LEED VOC Budget Calculations Explained

I stumbled onto concise but comprehensive article by Chris Dixon in Walls & Ceilings magazine called Straight Green: Alternative VOC Calculation for LEED. Basically, it walks you through the process of preparing a VOC budget (what you need to do if the contractor slips in a non-compliant paint or adhesive) as an alternative compliance measure for achieving EQc4, Low Emitting Materials credits. I could go into more detail, but instead I'll just recommend reading the article for yourself!

VOC Budget Example

This article was published in 2008, and references LEED-NCv2.2 standards, though my understanding is that the methodology should not have changed in the 2009 edition of the same system, and that it should also apply to LEED-CI, LEED-CS, and LEED-Schools systems.

via 4specs discussion forum

LEED VOC Requirements for Firestopping

You may notice a trend in posts right now, as I'm on a bit of a VOC kick at the moment. (See indoor environmental quality (EQc4) posts on primers, phenol formaldehyde, and the interior/exterior issue.) The VOC requirements are quite vague, as good standard definitions of each category are hard for many products. Today I was asked to look at what VOC requirements there are for firestopping sealants. Though I don't have a definitive answer (<- this can't be stressed enough), after talking to a few people I feel like we're on the right track.

OSI Green Series Firestopping

I started looking for the VOC limit by searching through the CIR's to no avail. The project manager and I discussed and figured the best definition was "Architectural Sealant", yielding a upper VOC limit of 250 g/l. After looking online I noticed Grace has a great LEED summary of their Flamesafe products. The sheet didn't indicate what category they were listed as, but after talking to Craig Boucher, LEED AP I learned they also assumed that "architectural sealant" was the best category for the putty and silicone products. For the sprays they assumed that it would need to qualify as a non-flat paint under EQc4.2.

In any case none of the Flamesafe products are above 50 g/l total content, and Craig indicated that the products were already around those levels before they needed to be marketed as "green". Interestingly the OSI "green series" products listed above have a higher VOC level (listed at 55 g/l on Green Depot) than the "standard" product from Grace.

As I said before I think I'm right but can't be sure without your help (or dropping $220 on an official CIR). Please let us all know if you can add some certainty to this post by leaving a comment... Your help will be much appreciated!

LEED VOC Requirements for Interior and Exterior Paints

Exterior Paints

Exterior paints and finishes are NOT covered in the requirements of EQc4, Low-Emitting Materials. That is to say, you could technically coat the building in a toxic 5000 g/l stew if you were so inclined. This is a small issue that many of you may already know about, but I remember back in the day I didn't catch the distinction and just received an email question about it earlier today. The reasoning is fairly obvious if you think about it, as exterior paints aren't really going to affect indoor air quality.

Quiz: Are these ladies LEED compliant?

No Interior Paints Used?

The question the reader brought up is whether you can earn the credit if no paints are being installed indoors. This is pretty common on Core and Shell projects, and I wasn't (and am still not) 100% sure about this. My thought is that you're still meeting the intent of the credit by not introducing unecessary coatings with harmful effect.

I did notice reading the CS Reference Guide (June 06 edition) that there is an exemplary performance point available for requiring and enforcing "compliance with the suite of EAc4 [note: I'm assuming this is a typo that should be EQc4] credits for 100% of the tenant spaces". Frequently in CS you're allowed to substitute lease restrictions instead of actually complying with the credit requirements when the requirements of the credit are not in your scope of work.

I've listed my thoughts on the lack of interior paints in a CS project issue, but I'm not certain of anything I've posted about it. Anyone who could help clarify these issues would be extremely helpful! Please share your experience by posting a comment!

Jump to earlier post on how primers fit into the VOC limits.

Where Do Primers Fit in the VOC Limits?

I was just asked today about what the VOC limit is for primers to help achieve EQc4.2, Low-Emitting Materials, Paints & Coatings. A CIR ruling (for NC 2.0/2.1, none listed for NC 2.2) states the following: 3/14/2003 - Ruling The Green Seal Environmental Standard for Paint (GS-11) is the standard on which achievement of this credit is based. All paints used on the project must meet these standards to achieve this credit. According to Green Seal, primer is classified as a topcoat for purposes of this standard and must comply with the requirements as well. So... the primer definitely must meet the standard. The question now is whether it's flat (50 g/l) or non-flat (150 g/l). I have a hard time believing that it would be non-flat, but then again, primers are never really listed either way. I tend to err on the side of durability, not LEED, and I could definitely see where additional VOC's (which sort of serves as a proxy for performance) would help improve adhesion. After reading through a PPG created guide spec, I get the impression that these primers qualify as non-flat finishes. They repeatedly exhibit awareness of the different requirements between flat and non-flat paints, but in most cases the primer (including multiple series and substrates) is between 50-150 grams/liter. See page 6 for the spec, page 23 for LEED COMPLIANT OPTIONS. Note, for gyp board and other surfaces they often offer a zero voc option... while potentially expensive, there would be no doubt about compliance...

CORRECTION!!! HUMBLE PIE SERVING NUMBER 2!!!

Primers must meet the limit for NON-FLAT paint with a 150 g/l VOC max.

Alert reader Josh Greenfield once again has pointed out something I missed. He was smart enough to search through the latest LEED-NC Reference Guide Errata Sheet (page 11), where it definitively states that primers are to be considered non-flat paints.

If I had been so smart this would have been a much shorter post. Due to the corrections some of the unecessary portions of the original post has been removed.