BSIR 77-1309

[

5

Three Proposed Typical House Designs

For Energy Conservation Research

S. Robert Hastings

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

October 1 977

Center for Building Technology

Washington, D C. 20234

NBSIR 77-1309

THREE PROPOSED TYPICAL HOUSE DESIGNS

FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION RESEARCH

Architectural Research Section

Center for Building Technology

Institute for Applied Technology

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, D.C. 20234

Prepared for Department of Housing and Urban Development

451 7th St., S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20410

and

Energy Research and Development Administration

20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20545

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Juanita M. Kreps, Secretary

Dr. Sidney Harman, Under Secretary

Jordan J. Baruch, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Acting Director

S. Robert Hastings

October 1 977
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FOREWORD

This is one of a series of working reports documenting NBS research

efforts to develop energy and cost data. The work described in this

report was jointly funded through ERDA/NBS Mod. No. 2 of Contract

E (49-1) 3800 and Task Order No. EA-77-A-01-6010 and through HUD/NBS

Contract No. RT193-12.

The background work for this report was completed in support of two

other reports "Geographic Variation in the Heating and Cooling

Requirements of a Typical Single-Family House", and "Determination

of Optimal Energy Conservation Designs in Single-Family Housing:

Preliminary Results".

The house designs presented in this report are not intended as "model"

houses which should be copied for any particular design qualities.

Their purpose is merely to typify a large percentage of new house

construction being built in the U.S. today. They are presented to

provide a basis for comment with suggested revisions to improve their

representativeness welcome.

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ABSTRACT

The ability of various energy conservation design features to reduce

residential energy consumption can only be judged by comparing houses

with and without such features. Comparisons can be made based on

measuring energy consumption of actual houses , or by computer modeling

energy consumption. With either approach, if the houses being evaluated

are the basis for estimating regional or national energy savings

possible with a given change from current construction practice, it is

important that the houses be typical of the given population of houses.

For that purpose this report contains three house designs typical of

new house construction for much of the nation.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Abstract

SI Conversion

1. Introduction

2 . Drawings

Ranch

Townhouse

Two-Story

3. Materials Specifications

4. Thermal Resistance of Materials

Used in the Three Houses

5. Suggested Applications for the

Three Typical Designs

6. Conclusion

Page

ii .

iii

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1

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6

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IV.
SI Conversion

In view of present accepted practice by the building industry in the

United States, common U.S. units of measurement have been used throughout this paper. In recognition of the position of the U.S. A. as a

signatory to the General Conference on Weights and Measures , which gave

official status to the Metric SI System of units in 1960, the following

conversion factors are provided to assist readers who use the SI units.

Length

1

inch (") = 0.0254 meter

1 foot (') - 0.3048

Area

2

2 1 square foot (ft ) = 0.0929 meter

Volume

3 3

1 cubic foot (ft ) = 0.0283 meter

Thermal Resistance

1 °F h ft

2 /Btu = 0.1761m2 °C/W

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1 . INTRODUCTION

House designs typical of today's construction practices are needed as a

basis for comparing the effectiveness of various energy conservation

strategies. This report proposes three typical houses as follows:

1) a compact "ranch style" house

2) a townhouse

3) a larger two story detached house

These are not intended to be "model" houses which should be copied

because of any particular design qualities. Instead, they are intended

to be typical of housing now being built in the U.S.A.

The design of the three houses was based upon the judgment of the

author (an architect experienced in residential design) and upon a 1974

report by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) titled,

"A National Survey of Characteristics and Construction Practices for All

Types of One Family Houses." The survey data represented 84,000 homes

built by 1600 builders selected randomly from the 27,000 builder members

of NAHB.

