Eagles Landing Apartments, Burlington, Vermont
It is no secret a building is more likely to have an air or water leak where a hole is cut through, and the more windows or rough openings, the more chances of a leak happening, which leads to lack of airtightness. Every seam or penetration creates potential for moisture or air intrusion.
The Eagles Landing apartments in Burlington, Vermont, was a 5575 m2 (60,000 sf) student housing project, designed with 105 apartments; each with an average of five windows, spread across five floors, and 484 m2 (5200 sf) of ground-floor commercial space. Adding to the challenge was the continuous insulation (ci) energy requirement, which required 63.5 mm (2.5 in.) of exterior insulation applied over the water-resistive barrier-air barrier (WRB-AB) system.
To meet this requirement, the project’s architects had to frame out the rough opening with wood. Traditionally, self-adhered membranes are used to wrap the extended opening. However, doing this across 600 windows could increase the length of the project and open the door
to many frustrations.
For this project, an innovative, integrated WRB-AB sheathing solution with liquid-applied flashing presented a better solution to a traditional self-adhered membrane because it bonded and conformed to window openings and was easier to visually inspect.
In addition, the vapor-permeable liquid flashing allowed the windows wood frames to dry, and this helped prevent rotting and contributed to the project saving at least two months. After installation, the selected system was tested with a blower door test to verify the building’s airtightness performance. The result was 0.001 m3/min (0.035 cfm/50 sf), which exceeds the average standard airtightness compliance testing and is incredibly airtight.
