[Greenbuilding] Exterior insulation retrofit

elitalking elitalking at rockbridge.net
Wed May 18 08:58:22 CDT 2011


Exterior Finish Insulation System does provide the exterior finish, thereby 
reducing the cost of another finish. I know dryvit had a class action 
lawsuit that was settled for bulk water drainage problems.  Ultimately the 
solution was to assume imperfections in the flashing installation and manage 
the water by overlaying a building wrap on original wall with a drainage 
space maintained.  My question is does that drainage space on the 
conditioned side of the insulation create a convective path for air leakage? 
In the best of all worlds, the building wrap would be a perfect air barrier. 
Just as with the bulk water flashing, perfection is hard to achieve.  Could 
that be a source of air leakage from the building?

In my installation, I located the bulk water drainage outside the insulation 
with 3/4" osb furring strips for siding screws.  I attempted to seal between 
the insulation boards to achieve tight air barrier.  I also added a 
redundant building wrap layer to do the same.  Both were vulnerable to 
imperfections.  However, there is no known hole on conditioned side.

Eli
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Straube" <jfstraube at gmail.com>
To: "Green Building" <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Exterior insulation retrofit


> Being done all the time in North America.  Although this really only got 
> common in the last decade.  I expect to see a lot more.
> The problem is, you have to like the look of stucco, which is not always 
> what is wanted, and the impact resistance of EIFS leaves lots to be 
> desired.
>
> On 2011-05-17, at 9:27 AM, Norman Feldman wrote:
>
>> In April I heard an architect describe how they're using EIFS insulation 
>> in Germany and Austria to insulate existing buildings from the exterior. 
>> They apply EIFS panels to the outside of the building while tenants are 
>> in the building then, once the insulation is done, bring the windows out. 
>> I will forward more about this offlist if anyone wants.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exterior_Insulation_Finishing_System
>>
>>
>
> Dr John Straube, P.Eng.
> Associate Professor
> University of Waterloo
> Dept of Civil Eng. & School of Architecture
> www.buildingscience.com
>
>
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