The Missing Air Barriers

When building homes for high energy efficiency, sealing the interior space from the exterior is crucial. A poorly designed building envelope causes comfort and air quality issues for occupants, resulting in higher energy consumption. While builders use materials like house wrap, building paper, or roofing felts to create an air barrier, these measures are often insufficient to block air flow. To ensure a complete air control layer, sheathing needs to be sealed at all joints, gaps where sheathing is attached to framing, and penetrations.

In the following article, Sam Rashkin, author of the book Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry: How It Got Here, Why It’s Broken, and How to Fix It, discusses how crucial air barriers are to high-performance building and explains design and construction best practices. To read the full article, click here.