FSC Particleboard

If the material is FSC Recycled, that should count, in my opinion. The important part is that the material comes from an FSC source.

Products should get credit for providing FSC material and credit for minimizing waste and using or recycling the FSC tidbits of wood to make particleboard and MDF. It seems absolutely contrary to the principles of LEED to require composite wood products to be manufactured from virgin lumber when there is a ready supply of wood material that can be recycled or repurposed to make composite wood products and if its the by-product/leftovers from milling FSC lumber then it should be able to be counted as FSC material and as recycle content.

I think GBCI should reconsider. Anyone at GBCI....?

Great website! Thanks so much! That's going in the FSC library for sure.

So LEED NC-Healthcare does lump all the criteria together, but the FSC section under Item 4 - Implementation of the MRc3 credit references the LEED 2009 - NC. So those requirements still apply...technically.

I'm going to make the executive decision to include it under both, if I can get the documentation from the manufacturer...and then just see what GBCI says when they review the credit information.

Again thanks for the response and the great website link. 8-)

I'm working 2 LEED for Healthcare projects that are in construction. I joined the team at the construction stage. The first project was initially assessed for the LEED 2009 NC rating system. However by the time the rating system selection guidelines were updated, the project was still in the design phase, and it required the design team to switch over to the healthcare system.

There was a lot of scrambling and to be honest, products and systems were not thoroughly vetted at the time. The spec's were written so that the onus was in the contractor's court to provide products that met the LEED HC requirements. The only caveat is that the many of the spec sections were written with a basis-of-design product...which in some cases did meet the LEED requirements. So there have been some $$$ change orders. More so with the first project and less so with the 2nd project.

These two projects are my first ever LEED projects. So nothing like jumping in at the advanced level. It's been super challenging.

The 1st project has been a crash course of learning the LEED HC rating system and understanding all the credit requirements and all the shades of gray. I am finishing up documentation for the 1st project and still have to pull together all the MRc3 info and the IEQc4 info. I will tell you that we ended up dropping the IEQc4 group 1 credit. All the sealants and adhesives did not meet the CA Prop 65 requirements. Even if the sealant and adhesive has a Greenguard Gold or Indoor Advantage Gold certification does not guarantee compliance. You still have to call the manufacturer and verify and ask for a letter as supporting documentation.

I've spent a lot of time just calling manufacturer's and working with their sustainable/LEED design departments. I generally email them the IEQc4 requirements along with a sample IEQc4 form, the link to the CA Prop 65 list and a sample manf letter for reference and go from there. Some reps can tell you immediately if the a product is compliant and will compose and email a letter. Others have to do some in-house research and consulting of files and then usually are able give a me a yes or no answer and a supporting letter.

In short my suggestion is to get the design team and spec writers to thoroughly vet all the applicable MRc3 and IEQc4 products in advance, including all the applicable adhesives and sealants. It takes a lot of time, but you'll be able to sleep at night and not worry about if you'll able to achieve the credit or not.

I also suggest working closely with the GC and subcontractors. The subs are generally not paper work savvy and do not have time to fully understand all the ins and outs of LEED. Before construction starts schedule a LEED coordination meeting with the construction team. Review each credit for which submittals are required and provide good/acceptable examples of documentation. I don't always receive the documentation I need, but will add product certificates and call the manufacturer's to verify info, because I know who to call and where to look for the info. I usually can then sign-off on a submittal, without it having to be revised and resubmitted. One review takes less time than multiple reviews!

My goal in all of this is to develop a database for our office that lists manufacturers, contact info for their sustainable design departments and has notes and info regarding various products which the design teams and spec writers can reference...so that as an office standard the specified products meet the most stringent LEED standards. If this is done regularly and consistently then the process becomes streamlined and takes much less time for both the design team and construction team when a project is going for LEED certification.

In closing, don't assume the GC will be able to complete this credit. To date I have not been able to get a "action plan" from them. I have taken on the responsibility to complete the calculator and work with them to pull together all the required information. Also there are few LEED HC projects, so don't assume the GC will be familiar with this rating system.

For my experience it has be a collective effort on the part of the design and construction teams to achieve success. I has taken a lot of time and patience on everyone's part. I can assure we will be celebrating if we are successful.