The Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) is an industry-based, nonprofit corporation in Fairbanks, AK created to facilitate the development, use and testing of energy-efficient, durable, healthy and cost-effective building technologies for people living in circumpolar regions around the globe. To help serve this mission, the CCHRC has created a certification program to certify and promote high-performance building products for cold climates called Certified Alaska Tough^®. The Certified Alaska Tough (CAT) program is not intended to duplicate or compete with existing certification programs; instead its goal is to build upon these programs by highlighting the most highly performing products made by the certifying manufacturers.

AAMA serves as an Inspection Agency (IA) for the CCHRC's first addition to the CAT program, residential windows. By becoming an IA for the CAT program, AAMA helps CCHRC promote the use of high quality residential windows, while simultaneously giving our certification program licensees the opportunity to showcase their most highly performing "Alaska Tough" products.

Program Requirements

To participate in the Certified Alaska Tough program, products must meet the following requirements:

• Be listed in the Certified Products Directories of AAMA and the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC)
• Have a U-factor of 0.20 or less
• Obtain a Performance Grade of PG 45 or higher, per NAFS-08 or -11
• Achieve an air infiltration rate of ≤0.1 cfm per square foot for operable products and ≤0.04 cfm per square foot for fixed windows

Details for Licensees

Products meeting these requirements are eligible for certification. Licensees in the program can use the CAT mark and will be listed on the Certified Alaska Tough program website.

For those licensees participating in the program, AAMA will perform one inspection per year in conjunction with a regularly scheduled AAMA certification program inspection in order to verify that the products listed as Certified Alaska Tough are being built as they were tested and that the label is being applied only to authorized products.

CAT certification criteria may interest customers anywhere, not just in the Alaska market; Canada and northern regions of the U.S. can also benefit from these highly qualified products.

More Information

For more information on how to participate, contact the CCHRC directly.

Cold Climate Housing Research Center
1000 Fairbanks Street 
Fairbanks, AK 99709 
P.O. Box 82489
Fairbanks, AK 99708

Phone: (907) 457-3454 
Fax: (907) 457-3456
Email: CertifiedAlaskaTough@CCHRC.org