New Construction Booming, Tighter Building Codes Looming
Amidst all of the new construction growth, the New York Times (NYT) recently published an interesting story about San Francisco’s ambitions for tighter building codes to make withstand earthquakes better. The overall goal of the city is shifting from just keeping people to safe to allowing people to return to a building after it gets impacted by an earthquake. Read the full story here.
This NYT story is just one example of the tighter building codes looming throughout the United States. We’re seeing local and national codes changing and adopting more stringent requirements. Here’s a list of various code changes looming:
- SPC 215
- California Title 24
- ASHRAE 189.1
- ASHRAE Handbook
- SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standards, 4th Edition
- International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) 2018
All of the above code changes have one overlooked thing in common: tighter duct leakage standards and more rigorous testing. Parallel to new construction growth, the HVAC industry is realizing airtight ductwork plays an important role in proper home and building performance.
To ensure the ductwork in homes and buildings is airtight in new construction projects, contractors are using Aeroseal duct sealing. For example, Paris Heating and Cooling in New York State works with Woodstone Custom Homes, one of the top builders in New York and certified by NYSERDA, to help build better homes by sealing the ductwork, which improves the HVAC performance, comfort, and indoor air quality of homes.
We sat down with Blake Montagliano at Paris Heating and Cooling for a brief testimonial about their success using Aeroseal in residential new construction.
Watch the video of a Blake Montagliano at Paris Heating and Cooling working on a new construction Aeroseal project.
New Construction Aeroseal Dealer Testimonial
Blake Montagliano at Paris Heating and Cooling in New York shares a brief story about the success it has had using Aeroseal in residential new construction (RNC):
“We have had the Aeroseal machine since March of 2017. It has been great for helping us achieve the new code in New York State. We do work for one of the top builders in the state, Woodstone custom homes. Woodstone takes pride creating a top-of-the-line custom home for their customers. They are NYSERDA a certified builder. This requires their houses to meet extreme codes to make sure they are the most energy star approved homes in the state. The old code we had to meet for a NYSERDA rated house was a leakage rate no more than 6 CFM per 100 ft.² of the home. We would spend many man hours to tape and mastic. There was a house we did not meet the code before we had Aeroseal so we would have to go back and re-seal house to make a pass. This was when we looked for alternatives and found out about Aeroseal.
We mainly got the Aeroseal machine to help us meet the codes that New York State implemented in the year 2017. State code got tighter than what NYSERDA Was requiring. The new requirement was a leakage rate no more than 4 CFM per 100 ft.² of the home. We knew that the man hours would increase and profit would decrease significantly. With the Aeroseal machine we are now able to save time and money on every job. With the success of Aeroseal we have been able to offer it to our other builders and even to other companies in the area that are in the new home construction.
The machine has help to create a new branch of our business that right now nobody in the area has. The customer support and technical support at Aeroseal has been extremely helpful with any questions we have. All around this is been a huge plus for company, and very satisfying for our customers.”
Are you a builder? Find an Aeroseal dealer near you to help meet new home construction codes for ductwork airtightness.
Are a contractor? We’d love to chat with you how Aeroseal can help you meet codes for HVAC ductwork better than hand sealing (e.g. mastic/tape). Call us 877-349-3828, email us, or leave a comment below.