We Have a New Air-Barrier Code Compliance Page

We’ve developed a new Air Barrier Code Compliance page to help you navigate W. R. MEADOWS products in relation to code compliance regulations in your area. It includes the testing requirements for air barriers for air permeance, air leakage, and fire resistance, including use of air barriers in NFPA 285 assemblies, as well as updated information about air barrier requirements in national codes and standards.

With the continued rise in energy costs and the concentrated design of structures that are more energy efficient, the industry has continued to revise codes and standards to provide minimum requirements that need to be met.

Significant changes in the 2012 International Building Code (IBC), 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), and ASHRAE 90.1-2010 now require the design of buildings to not only have increased thermal efficiency with the use of continued insulation, but also require the use of a complete air barrier system to address air leakage. Currently, any code that makes reference to any of these documents require a complete air barrier system to be included as part of the building enclosure.

With the increased use of foam insulation in non-combustible type construction, there has been a requirement for the industry to develop standards to address the use of combustible materials in these types of construction. As a result of this, the IBC has included requirements for assembly fire testing since 1998. Continued concern for fire safety has now driven additional assembly requirements that now include water resistive barriers (WRBs) to be part of the wall assembly testing.

Other industry documents that are referenced within code and support the construction of energy-efficient structures also require the use of a complete air barrier system as well. These include ASHRAE 189.1, IgCC and the newly released LEED version 4, which does not contain specific air barrier requirements, but does make reference to ASHRAE 90.1-2010 which, as stated above, contains air barrier requirements.

Because there have been a number of significant changes in the last couple of years, it is important to understand what each of these requirements are and understand how they are to be met in order to select an air barrier material that can be used as part of a code-compliant air barrier system.

To view our Air-Barrier Code Compliance page, click here. For more information about Air-Barriers, click here.
 

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