The decision to present three house designs was based on the NAHB

statistics on the frequency of various house configurations. Out of the

total number of houses constructed by builders in the survey, 73 percent

were detached, 19 percent were townhouses, and 8 percent were duplexes,

quadruplexes , or "other." Given these percentages it was decided to

present designs for the detached and townhouse categories but not for

1-1
the duplex, quadruplex, and other category since the latter represented

a small percentage comprised of diverse configurations. The decision to

present two detached designs was based on the fact that of all detached

houses in the survey, 52 percent were one-story and 17 percent were

two-story. Since detached houses constituted such a large percentage

of the houses, separate designs for one and two-story houses were deemed

necessary. Separate designs were not presented for "split level" houses

(bedroom area half a flight up from living area) nor for "bi-level" or

"raised ranch" houses (ranch plan above a half out of the ground

basement) because these configurations are merely a variation of the

ranch design and can easily be derived, given the information for the

ranch design.

Each of the three house designs presented varies slightly from the

national average for all houses. The basementless ranch house, with

1176 sq.ft, of floor area, is smaller than the national average detached

house of 1684 sq.ft. The smaller size was based on two judgment

factors: First, the three-bedroom, one-story houses would tend to be

smaller than the overall average floor area of all single-family detached

houses which include two-story houses and houses with basements.

Second, since 1974, the trend has been for new houses to be more compact

and it is expected that this trend will continue. A final note regarding

the ranch design, windows have been excluded from the side elevations.

This is a common practice due to closeness of neighboring houses.

Window areas for the front and rear elevations were selected as the

minimum desirable for the room areas, given that orientation is unknown.

1-2
The ranch house design, as well as the other two house designs, is

meant to be typical of today's home building practices and is not a

house specifically designed for energy conservation.

The townhouse, with a floor area of 1315 sq.ft., is also smaller than

the national average of 1393 sq.ft., again reflecting the trend towards

more compact houses. Also, three bedrooms were included, rather than

the national average of 2.2 bedrooms, because it was felt that this

configuration has become prevelent as townhouses have become increasingly

common.

The two-story house, with 1994 sq.ft, of finished floor area plus

a basement, is slightly larger than the national average of 1684 sq.ft.

This house design is included to represent a high-priced category of

large houses

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2 . Drawings

Schedule of Drawings

Ranch plan

elevations

section

schedule of component

surface areas Townhouse plans

elevations

section

schedule of component

surface areas

Two-Story 1st floor plan

2nd floor plan

front elevation

rear elevation

section

schedule of component

surface areas

Key to Symbols Used in Drawings

2850 = 2'-8" W x 5'-0" H

TW = twin windows

DH = doublehung

SL GL DR = sliding glass door

FG = fixed glass

HT = height

O.C. = on center

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3. MATERIAL SPECIFICATIONS

The following is a list of the materials noted on the drawings for the

ranch and two-story houses (detached) and for the townhouse, along with

the percentage of houses in the NAHB survey which were built using these

materials. Also, included are design features incorporated in the three

house designs with associated NAHB reported percentages from the same

survey. In a few instances the material specified or the design

feature included in the typical house designs do not represent the

highest percentage reported in the NAHB survey. The basis for such

deviation is the author's judgment of changes in building practice

since the 1974 NAHB survey. In these cases, both the selected material

or design feature and its associated percentage as well as the material

or design feature with the highest survey percentage (shown in parentheses)

are reported. In some instances the majority of responding builders did

not answer a question regarding use of a material. This is indicated

by "no answer" in the percentage column.

3-1
MATERIALS SPECIFIED

NAHB Reported

Percent of Total

First Floor (on grade) : Detached Townhouses

1 inch perimeter insulation no answer

Carpet 85 89

First floor (above basement)

no insulation

5/8" plywood underlayment

Carpet

Exterior Malls

Aluminum siding

(Brick)

1/2" intermed. density insul. bd.

2x4 framing 16" o.c.

3 1/2" R-ll Batt insul.

