FUNDAMENTALS OF
High-Performance Building Assemblies
Course developer Peter Yost explains how high-performance assemblies are fundamentally different from traditional building assemblies.
Achieve enduring value through better use of building science
Whether newly built or retrofitted, high-performance buildings begin with envelopes that involve increased thermal demands, greater assembly complexity, and wider material choices.
To meet these challenges, architects and builders must get the building enclosure details right the first time, starting with the earliest stages of schematic design and continuing during construction and during occupancy.
This 4-part course provides methodologies for how best to design and manage these details and achieve superior hygrothermal—moisture and heat—performance.
Education credits:
- The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) has approved this course for 4 CE hours towards the LEED Credential Maintenance Program.
- The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has approved this course for 4 HSW/SD Learning Units.
- The Building Performance Institute (BPI) has approved this course for a total of 2 BPI continuing education units.
- The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) has approved this course for a total of 4 NARI continuing education units.
What you'll learn:
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Recall how the acronym ENDURE speaks to the unifying aspect of high-performance buildings.
- Describe how to apply the principles of high-performance assemblies in everyday work.
- Employ integrated project delivery to co-design an installation sequence.
- Describe how to manage moisture flow with continuous control layers
- Describe how to achieve continuity in air barrier assemblies
- Determine the best places to locate thermal barriers
- Understand how to deal with vapor diffusion using advanced tools, methods and materials
- Discuss the difference between vented and ventilated assemblies
- Explain why BECx befits integrated design, integrated project delivery, and design-build contracts.
- Outline the process to retrofit an existing building for high performance.
COURSE OUTLINE
Unit 1: The Science of High-Performance Assemblies
- Hygrothermal Performance: The Key Driver
- How water moves through buildings
- Continuous water barriers
- Capillary breaks
- Drained and rainscreen systems: Managing bulk water, capillary water, and drying
- Continuous air barriers
- How Blower-Door Tests Measure Airtightness
- Continuous thermal barriers
- Understanding thermal bridging
- Reducing Heat Flow Through Windows
- Vapor profiles vs vapor retarders
- How "smart" vapor retarders work
- Combining control layers
- Using WUFI to prevent moisture problems
- Vented and ventilated wall assemblies
- "Vented" crawl space foundations
- Vented and unvented attics and roofs
Unit 2: Getting Details Right
- Residential and Commercial High Performance Assembly Examples
- The Special Challenges of Curtainwall
- "Perfect" Assemblies
- Alternative Assemblies
- Joints: Sealants, Tapes and Gaskets
- Options:
- Adhesives
- Sealants
- Putties and caulks
- Agreeing on terms, and applications
- Avoiding failed seals with bond breaks
- How to choose a sealant that works
- Latex
- Acrylic
- Butyl
- Polysulfide
- Silicone
- Polyurethane
- "Hybrids"–MS Polymers
- Making tapes stay put
- Rubberized asphalt
- Butyl rubber
- Acrylic
- Silicone
- Tape performance: Other considerations
- Assessing service life
- Gaskets
- Compression and memory
- Wet versus dry glazing
- Service life of gaskets
- Assessing product safety
- Liquid Sealants and Chemical Safety
- Flashing Tapes and Chemical Safety
- Gaskets and Chemical Safety
- Case Study: Cape Cod Passive House
Unit 3: High-Performance Design and Construction Process
- How high performance Scopes Of Work differ from standard SOW
- Verifying Performance with Building Envelope Commissioning
- Cx vs. BECx
- Pre-design phase
- Design phase
- Achieving continuity
- Construction Phase
- Mockups
- During construction
- Pre-occupancy
- What gets tested
- Occupancy and operations
- Guidelines and standards
- HOBO data loggers
- Integrated High Performance HVAC
- Case Study: Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
Unit 4: High-Performance Retrofits
- Assessment
- Evaluation
- Monitoring
- Getting to know the building
- Case Study: Renovation of 46 Blackstone
- Historic masonry in cold climates
- Reduce airflow, encourage vapor flow
- Ongoing monitoring
- Case Study: Edminster-Bohner Home Retrofit
- The damp crawl space
- Ongoing monitoring
- Design Review: Existing and Planned Elements
- Design Review Drawings: Edminster-Bohner Home Retrofit
- Comprehensive Home Assessment Checklist
The course includes:
4 weekly lessons, with detailed videos of key topics, downloadable course materials (suitable for offline study), and the online quiz for CEU credit available with Lesson 4.
One year of access to online course materials and CEU quiz.
Free Q&A webcast with the principal author, Peter Yost.
Free bonus: Students who complete all 4 lessons will receive an autographed copy of Your Green Home by Alex Wilson.
Course fee:
$199.80, billed in four weekly installments of $49.95 each.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
If, after the first week, you are unhappy with the course in any way, you can cancel future payments and receive a full refund of the first installment, no questions asked.
