If elevated moisture levels persist on or inside a wall or roof assembly, these can lead to the growth of microorganisms such as mold and bacteria, as well as infestation by insects. Moisture in envelope assemblies can cause numerous problems affecting the IAQ of a building and the longevity of building components.
Minimizing air movement between apartments and other spaces to prevent transfer of contaminants and improve IEQ.Avoiding moisture problems that may form when uncontrolled air leaks bring moisture into building cavities.Improving comfort by eliminating drafts and temperature swings.Controlling heat loss and/or gain through the envelope in order to save energy.The benefits to air sealing and testing your building include: Cutting down on heat loss or gain from uncontrolled infiltration is the first step in a retrofit and a prerequisite for implementing other energy savings measures, such as adding insulation or upgrading equipment. Air sealing alone can save 10% to 20% of single family home energy use (DOE). Air sealing older buildings, which were most likely built with little attention to enclosure tightness, is an essential ingredient to improving their energy efficiency. Results of High Performance Envelope design with substantial energy savings are being reported as high as 46% and air barrier design and testing nationwide for over 1 billion dollars of construction across the U.S. Both MPS and GPS are moisture resistant, have stable R-value, are inert -and are both 100% recyclable.High Performance Features Air Sealing and Testing SIPs have a core of Molded Polystyrene (MPS) or Graphite Polystyrene (GPS) insulation manufactured using heated steam and both use a blowing agent with very low global warming potential and no ozone depletion. The strand nature of OSB allows it to be produced from small-diameter trees which are harvested earlier in the growing cycle, allowing for faster cycles of sustainable tree replenishment. SIP HPBE’s are highly sustainable because they are made with Oriented Strand Board (OSB) as their inner and outer structural skins.
SIPs are very constructable because they are sent to the project site as large wall, roof or floor sections fully fabricated to length, width, having window, door and edge treatments ready for field installation. With all this said, what would be the perfect High Performance Building Envelope? I strongly believe that Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) are the perfect building envelope choice and here’s why: SIPs are constructed of high performance materials, brought together as a factory manufactured and engineered composite, that provide the benefits of insulation, air tightness and exceptional structural durability. For the reasons mentioned previously, metal faced cladding panels fall short of being suitable for general building construction, are costly and therefore don’t score well when considering the key elements of #’s 2 and 3 as noted above. They are costly and are used primarily on multi-story buildings located in intense urban settings or on climate controlled industrial buildings. Therefore, they must be attached to steel frames that provide the building’s axial load capacities. However, they are mainly limited in their use as wall cladding on buildings, because they do not provide axial load capabilities, e.g., floor on top of a floor and/or roof on top of a wall. These factory produced cladding panels are attractive, have high insulating value and are very constructable. Metal faced factory façade panels with various core materials, including EPS, Polyurethane, Polyisocyanurate and Rock Wool have become popular within the commercial building community. Metal Faced Facade Panels + Insulation Core Assemblies
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