Flush Out for Multi Family Residential Project

Thomas Fisher

LEEDuser Basic Member

18 thumbs up

April 27, 2010

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Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 01:49

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 EBOM requirements don't work for your project?

Jenny Carney

Vice President

WSP

LEEDuser Expert

436 thumbs up

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 02:21

Tom, I haven't seen any projects attempt substituting Homes criteria for multifamily EBOM, 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 CIR may be the only way to get assurance if this proposed alt compliance path would fly.

Thomas Fisher

LEEDuser Basic Member

18 thumbs up

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 13:58

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 CIR on these issues, and are trying to avoid doing so if possible due to the response time and cost. Thanks again.

David Posada

Integrated Design & LEED Specialist

SERA Architects

LEEDuser Expert

1361 thumbs up

Tue, 05/11/2010 - 23:12

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 EBOM requirements are most difficult or impossible to meet: air volume, filtration, temp, humidity, etc.