was conducted to determine the annual difference in energy consumption between various ventilation options in different climates.
BSC File RR-0304: Central Fan Integrated Supply Ventilation—The Basics
The simplest, most effective, and most economical way to introduce fresh air in homes with central forced air systems is to use the central fan to pull in and distribute a controlled amount of outside air.
BSC File RR-0305: Why It's So Important (and Troubling) to Keep Ducts and Equipment in Conditioned Space
Perhaps the single most challenging BSC performance for Building America production homebuilders is that all ducts and HVAC equipment must be within the conditioned space (this means no ducts in outside walls and no ducts or air handlers in garages, vented attics or vented crawlspaces).
BSC File RR-0306: Unvented Roofs, Hot-Humid Climates, and Asphalt Roofing Shingles
When constructing unvented roofs with asphalt shingles in hot-humid climates, a vapor barrier must be installed between the asphalt shingles and the roof deck.
BSC File RR-0408: The deKieffer Bypass
Construction practices have improved and the HVAC systems need to improve with them. The deKieffer Bypass relieves air pressure in rooms without compromising sound or light transmission.
BSC File RR-0105: Brick, Stucco, Housewrap and Building Paper
The manufacturers of housewraps have for years promoted the fantasy that water vapor in wall assemblies only moves one way – from the inside out.
BSC File RR-0106: Problems with Housewraps
The primary function of a housewrap or building paper is rain penetration control. It is not air infiltration despite what the manufacturers say.
BSC File RR-0107: Drywall, Wood and Truss Uplift
Wood moves. Drywall does not move. Interesting problem. The more you attach drywall to wood, the more cracks you have. Easy, attach the drywall to less wood, and, in a way, that allows the wood to move.
BSC File RR-0208: What You Need to Know About Mold
This article answers your questions about mold, what it is, where it grows, how it spreads, how can I prevent it.
BSC File RR-0007: Advanced Space Conditioning
Everything you ever wanted to know about HVAC for homes-thermal comfort, air distribution, nature of and dealing with contaminants, HVAC strategies, and climate-appropriate graphics to boot.
BSC File RR-0209: Mold Testing
Although this article is titled "Mold Testing" it actually tells you why testing for mold is usually not needed.
BSC File RR-0210: Mold Remediation in Occupied Homes
This article provides both general guidelines for mold remediation as well as specific guidelines for the typical locations where mold is most often found in houses.
BSC File RR-0211: Mold—Causes, Health Effects and Clean-up
This article briefly repeats some of the information in the other mold articles but also includes information on how to prevent mold in residential structures.
BSC File RR-0212: PV Primer
PV systems have come a long way in the last two decades. While they may not work for all homes, residential installations are becoming a practical reality under more and more conditions
BSC File RR-0307: Windows and Occupant Comfort
The presentation was first presented at 2003 EEBA Building Solutions.
BSC File RR-0308: The How and Why of Your High Performance HVAC System
A concise explanation of how a high performance HVAC system works in a high performance home.
BSC File RR-0309: Renovating Your Basement
Heat loss through uninsulated basement walls can account for up to one-third of the heat loss from an average home. Installing insulation on basement walls is often inexpensive, easy to accomplish and frequently combined with “finishing the basement.”
BSC File RR-0409: Painting
Exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet radiation) and moisture are the major factors affecting the durability of paint coatings and the durability of the substrate.
BSC File RR-0213: Combo Space/Water Heating Systems—"Duo Diligence"
Combo systems use a gas water heater to provide domestic water and space heating. Find out when its appropriate to use such a system and guidelines for doing it right.
BSC File RR-0214: Conditioning Air in the Humid South—Creating Comfort and Controlling Cost
An examination of five different systems that show how to cool and dehumidify inside air while maintaining sufficient introduction of outside air for ventilation efficiently and cost-effectively.
BSC File RR-0410: Vapor Barriers and Wall Design
Good design and practice involve controlling the wetting of building assemblies from both the exterior and interior and different climates require different approaches.
BSC File RR-0411: Vent on Venting
Just about everyone in the building industry can be guilty of using building terms loosely, and a prime example is with attics, roof assemblies.
BSC File RR-0412: Insulations, Sheathings and Vapor Retarders
Two seemingly innocuous requirements for building enclosure assemblies bedevil builders and designers almost endlessly: keep water vapor out, let the water vapor out if it gets in
BSC File RR-0413a: The Snapshot—A Quick Description
SNAPSHOT stands for Short, Non-destructive Approach to Provide Significant House Operation Thresholds.
