Achieving Airtightness, Why and How: The need for joined up thinking for joined up building!

Buildings that achieve higher levels of airtightness tend to also be built and executed to a much higher quality level. While airtightness is essential to ensure thermal insulation performs to its optimum and to reduce condensation risk, it must also be combined with an effective ventilation strategy, be it by passive or mechanical means.

At its most basic, airtightness aims to eliminate any unintended gaps or cracks in the external fabric of the building. Ventilation focuses on replacing the stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air to meet the occupant’s needs. The key is to ‘build tight and ventilate right’!

Neil Turner, Technical Sales Manager with Ecological Building Systems, will provide a presentation outlining why airtightness is now recognised as a key element in realising higher performance more durable healthy buildings. Joe Fitzgerald, Technical Support Engineer at Ecological Building Systems, will then provide a case study on the building of a new home in Ireland to Passivhaus levels of performance. Finally, the Ecological team have filmed their airtightness practical session, so you will be able to watch how to install membranes, tapes and seals.

More demanding building regulations not only require an improvement in individual skills but require a change in attitude to working collectively with a focused, co-operative approach to achieve compliance with regulations. Higher performing buildings, be it new build or retrofit, require good site control and communication between all trades. The production of truly low energy buildings require diligent attention to detail and co-operation between all trades involved in the construction and renovation processes. All trades should view the house as a system, rather than the sum of its parts. Trades must work as a team. All works must be co-ordinated.

The current fractured approach to building must be changed to a systems-based approach to building, in a similar manner to Passivhaus building principles and the quality standards, which are often observed on low energy or Passivhaus projects in the UK and Germany.

Agenda

• Presentation by Neil Turner outlining why airtightness is now recognised as a key element in realising higher performance, more durable, healthy buildings.
• Case Study by Joe Fitzgerald on the building of a new home in Ireland to Passivhaus levels of performance.
• Practical Airtightness Installation – a demonstration video filmed to show installation of airtighness membranes, tapes and seals with lot of hints and tips for all the key junctions for an effective airtight building.

More about the Case Study
Joe will present a case study on colleague Niall's home.  After almost 2 decades providing technical guidance with Ecological Building Systems, Niall finally had the opportunity to build his own family home in Cavan, Ireland. Using natural thermal insulation materials and a range of airtightness solutions Niall aimed to achieve Passivhaus levels of performance and certification, while at the same time accommodate a design which was “acceptable” to all his family. This meant, adjustments and amendments to what was initially a relatively simple design, to more intricate details to meet the demanding airtightness, insulation and ventilation requirements of Passivhaus. Joe will outline how airtightness was delivered on this new home from design concept to completion and key lessons learnt along the journey.

BOOK HERE: hhttps://www.greenregister.org.uk/events/event/es1-how-to-internally-insulate-solid-stone-and-brick-walls-online/