A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics

Miller, William A.; Boudreaux, Philip R.; Pallin, Simon B.; Biswas, Kaushik; Gehl, Tony; Atchley, Jerry; Karlsson, Nicklas; Bednar, Dominic; Jackson, Roderick; Prevatt, David O.; Shah, Anshul; Viswanathan, Aravind; Talele, Mitali

doi:10.3992/jgb.11.3.1.1

Title: A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics

Full Record
Other Related Research

Abstract

During the 2015-2016 fiscal year and with financial support from the Florida Building Commission (FBC) and the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association (FRSA ), the University of Florida (UF) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) completed Phase I of a study that setup four residential home demonstrations in Florida climate zones CZ-1A and CZ-2A. UF and ORNL are evaluating the hygrothermal (heat and moisture flow) performance and durability of sealed attic construction where expanded foam insulation is applied directly to the underside of the roof deck. The four homes are instrumented for measuring temperature and relative humidity of the indoor living space, the outdoor air and the attic air. In addition, the temperature, relative humidity and moisture content of the roof sheathing are being monitored and recorded by remotely-accessible data acquisition equipment. Here, air leakage tests on the whole house, on the sealed attic and in the HVAC ducts were conducted on all four homes.

Authors:

Miller, William A. ^[1]; Boudreaux, Philip R. ^[1]; Pallin, Simon B. ^[1]; Biswas, Kaushik ^[1]; Gehl, Tony ^[1]; Atchley, Jerry ^[1]; Karlsson, Nicklas ^[1]; Bednar, Dominic ^[1]; Jackson, Roderick ^[1]; Prevatt, David O. ^[2]; Shah, Anshul ^[2]; Viswanathan, Aravind ^[2]; Talele, Mitali ^[2]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)

Publication Date:: 2016-06-01

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)

Sponsoring Org.:: Work for Others (WFO); USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 1344264

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Green Building

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1552-6100

Publisher:: College Publishing

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; attic; water vapor; heat transfer; field study; spray foam insulation; ventilation; polyurethane foam insulation; moisture; durability

Citation Formats


                    Miller, William A., Boudreaux, Philip R., Pallin, Simon B., Biswas, Kaushik, Gehl, Tony, Atchley, Jerry, Karlsson, Nicklas, Bednar, Dominic, Jackson, Roderick, Prevatt, David O., Shah, Anshul, Viswanathan, Aravind, and Talele, Mitali. A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
Web.  doi:10.3992/jgb.11.3.1.1.

Copy to clipboard


                    Miller, William A., Boudreaux, Philip R., Pallin, Simon B., Biswas, Kaushik, Gehl, Tony, Atchley, Jerry, Karlsson, Nicklas, Bednar, Dominic, Jackson, Roderick, Prevatt, David O., Shah, Anshul, Viswanathan, Aravind, & Talele, Mitali. A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.3992/jgb.11.3.1.1

Copy to clipboard


                    Miller, William A., Boudreaux, Philip R., Pallin, Simon B., Biswas, Kaushik, Gehl, Tony, Atchley, Jerry, Karlsson, Nicklas, Bednar, Dominic, Jackson, Roderick, Prevatt, David O., Shah, Anshul, Viswanathan, Aravind, and Talele, Mitali. Wed .  
"A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.3992/jgb.11.3.1.1.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1344264.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1344264,

  title        = {A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics},

  author       = {Miller, William A. and Boudreaux, Philip R. and Pallin, Simon B. and Biswas, Kaushik and Gehl, Tony and Atchley, Jerry and Karlsson, Nicklas and Bednar, Dominic and Jackson, Roderick and Prevatt, David O. and Shah, Anshul and Viswanathan, Aravind and Talele, Mitali},

  abstractNote = {During the 2015-2016 fiscal year and with financial support from the Florida Building Commission (FBC) and the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association (FRSA ), the University of Florida (UF) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) completed Phase I of a study that setup four residential home demonstrations in Florida climate zones CZ-1A and CZ-2A. UF and ORNL are evaluating the hygrothermal (heat and moisture flow) performance and durability of sealed attic construction where expanded foam insulation is applied directly to the underside of the roof deck. The four homes are instrumented for measuring temperature and relative humidity of the indoor living space, the outdoor air and the attic air. In addition, the temperature, relative humidity and moisture content of the roof sheathing are being monitored and recorded by remotely-accessible data acquisition equipment. Here, air leakage tests on the whole house, on the sealed attic and in the HVAC ducts were conducted on all four homes.},

  doi          = {10.3992/jgb.11.3.1.1},

  journal      = {Journal of Green Building},

  number       = 3,

  volume       = 11,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2016},

  month        = {6}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.3992/jgb.11.3.1.1

