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Controlling Moisture by Mechanical Design in Highly Efficient Homes
Dramatic improvements in the energy efficient design of homes have been made over the past 50 years. Homes have evolved from being built to "breathe" with virtually no insulation and leaky, single pane windows to being the well-insulated, tightly-constructed homes of today. Along with the increase in insulation and air...
Right-Size Heating and Cooling Equipment: The Correct Size Improves Comfort and Reduces Costs, Maintenance, and Energy Use
Bigger is not always better with HVAC systems. Determining the correct size of residential heating and cooling equipment is key to achieving comfortable interior conditions ? temperature and humidity ? and saving on initial and operating costs. Size of cooling systems is particularly critical for optimal energy efficiency and comfort....
Windows Selection: Modern Windows Provide Energy Savings, Durability, and Comfort
Windows bring light, warmth, cooling breezes, and beauty into homes and give a feeling of openness and space to living areas. Although beneficial, windows can negatively impact a home's energy efficiency, comfort, indoor air quality, and durability if not properly selected and installed. Windows can be major sources of heat...
Advanced Wall Framing: Build Efficiently, Use Less Material, and Save Energy!
Advanced framing refers to a variety of framing techniques designed to reduce the amount of lumber used and waste generated in the construction of a wood-framed house. Designing homes on 2-foot modules to make the best use of common sheet good sizes and reduce waste and labor. Spacing wall studs...
Hybrid Wood and Steel Details - Builders Guide
Cold-formed steel has been widely used in commercial buildings, especially in non-load bearing partitions and curtain wall applications. In both commercial and residential construction, cold-formed steel sections are increasingly finding use as primary structural members, such as beams, floor joists, roof trusses, and load-bearing walls. Despite the availability of cold-formed...
Window Selection: Modern Windows Provide Energy Savings, Durability, and Comfort
Windows bring light, warmth, cooling breezes, and beauty into homes and give a feeling of openness and space to living areas. Although beneficial, windows can negatively impact a home's energy efficiency, comfort, indoor air quality, and durability if not properly selected and installed. Windows can be major sources of heat...
Controlling Moisture in Homes
Energy-efficient construction techniques that emphasize low levels of air leakage have increased the potential for moisture problems in homes and other light-frame buildings. Excessive moisture in wall cavities can decay wood if the moisture remains for extended periods at temperatures greater than approximately 50ºF. This document provides brief information on...
Designing Walls With Insulated Concrete Forms
Insulated Concrete Forms ICFs are typically constructed of rigid foam plastic insulation, a composite of cement and foam insulation, or a composite of cement and wood chips. The forms typically remain in place after the concrete has cured to provide an insulated concrete wall. ICFs are typically categorized by the...
Shear Wall Panels
In areas prone to earthquakes and high winds, codes for shear wall design now require builders to use let-in bracing or costly plywood site-built assemblies. Two manufacturers are now helping to streamline construction of shear walls by providing pre-manufactured modular products that are cost effective and easy to design, specify,...
Flexible Framing Anchor Straps
This paper describes the flexible framing anchor strap. This flexible strap and frame anchor is made of a woven synthetic composite called Kevlar that can provide structural reinforcement to a building frame during earthquakes and high winds. Kevlar, which is currently used in bulletproof vests, is woven into a continuous...
Energy Efficiency in Remodeling: Windows
This fact sheet is intended to provide you with information about windows -- the factors that affect their energy performance, available options, and potential savings and other benefits associated with better windows. In older homes, windows are often one of the largest sources of heat loss in winter due to...
Energy Efficiency in Remodeling: Ducts
This fact sheet is one in a series intended to inform builders/remodelers about the opportunities, options, and benefits associated with making energy efficiency improvements during home remodeling projects. Many remodeling projects involve some addition to, or modification of, the HVAC system, which in many cases includes ductwork. Leaky and poorly...
Electrochromic Windows
This document discusses about Electrochromic windows, which can block the glare of the sun or provide instant privacy with the flip of a switch. Electrochromic windows are part of a new generation of technologies called switchable glazing-or "smart" windows-which change the light transmittance, transparency, or shading of windows in response...
Energy-Efficient Interior Storm Windows
Homeowners are usually interested in lowering their energy expenses. However, they are not willing to pay large costs or sacrifice the appearance of their home to do so. Interior storm windows provide a compromise by effectively increasing the energy performance of a home by updating single-pane windows at significant cost...
Low-E Glass and Spectrally Selective Glazing
Windows are no longer simple panes of glass, but have evolved into complex engineered systems. Recent innovations such as double-glazed, gas-filled windows provide greater insulating value and improved energy efficiency, a benefit for windows used in any climate. New and widely used low-emissivity (low-e) coatings may be applied to glass...
Engineered Wood Wall Framing
The decreasing supply of large diameter, old-growth trees has resulted in an increased popularity of engineered wood materials -- those that process young, small diameter trees into strands and reassemble them into panels, boards, and framing material. Engineered wood has many uses, including wall framing. Engineered wood wall framing is...
Wood Interior Wall Paneling System
The article describes about wood paneling. The engineered wood paneling system is designed for interior finishes such as wainscots and wall paneling. Each panel has a hardwood veneer bonded to an engineered wood substrate such as medium density fiberboard MDF or wheat straw board. This can reduce the cost when...
Panelized Wall and Roof Systems
Manufacturers are reinventing the process of home construction using assembly line automation and prefabricated panels made from a wide variety of materials. The installed panels form a structural envelope that eliminates the need for conventional framing, provides integral insulation, and can be assembled swiftly by less skilled laborers. These advantages...
Residential Light Gauge Steel
This article describes about using steel framing for walls, floors, and roofs. Residential steel framing utilizes cold-formed steel members for walls, floors, and roofs. The framing members are C-sections with standard dimensions similar to wood framing members in stick-framed construction. Steel framing can be a cost effective alternative to wood...
Insulating Concrete Form Systems (ICFs)-In-Depth Analysis: Summary
Insulating concrete forms ICFs are rigid plastic foam forms that are filled with reinforced concrete to create structural walls. They hold concrete in place during curing and remain in place afterwards to provide thermal insulation. ICFs are used to make structural concrete walls, and can be used to make either...
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Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities: 541720