BSC File RR-0507: Affordable Housing—Toward Zero Energy
A presentation discussing zero energy homes, affordable housing and the available technologies to reach zero energy.
BSC File RR-0508: Understanding Green Homes & Durability
Presentation discussing the systems integration approach to energy efficient, durable, sustainable homes.
BSC File RR-0008: Time-Based Scheduling of Residential Ventilation
This presentation was first presented at the 2000 EEBA Conference Building for Peak Performance.
BSC File RR-0108: Unvented Roof Systems
Unvented roof systems can be safely used in many different climates. In cold climates, insulating sheathing must be added exterior to the roof sheathing to prevent condensation on the underside of the roof sheathing.
BSC File RR-0109: Sizing and Startup Procedures for Cooling Systems
High performance building envelopes deserve high performance comfort conditioning systems. Especially for refrigerant based cooling systems, proper sizing and startup procedures are critical.
BSC File RR-0110: HVAC Equipment Sizing Strategies: Taking Advantage of High-Performance Buildings
If you are going to fine-tune your building enclosure, fine-tuning your HVAC system becomes even more important. This presentation covers everything you need to know to right-size your HVAC for better performance, fewer callbacks, and happier customers.
BSC File RR-0111: Placement of Ducts and HVAC Systems in Conditioned Space: An Overview
A discussion of the placement of ducts and HVAC equipment inside the conditioned space.
BSC File RR-0215: Dehumidification Systems Research Results
Moisture is the number one enemy of the durability of a house. Installing controlled mechanical supply ventilation systems, and dehumidification separate from cooling for humid climates is one of the ways to insure durability with respect to moisture.
BSC File RR-0216: Special Topics on Residential HVAC
Discussion of cyclical trade-offs between building envelope improvements, reduced system size, and more efficient systems.
BSC File RR-0217: Building America Pilot Program—Guaranteed Resource- and Energy-Efficiency Now
A performance-based industry collaborative program in which energy, water, and maintenance guarantees can be translated into home buyer savings. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program, a partnership was developed with a builder who had learned from experience that just building to code left a lot to be desired from an overall performance perspective. He came to believe that real value lies in implementing building science principals within a systems engineering approach to high-performance housing.
BSC File RR-0703: Introducing the market to high-performance building on Hilton Head Island
Primarily as a resort location, Hilton Head Island has a somewhat different residential housing market than other more traditional areas.
BSC File RR-0704: Building a Durable and Energy Efficient Home in Post-Katrina New Orleans
Given what happened in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, changes in the way we build are needed. Looking to key sustainability concepts of durability and energy efficiency, new flood resistant design concepts were developed.
BSC File RR-0801: Towards Sustainability—Green Building, Sustainability Objectives, and Building America Whole House Systems Research
This paper discusses Building America whole house systems research within the broad effort to reduce or eliminate the environmental impact of building and provides specific recommendations for future Building America research based on Building Science Corporation’s experience with several recent projects involving green home building programs.
BSC File RR-0104: Solar Driven Moisture in Brick Veneer
Brick is a reservoir cladding, meaning that it absorbs and stores water (rain) when it becomes wet. In some homes, with brick veneer cladding systems, mold contamination has occurred within exterior wall cavities. In some homes, wood decay at bottom plates has also occurred.
BSC File RR-9906: Air Handler Leakage Testing: Sierra Air Conditioning, La Vegas, Nevada
Duct leakage is a concern in the HVAC field, due to energy consumption, pressure balance problems, bypassing of the filter by leakage air, and contaminant draw from unconditioned spaces
BSC File RR-0602: Field Test of Room-to-Room Uniformity of Ventilation Air Distribution in Two New Houses
In order for dilution ventilation systems to provide predictable results independent of the geometry of individual homes, outside air must be uniformly distributed throughout the house
BSC File RR-0802: Field Test of Room-to-Room Distribution of Outside Air with Two Residential Ventilation Systems
Uniform distribution of outside air is one way to ensure that residential dilution ventilation systems will provide a known amount of fresh air to all rooms regardless of house geometry and occupant behavior.
BSC File RR-0803: Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations and Emission Rates in New Manufactured and Site-Built Houses
Concentrations of 54 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ventilation rates were measured in four new manufactured houses over 2-to-9.5 months following installation and in seven new site-built houses 1-to-2 months after completion. The houses were in four projects located in hot-humid and mixed-humid climates. They were finished and operational, but unoccupied.
