Home Builder Canada Readers survey
newsletter
NP_lineHome Builder Magazine New Products Online
NP_line
Computers, Educational
&Technology

NP_line
Electrical & Mechanical
NP_line
Exteriors
NP_line
Finishes & Surfaces
NP_line
Kitchens & Baths
NP_line
Landscape & Design
NP_line
Speciality Products
NP_line
Structural
NP_line
Tools & Equipment
NP_line
Windows & Doors
NP_line
New Products home
NP_line



External Links: Associations & Governments. Builders & Renovators . Manufacturers & Suppliers

Home . About Us . Subscribe . Advertise . Editorial Outline . Contact Us . Current Issue . Back Issues . Jon Eakes



© Copyright - Work-4 Projects Ltd.

BUILDING SCIENCE

Helping Industry with Innovation in Building Products

By Brad Gover

Risk The building construction market in Canada is worth $130 billion annually, with a strong potential for growth. Manufacturers are striving to meet the increasing demand for high-performance products driven by quality-conscious customers and changing societal expectations. At the same time, they are faced with technical challenges that may exclude their products from approvals by regulatory bodies in the absence of timely and convenient methods to determine how well those products will perform.
   Construction manufacturers are seeking building regulations that further continue to accommodate innovative materials with improved performance. Just as important, they require access to an efficient process for demonstrating code compliance, one combining technical criteria, evaluation services, and design guides that reduce the risks and costs of getting their innovative products into use.
   Under the Building Regulations for Market Access initiative, NRC will help industry address these issues and develop a new approach that enables companies to bring their innovations onto the market more quickly.
   On the regulatory side, NRC will conduct research to help the provinces and territories determine what acceptable performance is, validate methods to measure it, and develop and deploy consistent model construction codes that support their policy goals and simultaneously facilitate innovation.
   In support of product assessment, NRC will provide industry clients with technical criteria, design guides, and objective and consistent evaluations to demonstrate the performance of new products and systems. Design guides not only show how innovations can be used safely and effectively in construction practice, they also offer solutions to ensure their compatibility with other building elements and systems.
  
Validating Technologies that Provide Clean and Safe Indoor Air
   A key area of safety and health includes developing acceptable performance targets for healthy indoor air and effective strategies for ventilation and the control of air pollutants. This work will enable the setting of standards for acceptable indoor air quality while supporting innovation and avoiding costly methods to demonstrate compliance. NRC is collaborating with Health Canada and manufacturers to develop a technological framework for assessing the effectiveness of building products and systems that aim to improve cleanliness and safety of air in buildings. The methods and criteria being developed are also suitable for the development of regulations incorporating performance-based requirements for clean and safe indoor air.
   Current building codes do not specify criteria for indoor air quality (IAQ); they simply mandate the capacity of the ventilation system. Manufacturers seeking to develop and commercialize technologies that meet market demand for healthy and comfortable indoor air rely on voluntary labelling and guides, and internal research. Manufacturers are looking to increasingly use information developed by NRC and others to develop and market products with reduced emissions, technologies to remove airborne contaminants, and to prevent their transfer into buildings.
   Indoor air contaminants-from building products, materials, and systems-impact health, but the quantitative relationships between emissions and health are not fully understood. In order to control or regulate IAQ, manufacturers and builders require research to establish a clear link between improved air quality and improved health. Through partnership with health-related institutions, we are helping clients and partners develop the technical basis for de-risking and validating product designs, and for developing regulations.
  
Key IAQ Research Projects
   With industrial and public partners, NRC is employing its indoor air research laboratories and experts in collaborative projects based on the following priorities:
•     Evaluation protocols for accurately rating air cleaning technologies: Developing methods and criteria for technologies such as portable air cleaners and filters to help our industry clients determine and demonstrate their effectiveness.
•     New material emission evaluation methods and criteria: Help industry evaluate material emissions beyond the currently limited range of compounds, and develop evaluation techniques that are faster and more cost effective for industry.
•     Design guides and technologies that minimize the likelihood of radon entry into buildings: Assist manufacturers of radon exhaust fans and passive radon barriers to validate their performance, by developing methods and criteria to fill existing gaps in evaluation.
•     Establish methods to characterize and mitigate IAQ problems in houses with attached garages: Develop methods and validate performance of active fans and passive barriers, helping manufacturers validate and demonstrate solutions to control transfer of off-gassing from vehicles, equipment and stored materials into living spaces.
   Performance standards for air quality will help industry reduce risk and liability in the marketplace, and to be more innovative in their product development.

Dr. Brad Gover is Director of the Building Envelope and Materials program at NRC Construction.

This article has been reprinted from Construction Innovation (Vol. 18, No. 3) with permission from the National Research Council of Canada.

 


homeBUILDERcanada.com | Home BUILDER Magazine | Canada's #1 Information Source for Residential Home Builders and Professional Renovators

HB house ad sub
Home Builder Magazine Ask Jon Eakes
Home Builder current issue