The hardest part of building a resilient wall is managing moisture. If water gets inside the wall, all sorts of problems arise, including mold, rust, and structural degradation, depending on the materials used.
Many owners, architects, engineers and builders can be confused by the complicated and interrelated science involved in the important layers protecting the building from temperature changes, not to mention the complex factors that affect insulation performance.
Continuous insulation (ci) and cavity insulation products are both sold with R-value ratings, but the way these two products are used in wall construction means they do not have the same effectiveness.
Four state legislatures recently took action on measures that would have a significantly negative impact on the adoption of progressive energy code provisions.
The following is a summary of code change proposals to the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) which have been submitted by various foam plastic insulation associations, including the FSC, XPSA, PIMA, and CPI.
At the recent 2018 RESNET Building Performance Conference, Jay Crandell (ARES Consulting) and Amy Schmidt (Dow Building and Construction) gave a presentation titled “Stranger Things – The Energy Code Myths that Haunt Us”.
The Applied Building Technology Group has developed a new tool to aid and simplify the design of code compliant steel stud walls.
Moisture vapor transmission and water resistive barriers are complicated topics. Below is a classic sketch of what can happen when sound science is not applied with respect to building construction and code compliance.
A misguided reliance on “breathing” or drying potential as the primary means to make a building’s wall work, without proper consideration of variations in conditions of use, can lead to the problem of wetting potential being too high when conditions of use change.
Despite being the perfect application of cladding, weather-resistant barrier (WRB), foam sheathing, air barriers, studs and so forth, the perfect wall is not necessarily the most practical or preferred solution for every building project.