Furniture Category required to comply

Hi Michelle,

Yes, 90% of the furniture needs to comply with Indoor Air quality limits and be tested according to ANSI/BIFMA M7.1 standard testing methods. 

Hi Michelle,

I don't believe furniture compliance is mandatory for this credit. The way I read it, furniture is assumed to be in scope for LEED-CI projects, in scope or not at the team's discretion in BD+C projects. So I see in the BD+C ref guide that furniture must be counted if it's in scope, which affects the point thresholds for those projects. BD+C projects including furniture must include all furniture, even if a separate interior designer is specifying/supplying it. And this language is repeated in the ID+C ref guide even though it's just built into ID+C, rather than being optional based on scope.

I'm not seeing anything implying that any particular category is mandatory.

Does that line up with how you're reading it? I'm right there with you on the head spinning, but it reads to me more like a bit of careless wording left in the ID+C guide than a very well hidden requirement.

Hi Emily, so do you think it is intended to be more like, "if you are pursuing points under the furniture category, then all furniture must be included, regardless of who specified or provided it"? That would be consistent with the calculator at least.  How do we determine what is careless wording and what is a requirement?
 

By the way, the instructional videos "Low-Emitting Materials Calculator Walkthrough" Parts I and II both say in the beginning that furniture is required to be included in the calculations for ID+C projects.

The way I'm reading it, the intent is to say that 1) all ID+C projects are assumed to include furniture in scope and 2) if pursuing points for furniture, all furniture must be included. (Maybe not fair of me to say it's careless wording left over from BD+C - that's a worthwhile clarification for ID+C, right?)

But every reference to the point thresholds for this credit - in the RS language, the form, and the calculator - just says "X points for Y compliant categories" - nothing about any particular category being required. I see where the gray area is coming from and I definitely don't want to say I know what I'm doing here 100%, but it seems like a big stretch to get to furniture compliance being required for any points here. At least, it would be a VERY easy to miss requirement that would have been a big change from v2009, and as much as we're used to interpreting gray areas I'd think this would have been made more explicit. 

Yes, it is a big change in V4 that is going to shake the industry. It's fascinating! All furniture now needs to comply.

Thanks for setting the record straight! Is this spelled out somewhere more clearly than the sentence Michelle highlighted? I've been going through these credit requirements pretty thoroughly over the past few months, and I'm struggling to see where this requirement is stated clearly enough for such a big change from the last version. Not in the point tables, or the calculator, or the Changes from v2009 section...is it really as understated as Michelle says, or am I missing some key thing?

Hi everyone-

The general requirement to include furniture in the scope of your CI project is unchanged from v3/ v2009.  It must be included in the budget, the total materials cost, etc. They are attempting to make it clear that regardless of who designs or pays for or installs it, it's part of the LEED-CI scope. This seems to have backfired ;-) They're NOT saying it must be compliant with the Furniture category of this credit, but that furniture must be considered for all categories you choose to go after for this credit.  So, if  any furniture is coated on-site (a rarity), that paint/ coating must be included in the Paints and Coatings category.  If an adhesive is used to assemble some furniture on-site, that should be included in the Adhesives and Sealants category. But, note that the Composite Wood category states "100% not covered by other categories" which means that you don't have to include the composite wood work surface furniture substrates. The RG does NOT required that the Furniture category be pursued and satisfied to earn the credit or certification.

Thanks Michelle & Rebecca! This felt really off to me but "the rating system doesn't seem to say this" isn't always the same as "the rating system isn't trying to say this." :)