Kraft paper vapor barrier

1/2" gypsum wallboard

Windows

Aluminum 64 78

Double-hung 33 —

Horizontal sliders — 35

Single glazing 70 66

No storm sash 75 72

Doors

Solid wood (front entry) 67 43

No storm door 75 72

Sliding glass door (dining area) not reported

no answer

17 40

85 89

15 24

(34) (24)

27 35

78 95

71 81

35 30

82 78

3-2
NAHB Reported

Percent of Total

Detached Townhouses

Roof /Ceiling:

Asphalt Shingle 85 77

1/2 inch plywood sheathing 55 51

2x4 (or 6) trusses 24 inches o.c. 63 72

R-19 loose fill (+6") insulation 41 29

R-19 batt (6") insulation — (39)

1/2 inch drywall 80 89

Plumbing/Mechanical

:

Warm air, ducted heating 79 80

Electric furnace not reported

Natural gas furnace (49) (40)

Central air conditioning 67 86

Electric domestic water heater 51 55
NAHB Reported

Percent of Total

Detached Townhouses

DESIGN FEATURES

Foundation

Slab-on-grade 34 70

(Full basement) (34) (25)

Number of floors

One-story 52 —

Two-story 17 73

Finished Floor Area:

1200-1599 31 57

1600-2399 43 —

Garages

none not reported

one-car — 29

two-car (70) —

Number of bedrooms

three 68 66

four 25

Number of bathrooms

(one and one half) — (38)

two 50.1 —

two and one half 22 36.7

Roof form - gable 75 76

(Fireplace) (57) (50)

3-4
4. THERMAL RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS USED IN THE THREE HOUSES

COMPONENT R (for thickness listed)

First Floor (on grade)

:

Expanded polystyrene extruded (1") 5.00

Poured concrete slab (4") 0.32

Carpet and fibrous pad 2.08

Horizontal air film (still, heat flow down) 0.92

Total 8.32

First Floor (above basement)

:

The basement is assumed to be unheated. However, transient heat

from the heating plant (located in the basement) warms the air near

the basement ceiling sufficiently to make it unnecessary to

calculate downward heat loss through the first floor according

to the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals , page 378, (see note 5).

Walls (insulation area)

:

Vertical air film (15 mph wind) 0.17

Aluminum siding 0.60

Intermediate density insulating sheathing (1/2") 1.22

Cavity insulation 11.00

Gypsum wallboard (1/2") 0.45

Vertical air film (still) 0.68

Total 14.12

Walls (stud area)

:

Vertical air film (15 mph wind) 0.17

Aluminum siding 0.60

Intermediate density insulating sheathing 1.22

2x4 wooden studs 4.35

Gypsum wallboard (1/2") 0.45

Vertical air film 0.68

Total 7.47

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Windows

Vertical air film (15 mph wind) 0.17

Architectural glass 0.03

Vertical air film (still) 0.68

Total 0.88

Doors - (front entry)

Vertical air film (15 mph wind) 0.17

Solid Hardwood (1 3/4") 1.59

Vertical air film (still) 0.68

Total 2.44

Ceiling (insulation area)

Horizontal air film (still, heat flow up) 0.61

Gypsum drywall (1/2") 0.45

Insulation 19.00

Horizontal air film (still, heat flow up) 0.61

Total 20.67

Ceiling (truss cord area)

Horizontal air film (still, heat flow up) 0.61

Gypsum drywall (1/2") 0.45

2x4 wooden truss cords 4.35

Horizontal air film (still, heat flow up) 0.61

Total 6.02

Notes

1. The resistances in the above table are calculated from tables given

in Chapter 20 of the 1972 edition of the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals

published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and AirConditioning Engineers, Inc., New York.

2. It could be inferred that since R-values were given for the

ceiling and insulation only, the attic temperature is assumed to be

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at the outside air temperature. This may or may not be true depending

on the amount of attic ventilation. An ongoing National Bureau of

Standards project recording attic temperatures for various attic

ventilation conditions will provide more data to help quantify the

extent the attic serves as a buffer in winter and a heat trap in summer

3. Since the windows are specified to be aluminum, the R-value can

be applied to the entire window area. It is unreasonable, however, to

assert that the windows are typically left uncovered at night given the

privacy concern in urban or suburban environments. A tight-weave

drapery hanging to the floor and in loose contact with the walls at the

sides of the windows could be expected to increase the resistance to

heatflow of the window by 10 to 15 percent. This is substantial as the reduction occurs at night when winter outside-inside temperature

differences are greatest.

