While the bathroom was once a strictly utilitarian space, a growing trend among luxury consumers is to create a custom, spa-like wellness retreat right in the home. Surveys find that luxury consumers value functional and design excellence, uniqueness that reflects a creative side, and exceptional quality and value. This course examines the shower products available that help to create a personalized, multisensory wellness experience with beautifully designed pieces that meet water efficiency standards.

Building systems can be enhanced by incorporating reflective insulation or radiant barriers into the building envelope. With effective insulation, heat transfer is reduced, resulting in less summer heat gain, and less winter heat loss. This course explains common and effective uses for reflective insulation and radiant barriers in a wide range of construction and building applications and demonstrates how these systems reduce energy usage, increase the lifespan of the mechanical equipment for heating and cooling, and reduce maintenance requirements and frequency of replacement.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Restroom facilities should provide easy access and use for all users, regardless of ability. It is becoming increasingly important to know the tools needed to properly plan an accessible restroom that will meet the requirements of the ADA and other standards. This course will explore how accessibility standards accommodate a wide range of users, including how to design lavatories, toilet compartments, bathing facilities, and their accessories to meet accessibility requirements.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Quartz surfacing material is one of the most durable products in the market today. While there are many surfacing options available such as natural stone, acrylic solid surface, ceramic, concrete, and laminate, none offer the flexibility, strength, durability, and endless design possibilities of a quartz surface. This course examines the characteristics, attributes, and manufacturing processes involved with quartz surfaces, explaining how they influence material performance, safety, and durability. A comparison with other surfacing options and the use of quartz surfaces in healthcare applications are also discussed.

Universal hot water availability is generally taken for granted. At a time when energy prices and sources, environmental concerns, and water shortages are increasing in significance, it is important to produce hot water in a manner that addresses all these issues. This course explains how electric tankless water heaters (ETWHs) do this while also improving health and safety conditions and reducing costs. The examination includes detailed descriptions of many types of ETWHs and the basic calculations and selection criteria for the most suitable system.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

In today’s market, designers are always looking for innovative products that are beautiful, versatile, and sustainable. Glass-quartz surfacing encompasses all of these characteristics. This course describes the importance of recycled content surfaces and their environmental significance, including reducing the use of natural resources and improving indoor air quality. Traditional and recycled surfacing materials are compared, the sustainable manufacturing process is explained, and life cycle environmental impact and case study applications are discussed.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Sinterization is a specialized manufacturing process that uses extreme heat and pressure to create a unique product called ultracompact surfacing material. This cutting-edge material can be used in ways that natural stone, solid surface, or quartz material cannot. This course examines the advantages of ultracompact surfaces in terms of life cycle environmental impact, strength, durability, chemical resistance, absorption, abrasion resistance, and ASTM testing. Design flexibility with ultracompact surfaces in terms of color, texture, and format is also discussed and possible interior/exterior application options are considered.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Vinyl plays a major role in the design and construction of modern buildings, and it contributes to sustainability, wellness and resilience of people and their communities. This course demonstrates the importance of achieving client performance goals using thoughtful, multi-attribute material selection criteria.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Driven largely by public interest in minimizing the potential environmental impact of building products, architects and builders actively embrace “green” initiatives and are calling for building product transparency. The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) was developed to address this need. This course examines the EPD and includes discussions on who wants EPDs and why, the EPD development process, the contents of an EPD, and the future of EPDs.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

There is a growing realization that the buildings we live and work in play an important role in the health and wellbeing of building occupants. Green building rating systems are starting to incorporate health and wellbeing criteria and this course will look specifically at how products and materials can help meet the health and wellbeing requirements across these systems.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Choosing a sink and countertop for kitchen and bathroom installations can be overwhelming with the array of choices in today's marketplace. To facilitate the selection process, this course provides an overview of the different sink/countertop materials, sink configurations, and installation methods that are utilized in both residential and commercial applications with a focus on seamless integration design.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects buildings by providing real-time data for action and evaluative purposes. Plumbing products can be part of the connected building to reduce maintenance and costs, help conserve water, and provide extra health and safety benefits not achievable with nonconnected plumbing products. This course reviews some examples of the data that can be collected from commercial plumbing products to deliver critical information to building managers and owners. It also describes how these products create cost and time savings, enhance health, safety, and compliance, and contribute to overall occupant satisfaction and wellness.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Contemporary drinking fountains, water coolers, and bottle fillers provide communities with access to safe, clean drinking water. This course recounts the history of the drinking fountain and addresses regulations surrounding drinking water distribution and treatment. It compares the use of bottled water to bottle fillers and provides guidelines for specifying commercial water delivery systems.

