EBOM 2009 IEQc1.5: IAQ Best Management Practices—IAQ Management for Facility Alterations and Additions

I would consider this work to meet the minimum alteration requirements. To help ensure your scenario meets the minimum alteration requirements in the eyes of the LEED reviewer, it would be benificial to include a narrative / photos of the isolation of work from regular building occupants.

Also, MR c3 and MR c9 should be easy credits to achieve when pursuing such a minor construction activity.

Hope this helps!

If we do consider it to meet the minimum alteration requirements, then we would also have to flush out the area, not just documentation and photos...however, since it is a small space, techcnically it would not take long to get the required 14,000 cubic feet per square foot of floor area.

Thanks for your reply. We were also going to be tying it with MR c3 and MR c9. Just wanted to make sure we had 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. 1.5 clarified.

The temp / humidity requirement can not be exempted.
Temporary cooing / dehumidification units could be used during the flushout to maintain maximum humidity levels.

You may be able to conduct an 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. test as outlined in the Design & Construction reference guide to avoid the flushout cycle, yet still obtain the credit. However if the test shows contaminants above the allowable limits a flushout would then be required to achieve the credit.

David, this is our first piece of advice under the Bird's Eye View, above. Implement in this case means "have in place." You do not have to have a project during the PP.

Thanks, Tristan. I saw the advice above, but wondered if 2009 submissions were being treated differently from 2008 submissions (by the reviewers). We'll try it and I'll let you know.

Oh, sorry. I was reading your post in a hurry and thought it was the other way around. Is the language any different in 2008? If not I would be surprised if there is any difference with the reviewers. We wrote the advice above with EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2008 experience very much present in our minds.

I just did what I could have done before: looked up the 2009 language. The 2009 language also says, "Develop and implement..."

We'll give it a try. Thanks.

I hope you took advantage of our posting of the 2009 credit language, above in the Credit Language tab!

While it is definitely possible to successfully draft the 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. plan using this website and the USGBC reference guide, I do recommend that you also read the SMACNA guidelines to get a more holistic view of all of the air quality problems that guidelines are trying to prevent.

Seems like you could argue it either way. Is the suite being isolated from the rest of the physical building during construction? If so, it would seem to qualify as an alteration, even if you are not worried about isolating from occupants.

But to that point, it's being isolated from occupants by way of doing the work on a weekend, so it does seem like you meet that criterion.

I would agree that it could be argued both ways, but lean more toward it counting as a facility alteration. Since users could not occupy the space during the work, the isolation is being done by schedule rather than physical barrier, which is very common in commercial offices and schools.

Even if done after hours, this kind of work can have huge impacts on occupant health and comfort - thus we have IEQ credits for low emitting carpet and paint.

Seems like the intent of setting a criteria for significant alterations is to avoid tracking the minor ones with little impact on IEQ and track only the ones that do, which would seem to be the case here.

While there is logic to using a homes-specific protocol here, it looks to me like the approach you are proposing is less stringent, i.e. unless my math is off, less air volume will be introduced in the 48-hour period than the 14,000 cubic feet required by the credit. This may raise a flag for reviewers.

Can you be more specific about why the EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. requirements don't work for your project?

Tom,

I haven't seen any projects attempt substituting Homes criteria for multifamily EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems., but that may be in part because there doesn't seem to be many EBOM-certified multifamily projects. In generally, seems like you might be pioneering an idea here, and a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide may be the only way to get assurance if this proposed alt compliance path would fly.

Thanks for the responses.

The issue with the requirements for flush out in a commercial building in our case is that when an apartment unit is turned over, typically there is enough work done to meet the requirements of a LEED EB Alteration or Addition because at least 2 trades are doing work. So it would be virtually impossible to flush out each unit individully per the LEED EB requirements every time this happens. The other piece of this is that the building doesn't have mechanical ventilation (the building is over 50 years old), so the windows are the way the building gets natural ventilation. And we couldn't evacuate the other units or common spaces for the duration of the flush out. And since LEED EB doesn't allow for testing like LEED NC does, we are basically left without an option in the LEED EB system for meeting the credit requirements.

So we are looking for an approach that is more feasible in a multi family residential setting for the typical turnover activities for apartment units. We feel that the LEED for Homes criteria is much more applicable in our project's case. This is why we thought of the idea of substituting Homes criteria for multifamily EB. We are hoping to take this approach on several credits and still haven't been able to get any definite answers as to whether this approach will fly with the LEED reviewers or not. We have not yet submitted a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide on these issues, and are trying to avoid doing so if possible due to the response time and cost.

Thanks again.

It would appear that doing a flush out of just the unit being turned over and not any common spaces or other units is all that would be required since that is the only "affected space."

The question then is whether the unit itself can be ventilated at the 14,000 cf/ sf using supplemental exhaust fans, such as ones placed in windows. Depending on the climate/ location, if this is a multi-family apartment building with a common hallway & core, drawing make--up air from the common areas might meet the temperature and humidity requirements, whereas if these are apartments with external access & circulation, that could be harder.

A CIR is likely needed, but it might be useful to clarify when submitting it which criteria of the EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. requirements are most difficult or impossible to meet: air volume, filtration, temp, humidity, etc.

Thomas,

Good question. I initially thought that the disappearance of the 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. testing option in EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. v2008 was a harbinger of things to come for all Rating Systems in 2009. But, now 2009 is here and you can still use IAQ testing in other rating systems but not EBOM. I can't really piece together any explicit reason why this was intentionally yanked from EBOM only...seems like it may have been an oversight.

Maybe use a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide to verify if it's an acceptable alternative compliance situation for EBOM?

As for the contaminant limits, maybe gear up to make some public comments on the proposed 2012 revisions that will be coming out this summer?

Anyone get an answer to this? I don't see any CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide's or addenda published clarifying the if testing is acceptable. It doesn't make sense that a LEED CI project moving into a LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. building with credit 1.5 would have to do the flush-out method.

Canadian version of LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2009 allows Flush-out procedure OR 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. testing prior to occupancy. Seems like this has been added when the canadian version was written. Anyway, it could be a good argument for a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide.

Full details on recertification performance periods can be found in the LEED v2009 Reference Guide Introduction (pages xix-xx), but in a nutshell - yes, you'll need to provide documentation showing ongoing credit compliance from the date the initial LEED certification was awarded up until the date of the recertification application. The recertfication process is streamlined, so documentation requirements for individual credits may be less demanding during recertification than they were during the initial project. So, for IEQc1.5, you'll need to show, at a minimum, that the 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 was observed for any FA&A projects that occured during the performance period; the best way to do this is with photos and a written narrative confirming compliance. For credits that require more detailed tracking, like MRc1 - MRc5, it's a good idea to implement ongoing tracking protocols as part of standard operating procedures, and store that data annually in preparation for recertification.

However, the important thing to remember is that a certified project has 5 years to recertify that building, and the performance period essentially starts the day after initial certification is awarded. You can recertify once a year or at any time during that 5-year period. If you don't recertify within 5 years, any new LEED application for that building will be treated as an "initial" application, meaning that full documentation will be required for all prerequisites and attempted credits.