Taking the Guesswork Out of Air & Moisture Management

Incorporating a continuous air barrier system in a building envelope is a complex issue. Specifying the right system and using it in the right way is critical to ensuring building performance and eliminating problems for a building and its occupants.

Tremco offers the industry’s only comprehensive impermeable and vapor permeable air barrier systems – ExoAir™ Air Barrier Systems – including sealants, mastics and other system accessories formulated to ensure continuity, compatibility and long-term performance. Technical assistance can also be provided on the specification of systems, the development of tie-ins or transitions to window or curtain wall systems and other assemblies, and to review and generate project specific details.

Tremco’s Comprehensive Air & Moisture Management Solutions:

• Vapor-Permeable and Vapor-Impermeable air barrier systems.
• Comprehensive systems formulated for compatibility, including:
  • fluid- and sheet-applied membranes,
  • thru-wall flashing,
  • primers,
  • termination mastics,
  • sealants and
  • a patent-pending engineered transition assembly for connections from the air barrier system to the window or curtain wall assembly – Proglaze® ETA Engineered Transition Assembly.
• The industry’s only performance warranty ensuring protection against air and moisture infiltration.

A Holistic Approach to Improving Building Performance

Air barriers are only effective when designed as a holistic, continuous system. Simply specifying an air barrier membrane is not enough.

The Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) defines an air barrier system as "...a collection of building assemblies tied together using air barrier components to provide a contiuous plane of airtightness for the whole building," and goes on to say that "a unified single source for the main exterior wall air barrier assembly best serves the owner's interests."

The ASTM E 2357 Standard Test Method was designed to provide a holistic approach to evaluating real-world performance of air barrier assembly components, including the air barrier, the flashing and the sealing materials.

All of the ExoAir membranes (ExoAir 110 Self-Adhered Air & Vapor Barrier Membrane, ExoAir 120 Fluid-Applied Air & Vapor Barrier Membrane ExoAir 220 Fluid-Applied Vapor-Permeable Air Barrier Membrane) were tested using the ASTM E 2357 Standard Test Method. Each of these membranes were used in conjunction with Proglaze ETA Engineered Transition Assembly to make the connection so that air leakage resulting from joining all of the pieces together could be tested as well as the amount of air passing through the membranes themselves. This critical data can help ensure long-term sustainability.

Click Here for more information about “Real World” Testing of Air Barrier Assemblies under ASTM E 2357.

Click Here for Tremco’s Guidelines for Air Barrier Project Management and Pre-Construction Meeting Checklist.

Georgia-Pacific endorses Tremco’s ExoAir Air Barrier System. Click Here to view a Georgia-Pacific Technical Note which includes the ExoAir Air Barrier System.

Gulf Coast Medical Center, Ft. Myers, FL

A key decision pivotal to the sustainability of the renovation and new construction of the Gulf Coast Medical Center was the installation of a compatible air barrier system.

At the pre-construction phase, a wall analysis showed the potential for condensation to occur within the wall system for different temperature and humidity parameters, so Lee Memorial Health System and Perkins + Will, the architect, felt it was imperative to include an air barrier on the building envelope of the new hospital.

For total building envelope protection and ultimate performance, Perkins + Will required a comprehensive system of sealants and an air and vapor barrier system that was compatible with all of the exterior building materials, firestopping, and joint sealants.

Tremco Technical Services provided Perkins + Will with the necessary product data and test results to demonstrate the compatibility and performance of Tremco’s total building envelope solutions. The air barrier system provided by Tremco included ExoAir 110 Self-Adhered Air & Vapor Barrier Membrane, ExoAir 120 Fluid-Applied Air & Vapor Barrier Membrane and Spectrem® 1 Silicone Sealant. In addition, TREMstop® Fyre-Sil Silicone Sealant was used to firestop the building, and Dymeric® 240 Polyurethane Joint Sealant was used for sealing all expansion and perimeter joints.

By providing a complete system of compatible components, there is no guesswork when it comes to performance and accountability.

For additional project profiles where Tremco provided a Superior Solution, Click Here.