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Understanding LEED for Green Metal Buildings

Posted on May 21, 2019 by MBCI

Designing and constructing sustainable buildings has become a mainstream expectation of most building owners. Whether for reduced energy costs, higher returns on investment, or as an organizational philosophy, “green” building solutions are in demand. Perhaps the best known and most often cited program to achieve these goals is the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) LEED^® rating system. While some may think that green buildings are more complicated and costly to build, that is not actually the case. This is especially true when metal building materials are used. In fact, metal buildings are an ideal and economical way to pursue sustainability goals and LEED certification. How? We break it down as follows:

The LEED^® Program

The LEED program has been in use since 1998 and is now used worldwide. It is a voluntary, point-based rating system that allows for independent review and certification at different levels. These levels include Certified (40-49 points), Silver (50-59 points), Gold (60-79 points), or Platinum (80 or more points). Since it allows for choices in which points are pursued, innovation and flexibility are entirely possible as long as specific performance criteria are met. It also encourages collaborative and integrative design, construction and operation of the building.

Points are organized into six basic categories, many of which can be addressed through metal building design and construction, as summarized below.

Location and Transportation: Metal buildings can be manufactured and delivered to virtually any location. That means they can support LEED criteria for being located near neighborhoods with diverse uses, available mass transit, bicycle trails, or other sustainable amenities. Metal building parking areas can also be designed to promote sustainable practices for green vehicles and reduced pavement. This all contributes toward obtaining LEED eligibility.

Sustainable Sites: Adding a building to any site will certainly impact the natural environment already there. Delivering portions of a pre-engineered metal building package in a sequence to arrive as needed means that the staging area on-site can be minimized—reducing site impacts. Additionally, using a “cool metal roof” has been shown to reduce “heat island” effects on the surrounding site and also qualify for LEED.

Water Efficiency: Any design that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation of plantings and other outdoor water uses is preferred. Incorporating metal roofing with gutters and downspouts, as is commonly done on metal buildings, allows opportunities to capture rainwater for irrigation or other uses. It also helps control water run-off from the roof and assists with good storm water control.

Energy and Atmosphere: Metal buildings can truly shine in this category. Creating a well-insulated and air-sealed building enclosure is the most important and cost-effective step in creating an energy conserving building. A variety of insulation methods for metal building roof and wall systems are used to achieve this. Typically, metal building construction uses one or more layers of fiberglass insulation and liners combined with sealant and air barriers. Alternatively, insulated metal panels (IMPs) provide all of these layers in a single manufactured sandwich panel with impressive performance. Windows, skylights and translucent roof panels can provide natural daylight, allowing electric lighting to be dimmed or turned off. For buildings seeking to generate their own electricity, standing-seam metal roofing provides an ideal opportunity for the simplified installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Metal roofs generally provide a sustainable service life in excess of 40 years. This means they can outlast the PV array, thus avoiding costly roof replacements during most PV array lifespans.

Materials and Resources: Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are recognized by LEED as the most effective means to holistically assess the impacts that materials and processes have on the environment and on people. Fortunately, the Metal Building Manufacturer’s Association (MBMA) has collaborated with the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute and UL Environment to develop an industry-wide life cycle assessment report. There is also an Athena Impact Estimator that can help with providing LEED documentation. Metal buildings support exceptional environmental performance through the significant use of recycled steel and the reduced need for energy intensive concrete due to lighter weight buildings.

Indoor Environmental Quality: Most people spend much more time indoors than outside, which impacts human health. Therefore, LEED promotes or requires using materials that don’t contain or emit harmful substances. It also promotes design options for natural daylight, exterior views and acoustical control to promote psychological and emotional well-being. Metal buildings are routinely designed to readily incorporate components that help achieve these indoor qualities.

In addition, some LEED points are available for demonstrating innovation and addressing priorities within a geographic region.

Considering the qualities listed above, metal buildings clearly provide a prime opportunity to pursue LEED certification at any level. To find out more about the LEED rating system, visit https://new.usgbc.org/leed. To find out more about successfully designing and constructing metal buildings pursuing LEED certification, contact your local MBCI representative.

Quality Control Accreditation Programs for Metal Roofing Products

Posted on April 11, 2018March 30, 2022 by Jason Allen

Performance-based building product testing and accreditation is a critical piece of just about every aspect of construction—affecting everyone from the manufacturer to the installer and ultimately to the owner and occupant. These certifications ensure real-world property loss will be prevented and provides protection when certified products are installed correctly.

With roofing being such a vital part of any building project, roofing manufacturers must take certifications for roofing products (in this case, metal roofing products) very seriously. Below, we’ll give a brief overview of the main certifications that we—and other metal roofing companies—test to and are audited for in order for the overseeing bodies to confirm that we’re producing what we’re testing it to. In the simplest terms, these specifications, such as UL or FM, will give the contractor peace of mind that he or she can provide what is spec’d.

At MBCI, we have several certifications through which we have ratings. These include:

1. UL (Underwriters Laboratories).

UL certifies roofing materials and roof assemblies for fire performance, hail resistance and/or resistance to wind uplift. Roof deck assemblies are investigated for performance under internal fire exposures and for uplift resistance. MBCI does a good deal of testing and we have UL constructions for many of our roofing products. We get the UL construction number, impact ratings and fire ratings. UL does quarterly audits in the manufacturing areas to make sure that we’re producing the panels the way we test.