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Indoor climate and moisture durability performances of houses with unvented attic roof constructions in a mixed-humid climate.

Technical Report Pallin, Simon B. ; Boudreaux, Philip R. ; Jackson, Roderick K.

A sealed or unvented attic is an energy-efficient envelope component that can reduce the amount of energy a house consumes for space conditioning if the air handler and/or ducts are located in the attic. The attic is typically sealed by using spray foam on the underside of the roof deck and covering the soffit, ridge and gable vents to minimize air leakage from the attic to the outside. This approach can save up to 10% in space-conditioning energy when ducts are located in the attic (DOE 2013). Past research done by ORNL and Florida Solar Energy Center suggests that inmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1185718

Full Text Available
Sealed and Insulated Attic Hygrothermal Performance in New California Homes Using Vapor and Air Permeable Insulation—Field Study and Simulation

Technical Report Less, Brennan ; Walker, Iain ; Slack, Jonathan ; ...

This project investigated the thermal and moisture performance of a low-cost approach to sealing and insulating attics using glass fiber insulation. The work included a combination of: (1) field measurements of attic and HVAC system performance in two new, high performance homes in California’s Central Valley (Fresno), and (2) hygrothermal simulations of attic performance. Each field study attic was continuously monitored at multiple locations for over a year for wood moisture content, air humidity, condensation, temperature, and heat flux, together with on-site weather and solar conditions. The Fresno test home showed periodic condensation and high surface wood moisture content, butmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1526610

Full Text Available
Measured moisture performance of sealed and insulated attics with permeable insulation in california homes

Journal Article Walker, Iain S. ; Less, Brennan D. - ASHRAE Transactions

This study performed detailed thermal and moisture measurements in two homes in Fresno and Clovis, California with sealed attics insulated with glass fiber insulation to determine moisture performance in inland California climates. Data were recorded once every minute for more than a year in each home to allow detailed observation of time-varying moisture and thermal conditions. Moisture measurements were taken at multiple locations in each attic and included wood moisture, surface condensation and surface relative humidity. The results showed that there are strong solar-driven diurnal cycles in attic wood and air moisture content, as well as longer-term seasonal and annualmore »« less
Full Text Available
Measured Moisture Performance of Sealed and Insulated Attics with Permeable Insulation In California Homes

Journal Article Walker, Iain S. ; Less, Brennan D. - ASHRAE Transactions

This study performed detailed thermal and moisture measurements in two homes in Fresno and Clovis, California with sealed attics insulated with glass fiber insulation to determine moisture performance in inland California climates. Data were recorded once every minute for more than a year in each home to allow detailed observation of time-varying moisture and thermal conditions. Moisture measurements were taken at multiple locations in each attic and included wood moisture, surface condensation and surface relative humidity. The results showed that there are strong solar-driven diurnal cycles in attic wood and air moisture content, as well as longer-term seasonal and annualmore »« less
Full Text Available
Moisture performance of sealed attics in the mixed-humid climate

Technical Report Boudreaux, Philip R. ; Pallin, Simon B. ; Jackson, Roderick K.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory studied 8 homes in the mixed-humid climate, 4 with vented attics and 4 with sealed attics. ORNL wanted to understand the moisture performance of the sealed attic and how it affected the interior environment. We found that the attic and interior of sealed attic homes were more humid than the attic and interior observed in vented attic homes. This is due to the lack of ventilation in the sealed attic. Historically attics have been vented to dehumidify the attic and interior of the home. A sealed attic design greatly reduces the venting potential and thus thismore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1113688

Full Text Available

Similar Records