There is a tremendous need for new homes in America's cities and towns. To meet this demand, the home building industry has developed and adopted many technological innovations to provide new homes more quickly and more efficiently while still keeping homes affordable and of a high quality. New techniques, materials, tools, and organizational methods are particularly common in the "factory-built" housing world. Manufactured and modular housing-the most common forms of factory-built housing-are now common alternatives to traditionally constructed homes due in large part to these improvements. A Community Guide to Factory-Built Housing, seeks to share these alternatives with a wider audience.

The broad purpose of this research is to understand and document the connection systems of panelized home construction systems currently on the U.S. market with the goal of developing Performance Standard Criteria to help builders and manufacturers. Such criteria can also aid in the development of new panel systems and in the coordination among different types of panel systems. The Performance Standard Criteria are based on a careful study of existing panel systems. Approximately 30 panelized construction systems were reviewed and 12 were selected for further study. The systems include concrete panels, metal panels, wood structural insulated panels (SIPs), and wood open-wall panels. Performance information on the 12 different systems was collected and then analyzed to develop the criteria. The criteria cite performance standards based on current codes as benchmarks for connections and system performance. Conventional construction practice is considered as the implicit performance baseline at the system level. The criteria format makes it easy for builders or manufacturers to compare and contrast different system types and the performance of the various elements of the connection systems. A key to maximizing the use of the criteria is to provide builders and panel manufacturers with easy access to the information, through outlets such as the PATH website and trade organizations.

This Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing research identifies the panelized wall systems currently available in the U.S. and international markets. The report describes their technical specifications, how they perform, and in what applications they are most used. The standard performance criteria that all panelized wall systems need to meet in order to integrate with existing methods of construction are described. The three areas within the wall panel market that were the focus of the research were systems types, code compliance, and performance measures. Research efforts included the development of a panelized system matrix, descriptions of various panel types, performance measures inherent in panelized systems, and areas of code compliance in panelized systems. The study concludes with a "Future Strategies Report," based on the research, on what direction HUD should take with future research into panelized systems.

Rehabbing Flooded Houses is a guidebook for professional builders and contractors rehabbing flooded single-family houses. Homes flood for a variety of reasons (overflowing rivers, high coastal waves, hurricanes, etc.) but the methods for determining how badly the building has been damaged and how to repair it are relatively similar no matter where you are working. The emphasis in this guidebook is on safe practices and the most important activities in the rehab process. This guidebook is bilingual in English and Spanish.