2. IAS (International Accreditation Service) certification.

IAS accreditation programs are based on recognized national and international standards that ensure acceptance of its accreditations. To meet this standard, MBCI is “Part B” of the process, as we are responsible for the components. The auditor comes in to certify that we do what we say we do. Once IAS accreditation requirements are met, the company receives a certificate of accreditation.

3. FM (Factory Mutual) approvals.

MBCI has three roofing products that are FM approved for wind uplift standards, hail resistance, internal and external fire ratings. For each, we test the product and FM comes out yearly to do an audit.

This is an example of FM wind uplift testing.

4. Dade County roofing product approvals.

Miami-Dade and Broward Counties are classified as High Velocity Hurricane Zones (HVHZ), which are rated as 150 mph plus winds. It is Florida’s highest rating. An updated testing approval process has been instituted for building products and materials used in these counties. The purpose is to mitigate damage caused by wind-borne debris resulting from hurricane-force winds. MBCI does testing and this stringent certification is applicable for anything that ships into Dade County or Broward County in Florida. Product Notice of Acceptance can be located on the Miami-Dade website for roof and wall panel systems that are Dade County approved.

Safety and performance are the most important goals. All in all, these certifications ensure that we, the manufacturer, are doing our job and that customers are getting everything they’re paying for. For more information on MBCI’s product testing, please contact a sales representative.

Fire Resistance for Insulated Metal Panels

Posted on April 4, 2017 by MBCI

When it comes to understanding fire ratings for wall panels on buildings, one of the first things to overcome is incorrect information or misunderstanding that sometimes emerges around this topic. In an effort to achieve some greater clarity, let’s look at some of the basics of fire resistance ratings, particularly for insulated metal panels (IMPs).

Building Code Requirements

The fundamental reason that any wall needs to provide some degree of fire resistance is to allow people enough time to safely evacuate from a space or building in the event of a fire, or to prevent the spread of fire between defined areas or whole structures. Building and fire codes have been developed and adopted, in part, specifically to define the situations, building types, conditions and circumstances where different degrees of fire resistance are required to protect the public health, safety and welfare. Therefore, when looking at a specific building and the fire resistance ratings required, the applicable codes must be consulted and the proper determination made regarding the minimum fire resistance requirements for the different exterior and interior walls of that building.

Ratings-Based on Testing

The established means for knowing whether or not a wall meets a particular fire resistance rating is based on conducting a fire test in an independent laboratory. For IMPs, that means a manufacturer needs to submit full-size product samples to a laboratory such as Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL), which will then prepare and carry out the test according to standard, agreed-upon procedures such as ANSI/UL 263, “Standard for Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials.” The procedures dictated by a standard such as this are intended to be the same for all similarly tested materials or products to determine the actual fire resistance rating for each. When the products are subjected to the prescribed heat and flame under uniform laboratory conditions, then they can be classified based on how well they performed. Some products, for example, may survive the test long enough to qualify for a 1- or 2-hour rating, while others may only qualify for a 30-minute rating before succumbing to the fire.

The Urology Medical Office Building in Virginia Beach, Virginia utilizes 7.2 Insul-Rib® and CF Architectural – Horizontal insulated metal panels. View the product data sheets for these products for information on their fire resistance ratings.

Selecting Products

In creating or renovating a building, then, it is incumbent on the design and construction team to choose products and materials that have a proven, tested fire rating that meets or exceeds the building code requirements for the particular building at hand. If a manufacturer of IMPs has been identified ahead of time, then it may be possible to ask for evidence of the UL or similar test to prove that the selected product or assembly meets the code requirements. But many times, there is a need to first determine the requirements, and then look for the available products and manufacturers who can provide the needed fire resistance. Fortunately, UL maintains an online directory of all of the products that they have tested and certified. Their online certifications directory allows users to input selected criteria to search for specific result reports. Using this resource for IMPs, the UL Category Code of BXUV and the UL File Number of U050 should be entered to do a search. This will yield a summary list referencing the ANSU/UL263 test with a link to the BXUV.U050 test report for IMPs. There you will see under item 2: “Metal faced panels, nominal 42 in. wide by nominal 4 in. thick (for the 1 Hour Rating) nominal 7 in. thick (for the 2 Hour Rating) or nominal 8 in. thick (for the 3 hour rating) installed vertically or horizontally. Panels supplied factory double tongue and grove joint.” This lets the design and construction know that 1-, 2-, or 3-hour ratings are available depending on the thickness of the IMP and given that the factory joint is provided. Hence, the manufacturer can label their products accordingly.

By specifying and selecting the proper products that have been correctly tested and certified, then building code compliance is not only streamlined, the building will meet the inherent fire and safety requirements for the people who will occupy it.

For fire resistance information on MBCI panels, please review the product data sheets.