Healthcare facilities are now striving to meet the needs of all patients to offer not only healthy and safe spaces, but inclusive spaces as well. Recent advances in plumbing design for healthcare facilities are helping to keep all patients and caregivers safe and healthy. This course reviews innovations in plumbing design and how these designs support trending healthcare needs such as ADA patients, bariatric patients, behavioral healthcare, and infection prevention.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Today’s consumers demand much of plumbing products, expecting them to be durable, environmentally friendly, safe, ADA compliant, and easy to install, clean, maintain, and use. This course reviews the options and features of an array of restroom plumbing products and drains, examining how they not only meet functional and performance requirements but also how they add style and character to a design.

In order to address tile installation difficulties effectively and avoid failures, designers and specifiers must maintain full awareness of current knowledge, practices, and products. This course reviews potentially problematic contemporary tile installation issues along with the industry guidance, methodologies, and products available to address them.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

The cleanliness of a hotel guestroom bathroom directly impacts a hotel’s profitability, by its influence on customer satisfaction and hotel image. Designers should not only consider aesthetics but also the selection of finishes and fixtures that allow for faster, more cost effective sanitation. This course examines the role of clean hotel bathrooms in hotel profitability, customer satisfaction, and public health. Potential modes and threats of infection are discussed and strategies suggested for selecting fixtures that improve sanitation and minimize labor.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

There are some complex issues involved in achieving ADA-compliant designs in all types of building construction. In terms of bathroom design, it is important to comprehend the ADA standards in order to minimize the risk of injury and to ensure end user comfort and ease of use. This course covers ADA-compliant design requirements for shower compartments and lavatory tops using solid surface materials─from planning and design to installation.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Good restroom design includes regard for user experience, environmental impact, good hygiene, and cost over time─hand-drying fixtures are a necessary element of this design process. In this course, we review how new technologies can address the hygiene, dry speed, sound level, and accessibility concerns of a restroom project. We also discuss why it is vital to specify hand dryers with optimum energy and cost efficiency.

Inclusive design is a win-win for customers and businesses. It shows the business supports the assumption that public spaces should be functional for all users no matter their age, health, or ability. The commitment to inclusivity includes promoting and respecting everyone’s right to choose a washroom appropriate for them regardless of their gender expression, gender identity, or biological sex. This course explores the benefits of gender-neutral spaces and discusses the sustainable, hygienic, functional, and distinctive design and material options for gender-neutral public bathrooms.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

FOG (Fats, Oils, and Grease) is commonly found in the wastewater discharged as a result of commercial and institutional food service operations. This course discusses the adverse effects FOG has on the sanitary sewer system, the principles of operation of grease interceptors, and the industry requirements for an effective grease management system in commercial food service applications.

It’s imperative to have a dependable, well-designed fire protection system that helps save lives and property. This course is designed to advance awareness and understanding about the wide range of components, functionality, and benefits of today’s most innovative standpipe fire systems and how to select the optimal system for your design based on building type, codes, and other requirements.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

In this course, you will learn about strategies for supplying lab vacuum in STEM facilities. Relative strengths and weaknesses are considered. Emphasis is placed on the specification, design, and installation of local vacuum networks. Brief case studies are used to demonstrate the suitability of local vacuum networks for a wide range of project types—renovation and new construction; teaching labs and research labs; and single labs to entire lab buildings.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

The design of behavioral healthcare facilities should address the therapeutic and safety needs of patients and staff while meeting the applicable codes and regulations. Reviewed in this course are ligature-resistant products developed for patient rooms and bathrooms that strike the balance between providing the safest design solutions while creating a noninstitutional environment.

A rooftop solar photovoltaic system offers myriad benefits to both building owners and the environment; to maximize the benefits, however, it is important to be aware of the potential causes and effects of problems with rooftop installations. This course presents the issues to consider to prevent damaging the roof, voiding the roofing warranty, and incurring additional costs. Solar system mounting options are explored in terms of how they can help eliminate concerns around rooftop installations.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...