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1-day courses:
3-day courses:
Let's Clear the Air Indoor Air Quality Seminar
This one-day seminar for housing professionals presents a comprehensive overview of residential IAQ issues. It’s designed for anyone with an interest in this topic such as building and health inspectors, builders, architects, HVAC contractors, suppliers of housing products, interior designers and property managers.
Topics covered include:
Health impacts of poor indoor air quality and susceptible populations.
- Biological (e.g. mold) and chemical contaminants – sources and typical solutions.
- Heating, combustion, air filtration and ventilation systems and their impacts on indoor air quality.
- Identifying and solving IAQ problems based on the "The House as a System” approach.
This seminar is equivalent to Build and Renovate to Avoid Mold workshop as a pre-requisite to the CMHC Residential IAQ Investigator Course.
Build and Renovate to Avoid Mold
This one-day workshop is intended for the builder, renovator, architect, health or housing inspector, appraiser and other housing professionals. Case studies of mold in new and older houses are presented followed by fundamentals of mold to enable one to understand why mold grows and how to avoid mold problems. 'The House as a System' is important to identify and solve the causes of mold. This workshop has been updated with construction details that work and don't work. The section on mechanical systems has been expanded to include different types of ventilation systems, heat/energy recovery ventilators and filtration systems. The last section deals with indoor air contaminants other than mold.
This workshop is equivalent to the Let’s Clear the Air seminar as a pre-requisite for all other IAQ Program courses.
This optional one-day addition to the Build and Renovate to Avoid Mold workshop or the Let’s Clear the Air seminar provides an introduction to on-site investigations. Participants apply the principles learned in the seminar and get hands-on experience by conducting an actual investigation of a local volunteer house. An experienced trainer guides the participants in summarizing and analyzing the observations, determining the solutions, and creating action plans, as well as providing detailed procedures for cleaning up mold.
Residential Indoor Air Quality Investigator Program
This program trains qualified individuals to investigate houses for indoor air quality problems using a building science-based inspection. The 3-day IAQ Investigator Course is the first step in the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Residential Investigator Training Program. The second step is a field-training phase. Performance is reviewed after completion of the 3-day training in the classroom, then on an ongoing basis during the field training. Successful completion of the program is based on demonstration of competence.
Individuals who satisfactorily complete both the course and field training receive a diploma acknowledging completion of all required elements. Many graduates of the program provide a fee-for-service to homeowners and property managers. Graduates’ names may be included in a referral listing of Canadian residential IAQ investigators which will be widely distributed to CMHC offices. CMHC reserves the right not to issue the diploma or to remove the name of the individual from the listing for reasons such as unsatisfactory performance or misrepresentation or violation of codes of practice agreed upon by the investigators.
The 1-day Build and Renovate to Avoid Mold workshop or the 1-day Let’s Clear the Air seminar is a pre-requisite for the CMHC Residential IAQ Investigator course.
Phase I – Three-day investigator course
- Learn how to apply CMHC’s comprehensive investigation protocol to identify IAQ problems and develop solutions to remedy those problems.
- Conduct in-depth IAQ house investigations.
- Explore the latest studies and emerging information about indoor air quality, liability issues and codes of practice.
The IAQ investigator course is comprehensive--with emphasis on residential indoor air quality. Over the three days, the course deals with the subject in-depth to give the participant a good understanding of the types of indoor pollution problems found in homes, the health impact of these problems, and their solutions.
The course includes site visits to two houses where participants will learn how to use the IAQ inspection protocol developed for residential inspections. Course participants learn how to prioritize remediation measures, how to advise homeowners and how to write reports. The three-day session also includes discussion of client-investigator relationships, liabilities, conflicts of interest, professional fees, and codes of practice.
Participants are expected to produce an IAQ investigation report for one of the two homes visited. This report will be evaluated by the trainer and submitted back to you with comments. This report will serve as a pre-requisite for the Field Training component of the program and represents the first of four reports required for the completion of the program.
Phase II – Field training (optional)
Conduct four separate in-depth house investigations and submit written reports for review by CMHC trainers.
Acquire the skills to investigate and solve IAQ problems of varying type and complexity in real time and real world situations.
Learn to write well-organized and prioritized reports that provide clear and useful advice to clients.
Participants who desire an IAQ Investigator diploma and listing must go through a field training process involving three house investigations to be submitted for review. The field training enables the trainees to learn and improve their skills in conducting IAQ investigations. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the field training within one year of completing the course. Participants of the 3-Day IAQ Investigator Course are not obliged to continue with Phase II, the Field Training.
Field training follows the investigator course. Upon submitting an acceptable course report (the report for either house investigated at the 3-day course), you will be invited to the field training. One at a time, you will conduct a total of three IAQ investigations on your own. Each has to be reviewed by a CMHC indoor air quality expert. This requires that you submit all your survey notes and the draft homeowner report for review. A trainer will be assigned to review and grade your field training submission. You will have to incorporate the feedback you receive from the trainer into the report you submit to the client as well as into the preparation of your next draft report. Succeeding reports are expected to receive a higher grade than the previous report(s).
Upon successful completion of the course, you will receive a diploma and your name will be added to CMHC’s IAQ Investigator Referral List which is distributed to regional CMHC offices across Canada.
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