BSC File RR-0413b: SNAPSHOT Form
This is a test form used in the Building America program to ascertain house performance and specifications.
BSC File RR-0901: Thermal Metrics for High Performance Walls—The Limitations of R-Value
This document summarizes the theory behind thermal insulation and building system heat flow control metrics and presents a literature review of selected research into this area.
BSC File RR-0903: Building America Special Research Project—High-R Walls Case Study Analysis
This report considers a number of promising wall systems that can meet the requirement for better thermal control. Unlike previous studies, this one considers performance in a more realistic matter, including some true three-dimensional heat flow and the relative risk of moisture damage.
BSC File RR-0603: Impact Resistance of Advanced Framed Wall Systems with Insulating Sheathing as the Primary Sheathing
Advanced framed wall systems that use a stud spacing of 24 inches on center and eliminate the plywood or OSB sheathing from the wall and replace it with insulating sheathing is a type of enclosure assembly that has been designed to be energy efficient combined with efficient material use.
BSC File RR-0904: Adhered Veneers and Inward Vapor Drives: Significance, Problems, and Solutions
This paper reports on field measurements collected from over a year of monitoring two types of wood-framed walls: one with an air gap membrane and another installed following standard practice. Each type of wall was faced either north or south in a test hut located in southwestern Ontario.
BSC File RR-0503: Rainwater Management Performance of Newly Constructed Residential Building Enclosures
A performance review of residential assemblies in the central Florida (Orlando) area during the three hurricanes in August and September 2004.
BSC File RR-0406: Face Sealed vs. Drainable EIFS
Exterior insulation and finishing systems (EIFS) are inherently defective and unfit of use as an exterior cladding system where moisture sensitive components are used without a provision for drainage or in locations and assemblies without adequate drying.
BSC File RR-9910: Wood Durability
The general principle of building durability has two components: buildings should be suited to their environment and the laws of physics must be followed. We tend to ignore the first and find the second inconvenient.
BSC File RR-0905: Modeled and Measured Drainage, Storage and Drying Behind Cladding Systems
This paper documents the experimental methodology, details, and results and discuss how this information can be applied to modeling drained wall systems. Practical applications and research questions arising from the work are presented.
BSC File RR-0906: Field Monitoring and Hygrothermal Modeling of Interior Basement Insulation Systems
The research reported in this paper is aimed at increasing the understanding of the hygrothermal performance of interior basement insulation systems by a combination of field monitoring of four assemblies and one-dimensional computer modeling.
BSC File RR-0907: Ventilated Wall Claddings: Review, Field Performance, and Hygrothermal Modeling
The balance between wetting, drying, and safe storage is critical to the long term performance of building enclosures. Where wetting cannot be controlled to acceptable levels, safe storage and drying become critical.
BSC File RR-9913: Case Studies in Resource-Efficient Residential Buildings: The Building America Program
Building America is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy, in which teams of architects, engineers, builders, equipment manufacturers, and others collaborate in a systems engineering approach to produce homes that use up to 50 percent less energy to operate.
BSC File RR-0908: A Method for Modifying Ventilation Airflow Rates to Achieve Equivalent Occupant Exposure
A calibrated ventilation model was exercised over a range of parameters seen in new and existing housing in the United States. This report was first published in ASHRAE Transactions (17, Louisville 2009). American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, GA. Reprinted with permission.
BSC File RR-0909: A Calibrated Multi-Zone Airflow Model for Extension of Ventilation System Tracer Gas Testing
The software CONTAM was used to create a calibrated mulit-zone model to replicate in-field tracer gas decay measurements of a new two story, 2,600 sq. ft., single-family house in Sacramento, CA under different whole-house dilution ventilation scenarios. This report was first published in ASHRAE Transactions (17, Louisville 2009). American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, GA. Reprinted with permission.
BSC File RR-9001: Description of an Indoor Test Facility for Evaluating a Roof Integrated Cooling Concept
An advanced roof test facility has been designed, constructed, debugged and made operational at the Florida Solar Energy Center. The facility operational at the Diurnal Test Facility and was designed to provide high quality data which could be used for verification and improvement of the analytical model of the desiccant enhanced radiant cooling (DESRAD) concept
BSC File RR-9404: Measured and Predicted Energy Savings from an Industrialized House
Side-by-side energy testing and monitoring was conducted on two houses in Louisville, KY.