-
Good IAQ benefits everyone
Managing indoor air quality (IAQIndoor air quality: The quality and attributes of indoor air affecting the health and comfort building occupants. IAQ encompasses available fresh air, contaminant levels, acoustics and noise levels, lighting quality, and other factors.) systematically during construction is becoming more and more common as contractors gain more experience with LEED. It benefits the health of everyone who works on the site, not just the eventual occupants of the building.
Not a one-time thing
Earning this credit can be fairly easy, but it does require careful coordination and buy-in from all the subcontractors and field...
Step-by-step credit help
Got the gist of the LEED credit but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Members get:
- Checklists covering all the key action steps you'll need to earn the credit.
- Hot tips to give you shortcuts and avoid pitfalls.
- Cost tips to assess what a credit will actually cost, and how to make it affordable.
- Ideas for going beyond LEED with best practices.
- All checklists organized by project phase.
- On-the-fly suggestions on useful items from the Documentation Toolkit, Resources, and Credit Language.
-
Credit language straight from USGBC
Need to check up on the exact LEED credit language from the LEED Rating System on the fly? LEEDuser includes the verbatim language. Members get:
- Easy access to the official LEED credit language with just a couple of clicks.
- On the jobsite without your bulky LEED Reference Guide? Check up on the credit language details here.
- Credit language content is used by permission of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Your credit-by-credit reference library
Why waste time chasing down referenced standards and supporting resources when LEEDuser links you directly to the ones you need? LEEDuser has gathered all the best tools out there and organized them by credit for easy reference. Members get links to:
- Organizations that can give information or help on a credit.
- Standards or studies that are key reference points for credits and prerequisites.
- Articles that help explain important topics.
- Key documents or references for credit inputs.
- Software tools you can use to run calculations or simulations.
Documentation Toolkit
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:
- Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
- Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
- Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
- Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
- Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
- Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.
11 Comments
Epoxy flooring system and Indoor Air Quality
Hi everybody!
Do you have any experience or suggestions on how to deal with application of polyurethane / epoxy flooring system in underground garage floors in scope of IEQc3?
Is temporary sealing off of the area and preventing contaminated air from entering staircases and elevator shafts enough? Temporary ventilation does not seam to be feasible since it is in a grage and it is a low-VOC system.
C&S building with partial occupancy during construction
Our 23-story building is about to start partial occupancy at floor 12th.
The building's AHU1.Air-handling units (AHUs) are mechanical indirect heating, ventilating, or air-conditioning systems in which the air is treated or handled by equipment located outside the rooms served, usually at a central location, and conveyed to and from the rooms by a fan and a system of distributing ducts. (NEEB, 1997 edition) 2.A type of heating and/or cooling distribution equipment that channels warm or cool air to different parts of a building. This process of channeling the conditioned air often involves drawing air over heating or cooling coils and forcing it from a central location through ducts or air-handling units. Air-handling units are hidden in the walls or ceilings, where they use steam or hot water to heat, or chilled water to cool the air inside the ductwork. will be controlled by a variable speed drive which will regulate automatically the air supply quantity that the building needs, through the manual opening or closure of the supply and return dampers at each floor.
The project team will designate a person responsible of maintaining the dampers closed, except at the occupied floors, so the HVAC system only functions at these floors.
Is this enough for complying with this credit? or are we required to install MERVMinimum efficiency reporting value. 8 filters at each return air grille, even though they are not being used?
What if we document that the supply and return air ducts are sealed at all non-occupied floors? then can we skip the MERV 8 filters and use our normal MERV 13 filters at occupied floors? Or both sections (the occupied and the under-construction sections) need to have their MERV 8 filters and we have to replace all of them when all construction activities end?
In all cases, what will we need to document the compliance whit this credit?
Note: the construction team is already following SMACNA guidelines, and weekly photographs are being reported.
Thank you!
My understanding is that if the grilles are sealed off then you do not need to use the MERVMinimum efficiency reporting value. 8 filters or replace them at occupancy.
Scheduling for CS
Dear all,
we are making Core Shell project. Is it necessary to take into consideration flush out procedure during preparation of IAQIndoor air quality: The quality and attributes of indoor air affecting the health and comfort building occupants. IAQ encompasses available fresh air, contaminant levels, acoustics and noise levels, lighting quality, and other factors. management plan in scheduling point?
If so, what are the relevant requirements?
Does contractor need to replace all filtration media just before occupancy when HVAC is not planned to be used during construction?
Any comments/suggestions will be appreciated.
BH, a flush-out is not part of this credit for CS projects.
If HVAC is not used during construction, then there is not a requirement to replace filters.
How to deal with insecticide?
Our project is located at an area where COMEJEN is usual due to a very humid climate. COMEJEN is a sort of termite who lives in concrete cracks.
It has been suggested to use a insecticide that is sprayed on concrete to avoid this termite during construction. I have done a little bit of research about this insecticide and it is not harmful to people.
Will this somehow impact EQC3?
According to the standard practice it is not used on soil so it does not affect SSP1, and I'm trying to think if there is any other credit affected by using insecticide but I can't not identify any.
Any comments/suggestions will be appreciated.
David, I would think this would not prevent you from earning IEQc3. I would review the SMACNA guidelines for any mention of this kind of thing, and if it's not mentioned, review them and extrapolate what a "best practice" would be for applying this chemical relative to the housekeeping, scheduling guidelines, etc. I would also consider a universal notificationUniversal notification means notifying building occupants not less than 72 hours before a pesticide is applied in a building or on surrounding grounds under normal conditions, and within 24 hours after application of a pesticide in emergency conditions. Use of a least toxic pesticide or self-contained nonrodent bait does not require universal notification; all other pesticide applications do. policy per Integrated Pest ManagementIntegrated pest management (IPM) is the coordinated use of knowledge about pests, the environment, and pest prevention and control methods to minimize pest infestation and damage by the most economical means while minimizing hazards to people, property, and the environment. (IPM).
Complying with ALL SMACNA guidelines?
Dear all,
I was wondering if ALL of the SMACNA recommended measures need to be implemented on site to get the credit? For example, the SMACNA paragraph on "Modifying Equipment Operation" states an option of switching from diesel to bottled gas equipment such as generators or fork lifts.
Is the contractor obliged to switch from Diesel to gas powered generators?
This is very hard sometimes to achieve in certain countries!
Many thanks,
George, please see the LEEDuser content above for discussion of the issue of following all or some of the SMACNA guidelines. You're not required to follow all the guidelines. I would simply be very careful about skipping them and only do it if you have a good reason, which it seems like you have in this case. Ultimately it's up to the reviewers to decide if you went far enough.
C&S IEQ Credit 3.1
Does the C&S IEQ Credit 3.1 (Construction IAQ Management PlanA construction IAQ management plan outlines measures to minimize contamination in a specific project building during construction and describes procedures to flush the building of contaminants prior to occupancy. - During Construction) apply to a building under construction with NO partial occupancy? The project is a mall with only construction workers present at the time of construction. Can I still apply this credit?
Thanks alot!
Yes, George. The intent of IEQc3 is to have a construction IAQ management planA construction IAQ management plan outlines measures to minimize contamination in a specific project building during construction and describes procedures to flush the building of contaminants prior to occupancy. that both protects the health of construction workers, and that also prevents practices that could lead to poor indoor air quality for occupants.
Most LEED projects that apply for this credit are in the same situation as your project, with no partial occupancy during construction.
Please register to use the forum.