4. In calculating the downward heatflow through the slab a resistance

must be assigned to the earth immediately below the slab. The perimeter

insulation isolates the earth below the slab from the earth beyond to

the extent of the insulation's R-value. To calculate how much heat

is lost laterally out of the sides of the slab see Table 2, page 378

of the 1972 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals .

5. In calculating summer heat gain the resistance of the air film is

considered to be 0.25 rather than 0.17 as a 7 1/2 mph wind is

conventionally assumed rather than the 15 mph wind for winter.

Similarly, the value for the air film at the attic surfaces would

be slightly better (0.92) in the summer as the direction of heat flow

is downward as apposed to upward in winter (0.61).

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5. SUGGESTED APPLICATIONS FOR THE THREE TYPICAL DESIGNS

This report provides a basis for research in the areas of energy

conservation, fire safety, security, and environmental behavior.

An example research project in the area of energy conservation

would be to model the energy consumption of the houses in

each of 10 different locations (selected to represent a

sampling of the various climates in the U.S.) and quantify

the effects of various climate variables on the energy consumption

of typical new houses. Such a study has been completed for the

ranch house (publication is expected in the near future) , but

needs to be done for the townhouse and the two-story house. Once

these data have been calculated and tabulated they will provide a

comparative basis for many energy conservation modifications. For

example, the houses could be reanalyzed with the glass areas greatly

increased on the elevation facing south and decreased to HUD

minimum property standards on the elevation facing north. At the

same time, double glazing could be substituted for single glazing.

Included in the reports of these data could be illustrations of how

energy efficient fenestration and orientation can be achieved while

actually enhancing privacy through landscape planning. Examples include

the use of trees and shrubs, definition of court spaces, and

open space planning. Similar studies could be made to document

the energy and cost effectiveness of builders providing external

sun protection for the glazed areas of houses, be it sun screens,

deciduous trees, awnings, or roof overhangs. Such a study.

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especially in conjunction with a study of the effectiveness of

whole-house-fan ventilation, would document surprising energy

savings as a result of the dramatic reduction in the dependence

on mechanical air conditioning.

In the area of fire safety, the three house designs and material

specification provide a standard basis to study rates of flame

and smoke propagation, rates of release of toxic substances,

containment of heat, air movement patterns, and egress behavior

in conjunction with models of human decision making in fire

situations

Security issues need to be investigated concurrent with research

of various energy conservation measures such as adding storm windows

and storm doors, increasing glass area on the south-facing side

(e.g., replacing a window with a sliding glass door), orientating houses

away from the street when necessary to maximize south exposure, and

landscaping to shade windows (which may reduce street surveillance

of windows and doors)

Finally, in the area of environmental behavior, these three designs

provide the starting point to study how trends in new house

construction (such as reducing house size) necessitate rethinking

the way interior and exterior spaces are divided and defined relative

to life styles. As land costs, material costs, and labor costs increase

first costs, and as energy costs increase operating costs, future new

5-2
house design will change. A study is needed, starting, with the three

house designes to forecast various design and construction changes as

a result of these pressures and suggest the best alternatives. Such

a study would help assure that houses of the future are affordable,

energy conserving, and accomodate behavioral needs.

Each of these examples of further research benefits from using the

same three house designs as a baseline. The designs provide the common

denominator for evaluating how design modifications for one objective

such as energy conservation may help or hinder the achievement of

other objectives such as improved fire safety, security, or

habitability.

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6 . CONCLUSION

The three typical house designs and material specifications

described in this report provide a statistically documented

basis from which energy savings for various improvements can be calculated.

Of the three houses, the ranch is the most easily typified.

