Within the wall, location matters
Thermal loss can negatively impact the comfort of interior environments as well as energy consumption, but moisture penetration is potentially an even greater concern, as it threatens permanent damage to the skeleton of a structure. If it is a multi-family residential building or a high-use office building, repairs for moisture and water damage could lead to interrupted living arrangements and work schedules, as well as headaches for owners and building occupants alike.
Continuous insulation, however, is installed outboard of the studs, which moves the dew point from inside the wall cavity to the outer side of the sheathing. The location of the material is pivotal. As a result, the opportunity for condensation to form within the wall cavity is dramatically reduced. This form of insulation has often been described as a ‘blanket’ around a structure. Logically, it makes sense to install the material designed to heatproof a building around its exterior, not on the interior where thermal energy can already begin moving through the studs.
As added protection, continuous insulation products can be made with weather-resistive barriers applied directly to the surfaces of the product. Combined with the position of continuous insulation on the wall, this significantly decreases the risk of mold growth and defends against structural rot. By nature of being continuous, when installed properly with high-performance seam tape, this type of insulation provides a weathertight barrier enhancing long-term building envelope performance.
Strengthened by integration
Fully integrated continuous insulation serves as a high-performance product combining multiple wall layers into a single, lightweight, easy-to-install option. However, some continuous insulation products still require an additional layer of structural sheathing to complete the wall system. Structural sheathing, of course, is a necessary wall component to allow for the installation of exterior finishing materials like brick or siding. There are excellent alternative options combining these two key wall components—structural sheathing and continuous insulation—into a single solution capable of providing time and cost savings to builders.
This is especially true for crews charged with constructing larger-scale buildings such as apartment buildings, offices, restaurants, churches, and other commercial structures, and even residential homes. The burden of installations for big buildings requires a great deal of time for crews. When a manufacturer can integrate many different components into one product, the number of passes around the structure is reduced. Traditionally, sheathing, insulation, and then the control layers protecting a structure from moisture and air penetration all require separate installations. These represent at least four trips around a building. Consolidating each of those layers into one product, allows crews to move on to the next phase of the project much sooner.
Some manufacturers have developed four-in-one product solutions that combine all of the necessary components that need to be installed behind the builder’s cladding of choice.
These four-in-one insulation materials tackle four key elements necessary for high-performing exterior walls:
∞ Structural sheathing
∞ Continuous insulation
∞ Air barrier
∞ Water-resistive barrier
Integrated structural continuous insulation products such as these ease the installation burden for installers. Plus, many of these products remain lightweight and can be lifted by a single worker. This allows them to complete construction of the building envelope in much less time and with less effort.
