65- 407 C.M.R. ch. 400, § 2

Current through 2024-25, June 19, 2024
Section 407-400-2 - DEFINITIONS

"Addition" means new conditioned space which is attached to an existing building.

"Air Barrier" means a material installed to retard air infiltration and/or wind wash. An air barrier material may perform more than one function, such as, but not limited to, also being a vapor retarder, or either an exterior or interior building sheathing.

"Annual energy consumption," as used in 10 MRSA,1415-G {4), means annual energy consumption for space conditioning calculated in Btu's.

"ASHRAE 90" means the current standard for energy conservation in new building design developed and approved by the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

"Assessed value" means the equalized assessed value of the building established on the most recent April 1st

"Btu" means "British thermal unit, n approximately the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water from 59F (Fahrenheit) to 60F.

"Capillary break" means a material or system installed to stop the movement of moisture into a building by capillary action. A capillary break may be provided by either one of two general methods: 1) use of a material that has pore sizes so small as to be essentially nonexistent, such as, but not limited to, sheet polyethylene and sheet metal: or, 2) use of material that has pore sizes so large that water cannot move through it by capillarity, such as, but not limited to, a 3 inch thick layer of clean 3/4 inch crushed stone.

"Ceiling" means the overhead section of a room, including over the tops of walls enclosing that room. Ceilings may have any slope from horizontal up to, but not including vertical.

"Common room" means rooms or areas in the building open to all occupants of the building or which provide services to the building, such as, but not limited to, entries, halls, lounges, utility rooms, public restrooms, central kitchens, and central dining rooms.

"Degree day, heating" is a unit, based upon temperature difference and time, used in estimating heating energy consumption. For any one day, when the mean outdoor temperature is less than a 65 degrees Fahrenheit reference temperature, there are as many Degree Days as degrees Fahrenheit temperature difference between the mean temperature for the day and the reference temperature. Annual Heating Degree Days (HDD) are the sum of the degree days over a calendar year.

"Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms providing living facilities for one or more persons. This includes units providing complete, independent living facilities with permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation, and units providing independent living facilities with some shared or common use areas, such as, but not limited to, bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, and/or dining rooms.

"Electric space heating equipment" means any heating system which derives more than 50% of its heat energy input from electricity and has a Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF) not in compliance with ASHRAE 90.1-1989.

"Foundation" means a wall below the floor nearest grade serving as a support for a wall, column or other structural part of a building.

"Heat energy input" means energy supplied to produce heat, exclusive of energy supplied to transport and distribute the heat produced.

"Heating Seasonal Performance Factor" means the combined effects of heat pump heating and performance losses due to coil frost, defrost, cycling under part-load conditions and use of supplemental resistance heat during defrost as defined by the equation:

HSPF = Total heating provided during heating season, in Btu / Total energy consumed by the system, in watthours

The HSPF is listed by manufacturers on equipment labels for each of six regions defined in test procedures issued by the US Department of Energy in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 10, Part 430 (1-1-92).

"Infiltration" means the uncontrolled movement of air into and out of the conditioned space through cracks and interstices in the building envelope.

"Insulation" means material primarily used to slow down heat flow, and is limited to materials defined as insulation by the Federal Trade Commission in 16 CFR Chapter 1, Part 460 (1-1-92), "Labeling and Advertising of Home Insulation."

"Minimum unit R-value" means the R-value of an overall window unit. The overall R-value is the area weighted average of the R-values for the window frame, the edge of the glass, and the center of the glass, as defined and prescribed in the 1989 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, or using Window 4.0, the PC computer program developed by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

"Positive heat supply" means heat deliberately supplied to a space by design, such as, but not limited to, a supply register, a radiator, or a heating element.

"Public funds, guarantees, or bond proceeds" means any funds provided to a person by any federal, state, county, or municipal governmental or quasi-governmental agency to be used for constructing, renovating, or remodeling multi-family residential buildings as defined in 10 MRSA,1415-G(1). This includes, but is not limited to: grants, interest subsidies, funds from the repayment of previously provided public funds, and donations of land or services. This phrase shall hereafter be called "public funds."

"R-value" is an indication of the amount of resistance to heat flow. Only R-values stated in labels, fact sheets, ads, or other promotional material must be established through tests that meet the requirements of the Federal Trade Commission as contained in 16 CFR Part 460 (1-1-92) - "Labeling and Advertising of Home Insulation" are acceptable. R-values for unlabeled products shall be those found in the ASHRAE 1989 Handbook of Fundamentals, Chapter 22 - Thermal and Water Vapor Transmission Data.

R-values may be rounded to the nearest 1/10th for tested R-values of less than 10, and to the nearest whole number for R-values of 10 or more.

"Shall be insulated to" means that insulation rated at the prescribed R-value shall be installed.

"Space conditioning" means energy consumed to provide heating or cooling to a building by a heating, ventilating or air conditioning system.

"Standard building" means a hypothetical building which is designed to comply with the prescriptive standards listed in 10 MRSA §1415-G(3) for the purposes of being used as a base case when demonstrating compliance with the standards using the performance-based compliance procedure.

"Subsidized housing" means a residence which is constructed, renovated, or remodeled with the use of any public funds, guarantees, or bond proceeds as defined above.

"Thermal transmittance {U or U-value)" means the coefficient of heat transmission (air to air). It is the time rate of heat flow per unit area and unit temperature difference between the warm side and cold side air films. The U-value applies to combinations of different materials used in series along the heat flow path, single materials that comprise a building section, cavity air spaces, and surface air films on both sides of a building element. It is expressed in units of Btu/degrees Fahrenheit x Feet squared x Hour.

"Unheated space" means a space which is neither a conditioned space nor has any provisions for receiving a positive heat supply.

"Vapor barrier" see "vapor retarder."

"Vapor retarder" means a material installed to retard water vapor diffusion into building component assemblies. The retarder shall have a maximum permeance rating of 1.0 as defined in the 1989 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals. A vapor retarder may perform more than one function, such as, but not limited to, an air barrier, referred to as an "air/vapor barrier." Building papers, sometimes called "house wraps," n designed to be applied to the outside of building serve only as air barriers and are not vapor retarders.

"Wall" means a vertical element of a building used primarily to enclose or separate spaces.

"Wind wash" means the uncontrolled wind driven movement of air through installed building insulation.

65- 407 C.M.R. ch. 400, § 2