This course provides an overview of mineral wool, its manufacturing process, use, and its contribution to sustainable buildings as a continuous insulation including rain screen principles, types of rain screen assemblies, why use continuous insulation, advantages of mineral wool, installation recommendations and mineral wool insulation LEED® contributions. This course provides (1) Learning Unit towards the LU/HSW goal of twelve (12).

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the advantages and implications of using continuous insulation.
• Identify the raw materials used in the manufacture of mineral wool, its manufacturing process, and where the recycled content comes from.
• Understand the benefits of mineral wool as a continuous insulation and describe the three types of rain screen walls.

This course covers two widely used acoustic metrics, the STC and IIC ratings. Although these ratings are required by building codes and frequently used, they are still often poorly understood and there are many myths and misconceptions around their use. This course looks "under the hood" of the STC and IIC ratings to get a better understanding of what they are, how they work, and what they do and don't tell us. Importantly, this course covers shortcomings of the STC and IIC ratings that if not understood can lead to poor designs for noise control. In that vein, this course also looks at two new acoustic ratings, HIIC and LIIC, that provide a better insight into the impact-noise reduction provided by floor/ceiling assemblies. Finally, the course uses the knowledge gained about ratings to discuss general methods of improving the acoustic performance of floor/ceiling assemblies.

Learning Objectives:

• Define the STC and IIC ratings, what they measure, and how they are measured.
• Identify common myths and misconceptions about STC and IIC ratings that can lead to poor designs.
• Explain the limitations of STC and IIC ratings and how they can lead to inadequate acoustical performance of wall and floor/ceiling assemblies.
• Describe the HIIC and LIIC ratings, what they measure, and how they can be used to better engineer acoustical performance of floor/ceiling assemblies.
• Discuss the general methods for improving the acoustical performance of wall and floor/ceiling assemblies.

This course will review the dynamics of sound, how sound travels through buildings, and the architectural techniques used to control airborne, structure-borne, and flanking noise transmission in multi-family buildings.

Learning Objectives:

• What is sound and how it is transmitted.
• The importance of noise control and building code requirements.
• Proper acoustic design for walls and floor-ceiling assemblies.
• Different types of floor underlayment and the benefits of using acoustic rubber floor underlayment.

This course will discuss comparisons between self-adhered and mechanically attached water-resistive vapor permeable air barrier membrane systems, connection details and construction methods to achieve a continuous plane of barrier to control air leakage in accordance with The Massachusetts Energy Code and ASHREA189.1. For over a decade VaproShield has designed and manufactured high performance vapor permeable water resistive barriers (WRB) and air barrier (AB) membranes and accessories, creating a comprehensive approach to protecting the building envelope that leads to unprecedented savings, up to 50% savings compared to major competitors.

This course reviews the importance of venting to dry excess moisture, and will discuss how to build an assembly that will mitigate long-term water intrusion and enhance drying capacity in the building envelope for the life of the building.