What is the correct climate zone?
jumanji
| Posted in Building Code Questions on
Can anyone point to a web site that will be zip code specific to determine which climate zone you are located? The Department of Energy web site leaves something to be desired. I cannot determine a clear explanation of climate zone 4 and 4 Marine. It seems there should be a site to enter zip code or address and get definitive information regarding climate zone.
Thanks,
William
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https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/building-science/all-about-climate-zones
4-marine is also called "4-C" and is the Pacific Northwest. 4-A is the zone in the middle of the country that starts in western Kansas and heads all the way east...Washington D.C., Baltimore, and St. Louis are some of the prototypical 4-A metropolitan areas. 4-B (rarely talked about around here, it seems) are the dry/arid areas roughly in the Southwest...but not too hot....Albuquerque is just barely in 4-B.
William,
The "Q&A" tab is one of the green tabs at the top of every GBA page. It brings you to the page with the climate zone map. Click on the map to enlarge it.
Thanks John and Martin. I guess the old adage is true…"sometimes you can't see the forest because of the trees…" Our county (Chester County, Pa.) is literally adjacent to climate zone 5. Does it make sense to insulate for climate zone 5-A instead of 4-A.
Thanks
William,
If you are located in Climate Zone 4, then minimum code requirements for Zone 4 apply to you. However:
1. Verify local code requirements with you local building department.
2. You are always free to insulate to a higher R-value than minimum code requirements -- if that's what you want to do.
Air seal and super insulate. Sealing air leaks is very important and gets great bang for the effort and buck.
Depending on the per MMBTU cost of your heating fuel, it can be financially rational to go quite a bit above code minimums. See Table 2 p10 of this document:
http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/bareports/ba-1005-building-america-high-r-value-high-performance-residential-buildings-all-climate-zones
Note, those are "whole assembly" R values, with all of the thermal bridging of structural elements factored in, not center-cavity R. (An R20 wall isn't a 2x6 studwall with R20 cavity fill- that only comes in at R13-R15 after factoring in the thermal bridging of the framing.).
AJ,
Appreciate the tip. I guess you cannot say enough about the common sense approach.
Thanks
Dana,
Thanks for the information. It is amazing how thermal bridging really lessens your r-values. the building science article is very helpful. I am leaning toward exceeding the codes regarding insulation. It seems the time to do it is when building. Thanks again.