Credit achievement rate
XX%
Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »
LEEDuser expert
Steve Loppnow
LEED AP BD+C, Homes, EB:OM
WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager
LEEDuser’s viewpoint
Frank advice from LEED experts
LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To prevent or minimize exposure of building occupants, indoor surfaces and ventilation air distribution systems to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
Requirements
Option 1
Locate tenant space in a building that prohibits smoking by all occupants and users, within 25 feet (8 meters) of entries, outdoor air intakes and operable windows.
OR
Option 2
CASE 1. Non-residential projects
Confirm that smoking is prohibited in the portions of the tenant space not designated as a smoking space, all other building areas served by the same HVAC system, and the common areas used by occupants. Ensure that ETS cannot migrate by either mechanical or natural ventilation from other areas of the building.
If the occupants are permitted to smoke, provide one or more designated smoking rooms designed to contain, capture and remove ETS from the building. At a minimum, each smoking room must be directly exhausted to the outdoors, with no recirculation of ETS-containing air to nonsmoking areas, enclosed with impermeable
deck-to-deck partitions, and operated at a negative pressure compared with surrounding spaces of at least an average of 5 Pa (0.02 inches of water gauge) and with a minimum of 1 Pa (0.004 inches of water gauge) when the doors to the smoking rooms are closed.
Verify performance of the smoking rooms’ differential air pressures by conducting 15 minutes of measurement, with a minimum of 1 measurement every 10 seconds, of the differential pressure in the smoking room with respect to each adjacent area and in each adjacent vertical chase with the doors to the smoking room closed. Conduct the testing with each space configured for worst-case conditions of transport of air from the smoking rooms (with closed doors) to adjacent spaces.
CASE 2. Multi-unit residential buildings
Minimize uncontrolled pathways for ETS transfer between individual residential units by sealing penetrations in walls, ceilings, and floors in the residential units and by sealing vertical chases adjacent to the units.
Weather-strip all doors in the residential units leading to common hallways to minimize air leakage into the hallway1.
Demonstrate acceptable sealing of residential units by a blower door test conducted in accordance with ANSI/ASTM-E779-03, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization. Projects outside the U.S. may use a local equivalent to ANSI/ASTM-E779-03, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate By Fan Pressurization. [Europe ACP: Blower Door]
Use the progressive sampling methodology defined in Chapter 7 (Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS) Required Verification and Diagnostic Testing) of the California Low Rise Residential Alternative Calculation Method Approval Manual. Projects outside the U.S. may use a local sampling methodology, whichever is more stringent. Residential units must demonstrate less than 1.25 square inches of leakage area per 100 square feet (8 square centimeters of leakage per 10 square meters) of enclosure area (i.e., sum of all wall, ceiling and floor areas).
Alternative Compliance Paths (ACPs)
Europe ACP: ANSI/ASTM-E779-03
Projects in Europe may use CEN Standard EN 13829:2002 Thermal Performance of buildings – Determination of air permeability of buildings – Fan pressurization method.
See all forum discussions about this credit »
What does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
Do I have to provide a designated smoking area?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
How can I prohibit smoking 25 feet from the entrance of my project when it is a zero lot line and its entrance abuts a public sidewalk?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
How do you calculate the 25 ft. rule from designated smoking areas to building openings?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
We have a strict no-smoking policy and local smoking laws that all our employees are familiar with. Can we skip the signage?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
Does this prerequisite apply to e-cigarettes? What about marijuana?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
Checklists
Step by step to LEED certification
LEEDuser’s checklists walk you through the key action steps you need to earn a credit, including how to avoid common pitfalls and save money.
Documentation toolkit
The motherlode of cheat sheets
LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.
Get the inside scoop
Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To prevent or minimize exposure of building occupants, indoor surfaces and ventilation air distribution systems to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
Requirements
Option 1
Locate tenant space in a building that prohibits smoking by all occupants and users, within 25 feet (8 meters) of entries, outdoor air intakes and operable windows.
OR
Option 2
CASE 1. Non-residential projects
Confirm that smoking is prohibited in the portions of the tenant space not designated as a smoking space, all other building areas served by the same HVAC system, and the common areas used by occupants. Ensure that ETS cannot migrate by either mechanical or natural ventilation from other areas of the building.
If the occupants are permitted to smoke, provide one or more designated smoking rooms designed to contain, capture and remove ETS from the building. At a minimum, each smoking room must be directly exhausted to the outdoors, with no recirculation of ETS-containing air to nonsmoking areas, enclosed with impermeable
deck-to-deck partitions, and operated at a negative pressure compared with surrounding spaces of at least an average of 5 Pa (0.02 inches of water gauge) and with a minimum of 1 Pa (0.004 inches of water gauge) when the doors to the smoking rooms are closed.
Verify performance of the smoking rooms’ differential air pressures by conducting 15 minutes of measurement, with a minimum of 1 measurement every 10 seconds, of the differential pressure in the smoking room with respect to each adjacent area and in each adjacent vertical chase with the doors to the smoking room closed. Conduct the testing with each space configured for worst-case conditions of transport of air from the smoking rooms (with closed doors) to adjacent spaces.
CASE 2. Multi-unit residential buildings
Minimize uncontrolled pathways for ETS transfer between individual residential units by sealing penetrations in walls, ceilings, and floors in the residential units and by sealing vertical chases adjacent to the units.
Weather-strip all doors in the residential units leading to common hallways to minimize air leakage into the hallway1.
Demonstrate acceptable sealing of residential units by a blower door test conducted in accordance with ANSI/ASTM-E779-03, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization. Projects outside the U.S. may use a local equivalent to ANSI/ASTM-E779-03, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate By Fan Pressurization. [Europe ACP: Blower Door]
Use the progressive sampling methodology defined in Chapter 7 (Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS) Required Verification and Diagnostic Testing) of the California Low Rise Residential Alternative Calculation Method Approval Manual. Projects outside the U.S. may use a local sampling methodology, whichever is more stringent. Residential units must demonstrate less than 1.25 square inches of leakage area per 100 square feet (8 square centimeters of leakage per 10 square meters) of enclosure area (i.e., sum of all wall, ceiling and floor areas).
Alternative Compliance Paths (ACPs)
Europe ACP: ANSI/ASTM-E779-03
Projects in Europe may use CEN Standard EN 13829:2002 Thermal Performance of buildings – Determination of air permeability of buildings – Fan pressurization method.
XX%
Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »
Got the gist of IEQp2 but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Premium 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 of useful items from the Documentation Toolkit and Credit Language.
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, 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.
Do I have to provide a designated smoking area?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
How can I prohibit smoking 25 feet from the entrance of my project when it is a zero lot line and its entrance abuts a public sidewalk?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
How do you calculate the 25 ft. rule from designated smoking areas to building openings?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
We have a strict no-smoking policy and local smoking laws that all our employees are familiar with. Can we skip the signage?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
Does this prerequisite apply to e-cigarettes? What about marijuana?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
LEEDuser expert
Steve Loppnow
LEED AP BD+C, Homes, EB:OM
WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager
