Decker's Blog

Air Barrier in your NEW home

June 9, 2010 at 2:13 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Stopping air is the second most important job of a building enclosure.
Next to rain, air leaks through walls, roofs, and floors can have a HUGE effect on the durability of a house. Uncontrolled air flow through the shell can not only carry moisture into framing cavities causing deteriotian of the structure,  it can account for a very large portion of a home’s energy use.

Energy efficiency requires a tight shell; good indoor air quality requires an outdoor air vent such as a Skuttle, a passive make up air vent that is installed in all Decker Homes. In “leaky” homes, large volumes of air — driven by exhaust fans, furnace fans, the stack effect, and wind — can blow through the home’s floor, walls, and ceiling.  Because air usually contains water vapor, these uncontrolled air leaks can cause condensation. Your new home needs an adequate air barrier and a controlled ventilation path.

WHAT IS AN AIR BARRIER?
An air barrier consists of materials assembled and joined together to prevent air leakage between the conditioned space and unconditioned space — that is, indoors and outdoors.  Some products — for example, drywall, plastic, or housewrap — are considered air barriers, but when building scientists talk about a home’s air barrier, they’re not talking about a single material, they’re talking about a collection of materials that reach from the basement around the entire exterior of the building’s thermal envelope.

A typical air barrier incorporates more than a dozen materials: poured concrete; sill seal; wall sheathing; housewrap; contractors’ tape; caulk; spray foam; gaskets; window glass; insulation, vapor barrier, and weatherstripping.

Bill Decker, Sr.