There are a limited number of permutations such as the

"raised ranch" and the "split level'.' In the case of the townhouse,

there are slightly more variations in design, including the substitution

of the upstairs bath with a walk-in-closet, the placement of the kitchen

to the front of the townhouse with the previous location of the kitchen

becoming a dining area, and the front facade being flush with no overhangs and no sliding glass door off the breakfast area or upstairs

master bedroom.

Two-story houses, larger in size and higher in price than the

former two examples, are least easily typified. Typical variations from the design shown include: the location of the stair

in the center of the house and either parallel or perpendicular

to the run as shown, and the location of the upstairs baths in

the location of the bedroom number 3 as shown. The interior

partitioning in this design, as in the other two designs, is

not presently a concern in modeling energy consumption, however.

For both the two-story and the ranch it is common to see an attached

one or two-car garage, sometimes with a family room to the rear of

the garage.

It is apparent, in each of the three designs, that common

cosmetic facade elements such as applied vinyl window shutters

have not been shown. It should not be concluded that this reflects the commonness or rarity of such features. Rather, they

6-1
have been omitted merely because they typically have no significant effect on energy performance.

Finally, any conclusions based on these designs must be qualified

to reflect the fact that the designs are representative of new

house construction at the time of this publication. These designs are not representative of the whole housing stock (pre

World War II houses differ substantially) , nor do the designs

anticipate changes in future house construction. The author invites

suggested modifications to the designs from the readers based on their experience of what is typical.

6-2
Acknowledgments

Graphic Assistance: Andre Tanner

Statistical Data: NAHB Research Foundation, Inc.

Rockville, Maryland 20850

Thermal Data: American Society of Heating, Refrigeration

and Air-Conditioning Engineers

345 East 47th Street

New York, N.Y.

6-3
NBS-1 14A (REV. 7-73)

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET

1. PUBLICATION OR REPORT NO. NBS IR 77-13092. Gov’t Accession

No.

3. Recipient’s Accession No.

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. Publication Date October 77

Three Proposed Typical House Designs for

Energy Conservation Research

6. Performing Organization Code

7. AUTHOR(S)

S. Robert Hastings

8 . Performing Organ. Report No.

9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20234

10. Project/Task/Work Unit No.

11. Contract/Grant No.

12. Sponsoring Organization Name and Complete Address (Street, City, State, ZIP)

15. SUPPL

Energy Research & Developmnt Admin.

2 0 Mass . Ave . N .

W

Washington, D.C.

20545

Housing & Urban Dev.

451 7th St .

,

S .W.

Washington , D.C.

20410

13. Type of Report & Period Covered

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

16. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a significant

bibliography or literature survey, mention it here.) This report provides three house designs typifying the majority of new house

construction in the U.S. Included are; scaled drawings detailing the construction

of the houses, a breakdown of envelope components by surface area, a schedule of

materials with supporting survey statistics from the National Association of Home

Builders, a table of heat transfer properties of the specified materials, and

recommendations for how these typical house designs can provide a basis for further

work in the areas of fire research, durability, security, and environmental behavior

in addition to energy conservation.

The background work for this report was completed in support of two other reports:

Geographic Variation in the Heating and Cooling Requirements of a Typical SingleFamily House", and "Determination of Optimal Energy Conservation Designs in SingleFamily Housing: Preliminary Results." This report is a wrap-up of the support

to these two reports and provides a thorough documentation of the three designs

to provide a basis for future work.

17. KEY WORDS (six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only the first letter of the first key word unless a proper name; separated by semicolons

)

Building envelope, energy conservation base, insulation, residential design practices,

typical construction characteristics, typical new house materials., windows.

18. AVAILABILITY [~X~] Unlimited

For Official Distribution. Do Not Release to NTIS

I I Order From Sup. of Doc., U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402, SD Cat. No. CU

I X Order From National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

Springfield, Virginia 22151 USCOMM.DC 29042-P74

19. SECURITY CLASS 21. NO. OF PAGES

(THIS REPORT)

41 UNCLASSIFIED

20. SECURITY CLASS 22. Price (THIS PAGE)

UNCLASSIFIED $ 4.50