Live webinar sponsored by the Air Barrier Association of America

This presentation investigates the current research on vapor open systems and discusses how more permeability enhances wall assembly performance.

• Low permeance vapor barriers, once thought to improve performance, may in fact increase interior condensation and trap moisture within the wall assembly. Due to the problems with impermeable water-resistive barrier (WRB) installation many architects are now incorporating highly vapor open WRB systems in their designs. But many still believe too much permeability is bad for a wall assembly.

• Studies show that highly permeable WRB systems increase substrate drying, reduce the wet time of absorptive claddings allowing permeable WRB membranes to enhance the wall assembly performance. This presentation investigates the current research on vapor open systems and discusses how more permeability enhances wall assembly performance.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define what permeance is and how it is tested.
2. Define what permeance is and how it is tested.
3. Show the benefits of permeable assemblies.
4. Illustrate the differences between vapor tight and highly permeable WRB membranes in relation to water intrusion of a wall assembly.

Register today

Scott Wood

Scott D. Wood is the Senior Building Scientist at VaproShield, providing product QA/QC and investigations/testing of material properties. As a building scientist he provides technical support for the company’s representatives, clients and assists in the development of product literature and presentations.
Scott is President of SWA Consulting. As an ITC certified Level III Thermographer with decades of experience performing condition monitoring and building applications of thermography. He has many publications in areas of both thermography and building science. Mr. Wood provides investigations, consulting, presentations and training in Building Science Thermography. Since his creation of the course in 2003 he provides the only 32 hour Building Science Thermography class for Level I and Level II that provides instruction in the use of infrared thermography in building applications.

He is involved in many organizations regarding thermography and building science including; a founding member, the Director of Building Science and treasurer of the International Association of Certified Thermographers (IACT), active voting member for ASTM International C16 and C6 committees.