Storms and Safety: Metal Building Systems, Standing Strong

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Brad Johnson

Brester Construction features eco-FICIENT Royal panels

Welcome to hurricane season, says NOAA! Erika was a near miss, and Henri went off to sea, but with multiple storms stirring up the Pacific and a major El Niño threatening severe weather this year, building teams are focused on resilient, high-performance envelope and roofing assemblies.

The Durability of Metal Roofs

Resiliency is the watchword, and the stringent Miami-Dade County code language or similar standards are being adopted in many communities. The Florida Building Commission, as well as FEMA and NIST, have done studies of building performance during severe storms, and metal buildings were shown to perform exceptionally well. According to MBMA reports, insulated metal panels (IMPs) perform well under stresses of high winds and projectiles such as hail and wind-borne debris.

The post-storm studies everywhere from Texas to New Jersey confirmed the durability and resistance to driving rain and severe pressure differentials, too. Standing-seam roof systems and IMP façades remained intact during Katrina even as winds hit 120 mph. According to Metal Roofing Alliance, “metal roofing can have a 140-mph wind rating, meaning it can withstand wind gusts up to 140 miles per hour.” MBCI, which has achieved these ratings, has also pointed to another critical standard: wind uplift testing in accordance with Underwriters Laboratories’ UL 580, Standard for Tests for Uplift Resistance of Roof Assemblies.

Performance During Storms

Detailing of the roof-wall interface is essential to protecting against uplift. To reduce damage from wind-driven rain, manufacturers like MBCI use test protocols from Miami-Dade or the ICC (TAS No. 100-95). These standards show the security and integrity of the seams in IMP and metal roofing systems. For hail and wind-driven projectiles, the metal systems often are able to absorb impact and remain functional and retain their protective metal layers intact even if they may suffer cosmetic damage, as MetalRoofing.com forums have shown. Last, IMPs and metal roofing systems perform very well during lightning strikes — a fact that is counter intuitive but proven. In fact, use of metal roofs does not increase the chance of a lightning strike, as scientific studies show and the Metal Construction Association reported in BD+C, and as you can read more about in our blog post.

Similar to the three pigs of fable, some buildings will do well through hurricane season, while others nearby will suffer from softer connections, more porous materials and less stringent assembly designs. Many building owners will do well with metal roofing and vertical assemblies: with rugged embossed metal sandwiches over high-R-value, rigid insulation, held firmly in place with interlocking joints or lapping seams.

Best of all, the systems are complete assemblies that install as weather-tight barriers without coordinating various components and trades. They also have higher rated values than, for example, EIFS planks or fiberglass panels, some of which may suffer lost R-value when wet. With these benefits – and following the damage and disruptions caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy in the United States – metal is an attractive roofing choice for weather resistance.

All Those Sustainability Acronyms Mean Something, Right?

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Brad Johnson

By now I’m sure you’ve heard about PCRs, LCAs, and EPDs. Simply put, a PCR is a set of product category rules; an LCA is a life cycle analysis; and an EPD is an environmental product disclosure. But what do they mean and what’s the purpose of it all? In the broadest sense, these are mechanisms used for the sustainability movement. The most granular is the EPD, which is a product-based discussion (i.e., disclosure) of the environmental effects caused by a specific product or product type. Architects and building designers use EPDs to compare products in order to select the most environmentally friendly products to be used in environmentally friendly buildings.

Developing an EPD can only happen after the creation of a set of product category rules (PCR). A PCR sets the rules for creating LCAs and EPDs. An example of a PCR is “Product Category Rules for Preparing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for Product Group: Insulated Metal Panels & Metal Composite Panels, and Metal Cladding: Roof and Wall Panels,” which was developed by UL through the efforts of the Metal Construction Association (MCA).

Only after a PCR is developed can a verifiable LCA or EPD be developed. An LCmA and EPD are similar but different. An LCA uses industry-average data, and an EPD is specific to a product or product type. For example, “LCA of Metal Construction Association Production Processes, Metal Roof and Wall Panel Products” provides industry-average information about the environmental aspects of three key products: steel insulated metal panels, aluminum metal composite material panels, and steel roll-formed claddings. This LCA is based on 24-gauge material.

EPDs are typically more product specific. (An EPD is typically based on an LCA, so most often LCAs are developed prior to EPDs.) For example, the EPD titled “Roll Formed Steel Panels For Roof and Walls” provides similar environmental data as an LCA, but includes information about 29-, 26-, 24-, 22-, 20- and 18-gauge materials. This provides additional product specific information that can be used by designers when an industry average is not adequate. And importantly, more LEED points are garnered from a product-specific EPD than an LCA because of the specificity. LEED is certainly a driver of this!

LCAs and EPDs used in the roof industry are often focused on cradle-to-gate analysis, and exclude the use phase and end-of-life phase. Ideally, an LCA or EPD should include the use and end-of-life phases so architects and designers have a complete cradle-to-grave analysis. Without the use phase, designers are allowed to freely select the service life of a metal roofing product, for better or worse, without industry guidance. And, the advantages gained through metal recycling at the end of life are also omitted from MCA’s LCA.

It’s all about standardized disclosure of environmentally based product data.

Learn more about MBCI’s LCA, EPDs and other sustainability efforts, here.

The LEED® Program