Water Resistive Barrier

Building Envelopes for Healthy & Resilient Buildings in a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic World

The way we think about the health and safety of a building has changed. Building science leads the way in developing best practices and interventions that will result in the healthier buildings of tomorrow. This presentation provides a practical understanding of the topic and includes cost-effective, actionable guidance on how to design and construct healthy and resilient building envelopes in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world.

Healthy Buildings

In this report, we will consider interventions that may be more enduring, proactive, and pre-emptive. During periods of crises they can supplement the interventions mentioned above. At all other times they can provide more “routine” health benefits that are more convenient and less dependent on maintaining social awareness and compliance. These interventions relate to controlling the environment where we spend most of our lives: indoors.

Water-Resistive Barriers: Assuring Consistent Assembly Water-Penetration Resistance

Water-resistive barriers (weather-resistant sheathing paper) (WRB) have been required by the model building codes for many years and have been required by the International Code Council model codes since their inception in 2000. The purpose of this report is to summarize the requirements found in the various standards and evaluation agency criteria, evaluate relevant and available test data, and provide a recommendation for the fair treatment of all products based on one performance-based benchmark for water-penetration resistance of WRB assemblies.

Water Resistive Barriers: How Do They Compare?

In general, the description of any building, whether a high-rise or a warehouse, can be simplified into two basic components: 1) the building structure, which gives the building its overall shape and resists forces from sources such as wind, snow, people, furniture (live loads), and the weight of fixed building components (dead loads); and 2) the building envelope, which separates the indoor and outdoor environments, keeping the weather outside and conditioned air inside.

The Importance of Integrating Flashing and the Water Resistive Barrier in the Exterior Wall Systems of Residential Buildings

Building science studies have recognized the importance of the proper installation of flashing and its integration with the water resistive barriers as very important to the success of a wall assembly. The roll of flashing is to direct water away from the opening to the water resistive barrier, which in turn directs the water to the exit point in the wall. The integration of these two elements and the quality of their installation is ultimately important to the success of the wall system. It is equally important to select products, which perform as intended after installation.

Guidance on Taped Insulating Sheathing Drainage Planes

This guide provides information and recommendations to the following groups: insulation contractors; general contractors; builders; home remodelers; mechanical contractors; and homeowners, as a guide to the work that needs to be done. The order of work completed during home construction and retrofit improvements is important. Health and safety issues must be addressed first and are more important than durability issues. And durability issues are more important than saving energy. Not all techniques can apply to all houses. Special conditions will require special action.