Skip to main content

Completed Air Barrier

Completed Air Barrier
So here is a run though of the important connections of our air barrier as we begin to prep for our 1st blower door test:

1) Sub Slab Radon Barrier - We installed a complete single sheet radon barrier before we laid down the sub slab insulation. This barrier was sealed and taped to the ICF foundation wall

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Basement Wall - The inner most EPS foam of the ICF will serve as the air barrier from the radon barrier to the rim joist. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Rim Joist - (See previous Post on the Rim Joist HERE)Before laying the flooring system we draped Solitex Mento over the poured ICF wall. This is what us Passive House Tradesmen call the "Floppy Bit". The Mento wrapped the rim board and was sealed to our above grade wall with Vana Tape. 

Rim Joist Detail

Mento To ICF connection

Mento to Zip Connection
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Above Grade Wall - We installed the Zip System to cover the exterior side of the interior wall. All seams were taped and all windows (except large south side windows) and doors (except front door) were covered. 


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) Eve line - Before we set the trusses we installed a strip of Zip System on the top of the exterior walls. This will bridge the air barrier from the wall to the ceiling.






6) 2nd Floor Ceiling - We installed Zip system on the ceiling of the 2nd floor, taped all seams. The 2nd floor finished ceiling will be furred down 2 inches to allow for light fixtures and wiring.




7) Preparing for the Blower Door Test - We had a few windows and doors we needed to seal up temporarily to perform the blower door test (Mainly the basement windows). I used a few scraps of foil faced rigid foamboard to seal the openings.

The 1st floor south windows Rough Opening has been prepped and we will be installing the windows  Monday! (More details on the window installation in a later post)

Next will be our and conducting our 1st blower door test! Stay tuned! 






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Window Installation

With all of the engineering and design that goes into a house like this, why would window installation be any different? EVERYTHING in a passive house is modeled, examined, and optimized thermodynamically. For now we will be talking about the thermodynamic analysis of the Passive House Windows and how this translates to the positioning of the windows within the wall system. A typical new construction window comes with a nailing flange that is part of the frame of the window. This requires the window to be nailed directly to the wall, resulting in the window being flush with the outer edge of the exterior wall. Passive House windows don't come with the nailing flange, this allows flexibility in location of installation within the wall system. The fact is, in a thick wall (12 inches or more, further details on wall thickness will be addressed in a later post) you typically don't want to install the window on the outside of your wall. You want to install the window in the middle o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wall Assembly 1

Double Wall Construction Maybe I am biased to double wall construction because the company I work for Airtight Services  is a cellulose insulation company; but it is still probably the most cost effective way to achieve the R-values necessary for Passive House. Based on our energy model we needed to achieve about an R-54 wall. There were a couple options: 2x6 wall with 6" of polyisocyanurate rigid foam to the outside There are some more difficult window installation details when your window is cantilevered over nothing but foam. Some long screws are need to attached a furring strip over the rigid foam (9" long) and those can add considerable cost to the project - upwards of $0.75 each The labels on rigid foam insulation scared me a little bit too -  15 YEAR LIMITED THERMAL WARRANTY Polyisocyanurate has the WORST embodied energy of the good types of insulation meaning it takes the most amount of energy to make relative to how much it will save This graph was posted on Green Bu...
Post a Comment
Read more