Product Brochure

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Managing Air & Moisture Flow
to Create Comfortable, Healthy Buildings
A Complete Approach
Whether you are an architect, builder, contractor, distributor or code official, you are being bombarded by countless
challenges in the buildings you are helping to create. It is your responsibility to minimize problems (e.g. mold, mildew,
etc.) and increase value (i.e. energy efficiency) for your customers and you are being held accountable for addressing
multiple challenges while also providing added value:
– Developing Sustainable structures that are Durable and Energy Efficient
– Ensuring occupant Health and Safety by designing for optimum Indoor Air Quality
– Planning for unpredictable Moisture Management
Any person knowledgeable in the physics of buildings will tell you that a complete approach must be taken to address
these issues to ensure that you provide your customers with comfortable, healthy buildings. Two of these flows – Air
& Moisture – can be easily addressed by understanding how the mechanics of the building work and knowing which
solutions can be leveraged to accomplish your goals.
A Changing Environment
Not making things any easier is the advent of new business challenges: popular cladding products hold moisture,
the rate of building failures due to moisture keeps increasing, building codes are driving tighter construction and
enhanced energy efciency, and there is a growing shortage of skilled labor and training available.
Our walls are also wetter than they have ever been. This is not because the physics have changed, but because
new construction practices are not as easily allowing the moisture that’s getting in, to get out. We have a growing
need for increased R-values in our building assemblies along with a steep reduction in air movement through the
wall. While these efforts are great from an energy-efciency standpoint, the lower rate of drying is now presenting
our industry with new challenges that cannot be neglected. Once these walls get wet, they are staying wet.
The Hidden Costs of Change
The building industry is now spending more than $9 billion per year for moisture repair and litigation, and these
amounts are only expected to increase as we drive towards these more energy-efcient wall assemblies. Average
builders can spend anywhere from $500 to $1500 per home in moisture callbacks. Many builders are also averaging
up to 11-20% in callbacks per year Building America Study. At these rates, a large production builder could be
averaging 50-100 callbacks per year at up to $150,000. With the current labor challenges and changes in energy-
efficient construction, these callback costs will be all but guaranteed to increase.
Building Business – Not Callbacks
In order to prevent building failures, building professionals must focus on developing products and systems that can help
manage the moisture that gets into their buildings. More than 80% of building failures are due to excess moisture, so
until this problem is addressed, it will not only continue, but its effects can be expected to increase in frequency.