Zonda - Resource Library

To better understand the challenges and opportunities now before the residential construction industry, consider 3416 Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, CA. Construction on this 17,000 sq ft, 4-story, multifamily structure was nearly scrapped. How the GC and engineering firm made it work is a lesson for any single-family or multifamily builder looking for a decisive design, efficiency, and safety edge. Read how they cut costs by a third and shaved two months off the delivery schedule.

Heavy timber has been used in the building industry for centuries. This course provides a description and definition of heavy timber and its subcomponents and how these components can be utilized for the benefit of the occupants. Sustainability and Fire Safety are primary concerns of Heavy Timber and this course will explain specifics on these topics. In addition, this course will provide an overview of the design process as it relates to avoiding delays due to unnecessary design changes.

Cladding protects the building envelope and building occupants from the weather, while also defining the aesthetic of the building. A challenge for specifiers is to choose cladding that is environmentally sensitive over their entire lifespans. Such goals not only require a sustainable product but one that also has the flexibility to function in a broad range of climate zones as well as offer expansive design options. This course explores the ways in which fiber cement cladding is able to fulfill these demands for commercial and residential buildings throughout various climate zones.

The rapidly rising rate of extreme weather events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, and drought, is plaguing municipalities and building owners throughout the United States. The construction industry, from product manufacturers to architects and engineers, is quickly realizing its obligation to design and build resilient structures that can withstand forces of nature such as high wind, flooding, and wildfire.

Fiber cement architectural wall panels are one such building product that can be installed as a rainscreen and have been proven to withstand these elements. This course will explore the societal, economic, and environmental costs of extreme weather events; the importance of building resiliency; and how high-performance architectural wall panels can help meet this end.

This course describes asphalt shingles and the raw materials that go into them. Although there are many styles and colors of asphalt shingles, they by and large share the same raw materials. This course will explain the functional reason for each raw material and offer insights to their sourcing and production.

This course provides an overview of the use of steel siding products for building enclosures, and in particular, steel siding products with pre-finished steel siding panels.

Included in this learning unit is background material covering the history of the use of siding as building enclosure, the various types of steel sidings available on the market and their advantages as building enclosures, detailed information regarded pre-finished steel siding panels, and design and installation guidance on pre-finished steel siding panels.