Fiber cement cladding has found wide acceptance as a durable and renewable material. Since entering the U.S. market in the early 1990s, assumptions on its long-term resiliency have relied heavily on wet/dry cycling tests, but little is reported on its durability under typical in-service conditions. Here we describe four stages of fiber cement degradation under…
TimberSIL is a glass-infused wood manufactured by Timber Treatment Technologies. Marketed as a green substitute to conventional chemically-treated wood, TimberSIL has come under recent scrutiny for questionable performance under intended designed conditions. We use this situation to discuss the implications of vetting new products on the basis of green material ratings. Criticisms have emerged over the product’s susceptibility to rot and poor acceptance of common coatings. Perhaps…
In an earlier post, we reviewed standards and implications pertaining to mold-resistant construction materials (December 20, 2013). We limited our discussion to some of the most widely used resistance tests performed under short-term, laboratory conditions. Here, we take the discussion further by examining decay resistance tests for treated and untreated wood. Treated wood products provide an essential…
“… it can be concluded that the face seal systems evaluated in this study are very sensitive to design and construction variables which lead to ingress of water through the cladding, and that in the environment of the Lower Mainland it may not be possible to achieve acceptable performance with face sealed systems. Concealed barrier…
Adoption of the 2012 International Energy Code will require exterior continuous wall insulation for climate zones 6, 7, and 8. When used in combination with cavity insulation, the minimum requirements include 20+5 or 13+10. The first value pertains to cavity insulation whereas the second is continuous exterior insulation (CI). Although comparable insulation strategies are also…
“Stucco has a great deal to recommend it in house construction, but it has also some conspicuous drawbacks. Stucco is much like the little girl who, “when she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid.” When properly made and applied it is durable, inexpensive to maintain, a…
The Building Enclosure 