Rethinking building envelopes for climate-ready buildings

To meet the challenges of tomorrow, there is a need to bring together quality specifications and standards with clearer building code requirements that insist upon verification of both the assembly and full building performance through a well-defined commissioning process based upon the ASTM E2947-21a, Standard Guide for Building Enclosure Commissioning. It would include rigorous field testing based upon the following:

• The field adoption of ASTM D3330, Peel Adhesion Testing of Pressure Sensitive Tape
• ASTM D4541-22, Standard Test Method for Pull-Off Strength of Coatings Using Portable Adhesion Testers
• ASTM E1186, Standard Practices for Air Leakage Site Detection in Building Envelopes and Air Barrier Systems
• ASTM E3158-18, Standard Test Method for Measuring the Air Leakage Rate of a Large or Multi-zone Building

This may take great effort from all industries and influencers who are concerned with protecting the owner’s investment, but it is the appropriate choice to make. No one can assure what tomorrow will bring to the climate front, and the industry may be powerless to influence it; however, with a growing demand for resilient WRABs and structures, environments can be better prepared to face any environment.

Notes

¹Read more about the effects of climate change, www.climate.nasa.gov/effects.

²Read “BSD-018: The Building Enclosure,” John Straube, August 01, 2006.

³Learn about the United Nation’s sustainable development goals, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment.

Author

Paul Johannesson is the regional director—Canada for Siplast Inc. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, building science program, as well as the architectural design technology program at Humber College. He is registered with the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (OACETT) as a certified engineering technologist (C.E.T.), and with the Building Science Specialist Board of Canada as a building science specialist (BSS). Johannesson’s career covers more than 30 years of experience within the architectural, engineering, building material manufacturing, and distribution communities. Johannesson has been an adjunct professor at Humber College, where he taught in the architectural design technology and construction project management programs between 2002 and 2012. He is also a past president 08/09 of the Ontario Building Envelope Council (OBEC), where he was on the board of directors from 2004 until 2010. Johannesson currently sits on the board of directors for both OBEC and IIBEC SOC.