Looking for some guidance!
I'm working on the interior renovation of a Library Project where we are pursuing this credit. My question is if library books would fall under "furnishings" that would need to be "installed" in the library prior to performing either Option (1) or Option (2) for this credit. We have 3 floors of stacks with books, and are working on the scheduling of book delivery versus IAQ timeline for the project.
My concerns-thoughts are:
(1) If books are considered "furnishings" for the project, having to place 3 floors worth of books prior to user occupancy would take a huge chunk of time away from trying to pursue Building Flush-out - Option 1.
(2) If books are indeed required to be installed prior to IAQ, my concern is that the books themselves would potentially trap VOCs and other contaminants within them, therefore not being beneficial to the building users.
Other than that, we have already done our calculations for Option 1, Path 1 vs Path 2. Path 2 is prohibitive time-wise. Path 1 is doable withing our schedule, however it all depends if the books need to be in the space before IAQ or not.
All furnishings and finishes are scheduled to be in, is only the question of the books.
Thank you in advance.
Calie Gihl
Design EngineerLEEDuser Expert
19 thumbs up
June 21, 2018 - 4:57 pm
Hi Lucia,
It seems that they mean furnishings in the true sense of the word - desks, partitions, shelves, etc. However, there is a note on pg 688 of the reference guide which states "Complete all punch-list items that would generate VOCs or other contaminates." Do you have any reason to believe that your books would contain or emit VOCs? If there is a large collection of older manuscripts, parchment, or other books which may have had VOC exposure for many years prior to their relocation, you might want to consider including them.