Flooring in commercial and residential buildings can have a variety of problems, from moldy carpets to debonded vinyl tiles to movement in wood flooring. Understanding the causes and solutions of these problems involves understanding the building as a system. What happens beneath and above a floor matters, in ways that aren’t always anticipated or well understood.
The articles in this section examine a range of building practices and materials – and the interactions between them – that can lead to flooring problems and solutions.
There is a large existing stock of uninsulated mass masonry buildings: their uninsulated walls result in poor energy performance, which is commonly addressed with the retrofit of interior insulation. Some durability issues associated with interior insulation have been or are being addressed, such as interstitial condensation and freeze-thaw damage issues. However, another durability risk is the hygrothermal behavior of moisture-sensitive wood beams embedded in the load-bearing masonry. Interior insulation reduces the beam end temperatures, reduces available drying potential, and results in higher relative humidity conditions in the beam pocket: all of these factors pose a greater risk to durability.
Building Science Corporation (BSC) has been working with Byggmeister, a partner on the Building America (BA) team, on retrofit projects under the BA program. Byggmeister is a local design-build firm that specializes in energy efficient retrofits and new construction. The Duclos, Eldrenkamp and Panish Energy Group (DEEP Energy Group), which is associated with Byggmeister, conducts design-phase energy analysis and monitors completed projects. The Byggmeister multifamily test home located in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (Jamaica Plain or J.P. Three-Family) is a three-story brick row house . The test home is examined with the goal of producing a case study that could be applied to similar New England homes. Basic areas of research that this report is expected to contribute include finding the combination of measures that are feasible, affordable, and suitable for this type of construction and acceptable to homeowners.
Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity (MVHfH) has partnered with Building Science Corporation to provide high performance affordable housing for 10 families in the retrofit of an existing brick building (a former convent) into condominiums. The condominium conversion project will contribute to several areas of space conditioning, water heating, and enclosures research. Enclosure items include insulation of mass masonry building on the interior, airtightness of these types of retrofits, multi-unit building compartmentalization, window selection and roof insulation strategies. Mechanical system items include combined hydronic and space heating systems with hydronic distribution in small (low load) units, and ventilation system retrofits for multifamily buildings.
