Multifamily Ventilation Assessment and Retrofit Guide

This report is a result of the research project lead by Dave Bohac from CEE. Access more resources related to this project.

Overview

This ventilation assessment guide can be used for multifamily buildings that are covered by the commercial building code. The commercial code applies to these buildings if they meet any of the following criteria:

• Any conditioned space is shared between units
• Dwelling units do not have a separate means of egress (an independent means of egress)
• Four or more stories

This guide may also be used for buildings covered by the residential code that have similar central ventilation systems. However, for those buildings the residential code ventilation requirements should be followed, instead of the commercial code listed in the Determining Ventilation Airflow Targets in MN Multifamily Buildings section of this manual.

This guide takes into account two important factors in working with multifamily clients. First, multifamily buildings have multiple stakeholders including building residents, building maintenance personnel, building management personnel, and building owners and decision makers. With so many involved parties, coordinating building visits and clearly communicating with all parties is essential to minimize the required time and interruption of day-to-day activity. This guide emphasizes convenience and efficiency in the assessment methods, equipment and communications in order to provide building management personnel with a comprehensive program that minimizes disruption to occupants. Second, this guide acknowledges the importance of keeping initial assessment costs low, a necessity for uptake of retrofit investments in the multifamily market. For this reason, the guide segments the assessment process, providing a low-cost initial assessment designed to screen for significant issues that can then be investigated in depth at additional costs when necessary.