Beyond the Sill Seal: A Modern Approach to Air Barriers for Long-Lasting Building Enclosures The effectiveness of air barriers in building enclosures is critical for energy efficiency, comfort, and indoor air quality. Traditional gasketing materials, such as sill seals, have long been utilized to manage air infiltration. However, these materials often fall short in meeting […]

New Air Barrier Requirements for Re-Roofing As energy codes evolve, so do the requirements for roof system performance — especially during reroofing projects. This course explores the latest updates to building codes and standards that introduce air barrier requirements when replacing existing roofs. Attendees will learn why air control matters, how it interacts with moisture […]

Predicting Rooftop Surface Temperature Extremes and Impact on Air Barrier Tie-Ins Roofing system surfaces can get hot, sometimes extremely hot due to climatic and indoor design conditions, direct and reflected solar radiation exposure, and radiative heat transfer with surrounding objects. Roof surface color, the position and color of adjacent objects, as well as the thermal […]

Buildings are designed to separate indoor and outdoor environments, but differences between them create forces that challenge the building envelope. Key demands include managing liquid water, air, heat, and water vapor flows. While these concepts seem simple, their complexities often lead to confusion, such as distinguishing between air and vapor barriers. This presentation explores how […]

Akira Window Connection: Pathways to Thinner Exterior Walls Akira Window Connection – a market ready punched window installation method that nearly eliminates window transition thermal bridging. This innovation helps reduce wall thickness, embodied carbon emissions, construction cost, and meet performance-based energy targets. In partnership with Northern Facades and Cascadia Windows, we will discuss maximum window […]

Achieving a High-Performance Air Barrier System Air Barriers are an extremely important component of a high-performance building enclosure system. For the most part, these systems are non-maintainable components and repairs can typically only be made with the removal of the exterior cladding system. To ensure a performing system, proper design, detailing and ultimately the proper […]