Homes built today are far more complex than those built in the past. Quality control, quality assurance and commissioning are becoming increasing important to ensure that homes are built as intended and systems meet performance and technical requirements as well as meeting homeowners’ expectations. The links below provide information on quality control, quality assurance, and commissioning single detached, low-rise, and high-rise residential building systems and components such as air barriers and rainscreen walls.
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
- ASHRAE develops standards related to refrigeration processes and the design and maintenance of indoor environments.
- Metro Vancouver
- Metro Vancouver's BuildSmart encourages the use of green building strategies and technologies.
- Building Envelope Forum
- A quarterly online publication related to the design, construction, retrofit, and maintenance of the building envelope.
- Canada Green Building Council
- Commissioning is one of the prerequisites of the LEED Green Building Rating System. In terms of residential buildings, LEED can only be applied to larger buildings such as high-rises.
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
- CMHC has numerous publications on quality assurance and commissioning related to building envelopes, air barriers and rainscreen walls. Research Highlights:
- A Commissionable Air Barrier System for the Building Envelope
- Commissioning and Monitoring the Building Envelope for Air Leakage
- Guidelines for Delivering Effective Air Barrier Systems
- Quality Assurance Protocol Test Drive by CMHC and Polygon Construction Management Ltd
- Quality by Design: A Quality Assurance Protocol for Wood-Frame Building Envelopes in British Columbia
- The Rainscreen Wall: A Commissioning Protocol
- International Standards Organization (ISO)
- ISO develops International Standards that are adopted and implemented worldwide. ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 are quality management standards.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in Berkley, California carries out science and engineering research. The Berkley Lab has several research reports on commissioning residential homes focusing on the building envelope and HVAC systems.
- National Research Council Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC)
- The NRC Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC) is Canada's national construction research agency and publishes construction related research reports.
- NRC: Construction Technology Updates
- Practical information for builders, building officials, architects, engineers, specification writers, and property managers.
- NRC: Construction Innovation
- Field quality control: CCMC has a role to play
- NRC: Research Reports
