Tag Archives: National

Sprayfoam in the Attic: When is venting appropriate?

For decades, designers of attics and crawlspaces have used cross-ventilation to minimize potential for moisture accumulation and condensation. However, spurred by recent claims of energy savings and moisture control, unvented attics have become popular in both residential and commercial applications. While these attics can be used in many circumstances, this author believes there are reasons to use vented assemblies in many situations.

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Accessibility of operable windows

Accessibility to fresh air and a connection to the outdoors for those with physical disabilities are especially important in skilled nursing and personal care facilities, multi-family dwellings, and hotels, along with classrooms and dormitories. To help ensure this access, windows capable of meeting operating force and motion requirements of International Code Council/American National Standards Institute (ICC/ANSI) A117.1, Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities, are being more commonly specified in the United States. This trend can be expected to expand into Canada.

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The single-ply skinny on EPDM

With evolving building codes, changing weather patterns, and emerging sustainability needs, demands on commercial roofing installations are ever-changing. The same is true for the debates centring on which materials and assemblies prove most reliable.

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Glazing performance and sustainable design

Glazing is an integral part of modern design. From a thermal standpoint, glazing and its structure or frame is the weakest point of a wall assembly.1 A double-glazed vinyl window with argon’s U-factor (i.e. thermal transmittance) is typically around 3 W/(m2 K). This means the window will gain or lose around 3 W per m2 per degree Celsius. An efficient fibreglass window system’s U-factor can be as low as 1 W/(m2 K). An aluminum curtain wall system can range as high as 4 W/(m2 K). On the other hand, the U-factor of a 152-mm (6-in.) steel stud, with batt and exterior continuous insulation, can be around 0.4 W/(m2 K).

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Canada tops global LEED building list

Canada was number one on the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) list of countries using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

More than 140 countries have project teams implementing LEED in projects for green buildings. The program provides a global and local applicability for creating structures that decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve indoor air quality (IAQ), and lower utility costs.

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Construction survey results presented

Earlier this week, findings from the recent Q1 “Canadian Construction Survey” were presented by Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) during its Summit of the Americas.

The group reports more than 40 per cent of respondents suggested limited building activity was due to labour shortages. Further breakdown of these findings suggests these shortages were prevalent among quantity surveyors and other professionals, rather than in positions such as plumbers, plasterers, and bricklayers.

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Urban design work honoured

Renewed brownfield sites and public transit structures were among the 2014 National Urban Design Award (NUDA) winners.

Presented by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP/ICU), and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA), the awards recognize projects that create or reclaim spaces for public enjoyment.

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