The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASAHRAE) develops standards for those concerned with refrigeration processes and the design and maintenance of indoor environments. Further these standard provide minimum values or acceptable performance, where as other documents are developed and published to encourage enhanced performance.
ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 references are used frequently within the design community and specifically have taken on greater significance as it pertains to air barriers.
ASHRAE 90.1 establishes the minimum energy efficiency requirements of buildings, other than low rise residential buildings, for:
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Design, construction, and plan for operation and maintenance, and
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Utilization of on-site, renewable energy resources.
In the 2010 edition of ASHRAE 90.1 a significant change was added to require a continuous air barrier to help achieve their workplan goal of reducing energy costs by 30% compared to the 2004 version of the standard.
Section 5.4.3 of the standard calls for the entire building envelope be designed and constructed with a continuous air barrier. This section also defines how the air barrier shall be designed, noted, and installed. Further it provides minimum performance requirements of the continuous air barrier materials and assemblies.
Many states apply the ASHRAE 90.1 2010 standard for commercial and government buildings; as such it is critical to understand how it applies to the installation of continuous air barriers. Click the link to preview the entirety of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010. http://www.ashrae.org/standards-research--technology/standards--guidelines
The ASHRAE requirement of a continuous air barrier substantiates the critical need of material manufacturers to provide products that satisfy these requirements. I’m pleased to report that Carlisle Coatings & Waterproofing does meet the requirements and has a number of air barrier materials to choose from. Contact the air and vapor barrier experts at Carlisle Coatings & Waterproofing for project specific questions, details and applications guidance at 888-229-2199 or [email protected] .