Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

We have been utilizing the LEED rating system for a 4 story, 51 unit multifamily affordable apartment building for recently homeless families and individuals on the southside of the City of Chicago, and we have been watching the CIRs on this Prereq. with great interest. As with other residential buildings utilizing the commercial rating system we will meet the intent of this Prerequisite 2, by prohibiting smoking in all common areas and by placing all residential units at negative pressure. All of the units are designed and are being constructed to have continuous exhaust ventilation. This is a standard building practice for this region. This design approach is, in fact, considered a "good practice" as these buildings become well ventilated as compared to the "stale air" atmosphere that occurs in buildings where the corridors are not designed to be pressurized. The latter condition is what the USGBC is currently endorsing by insisting on the weatherstripping of the corridor doors in the Alternative Method Option 2 of the 12/03/03 Ruling for residential buildings of this type and design. The stack effect, wind and other concerns cited in the 2/23/04 Ruling on the 2/06/04 CIR (which asked that the weatherstripping requirement be waived in cases similar to ours), should not be generally applied to all multi-family projects and especially not to low-rise ones. As it can be proven and documented that the air is moving in the correct direction and that the system is working properly by balance tests like the manometer test suggested in the 5/15/03 CIR, to which there has not yet been a formal CIR response. (We received the same recommendation from our State Energy Efficiency Program Representative as the Seattle project in the 2/06/04 did, which was to propose that a manometer test be used to document that the building is performing as it should in terms of the differential between the corridors and the units. Please note that our objection to the Alternative Method Option 2 is limited to the weatherstripping requirement at the doors, because it goes against good practice and design.) We request that USGBC seriously consider expanding the Alternative Method Option 2 to include the possibility of providing documentation through sample manometer testing in Low Rise Multi-Family Residential Projects in appropriate climates, in lieu of the weatherstripping requirement. (The weatherstripping requirement can remain as an option for Projects where the Corridors are not pressurized.)