LoginThe airtight version of a building envelope has been accepted as a structural engineering challenge in by construction workers in Germany. At the same time, the interest in energy efficient buildings by investing clients has increased considerably. Whether the energy efficiency intended by the client has been reached or not will not...
Blower Door Symposium 2009
This page lists the Proceedings (titles and abstracts) of the fourth International BUILDAIR Symposium on Building and Ductwork Airtightness, 1-2 October 2009, in Berlin, Germany.
Contains 22 titles and abstracts.
Volume content
Building Expertise versus Freedom of Construction!? About the handling of residual leakages in compliance with Air Tightness Limit Values from the legal point of view | 2009 | English
Requirements of Airtightness for Moisture Control in Attic based on Whole Building HAM Model | 2009 | English
Attic moisture control is one of the key issues addressed by the hygrothermal design of wood-frame houses. In general, exfiltration and natural ventilation are recognized as the main factors in determining the hygrothermal behaviour of an attic. Thus, hygrothermal analysis using a network flow model should be performed in order to predict the...
Airtightness and energy use of an Swedish office building - measurements and calculations | 2009 | English
The airtightness of office buildings influences energy use and thermal comfort. A leaky office building is likely to have a high use of energy and thermal discomfort. Except for a study carried out in the USA, the knowledge of real airtightness levels of buildings and their impact on the energy use is very low,. Therefore two different methods of...
Air tightness of the building envelope contains important initial data for hygrothermal design and energy calculation. This study presents and analyses field measurements of air tightness of randomly selected Estonian apartment buildings (in total 136 apartments). Buildings were selected with different external walls: lightweight frame, concrete...
When two adjacent residential buildings in Ludwigshafen were fully renovated in 2005/2006, energy efficiency was a focal point from the very beginning. One of the two buildings was so completely renovated using Passive House components that it now nearly meets the Passive House Standard for new buildings. The air-tightness of...
The developed method uses Radon as natural tracer gas, which appears everywhere in the nature hence in all buildings as well. Contrary to blowerdoor-measurement, pressure and suction areas are coevally available, depending on the pressure difference due to wind and temperature. Generally, suction areas overweight due to wind. Depending on...
Vapour convection becomes calculable - Unsteady model for consideration of convective moisture ingress at the simulation of lightweight constructions | 2009 | English
So far, the ideal-tight typical cross section is usually considered at the evaluation of constructions with the help of hygrothermal simulation. Usually always appearing additional humidification at lightweight construction elements, caused by convection, is not considered so that impermeable constructions seem, contrary to practice, more favourable...
Building Airtightness in Czech Technical Standards and Related Documents - Last Updates | 2009 | English
The basic statistics of airtightness test results collected since 2002 in the Czech Republic are presented. The test results are compared with the limit values according to national standard CSN 730540-2. An overview of airtightness related requirements stipulated in this standard is introduced in short with an emphasis on the overall...
An object reconstructed for residential purposes approved to be not sufficiently air tight. With methods that are generally known as inappropriate, it was tried to improve the air tightness subsequently to a reasonable level. Therefore, joints were formed elastically, cavities were filled with insulating material and slots were foamed with construction...
Field Survey on Air-tightness, Ventilation Rate and Indoor Air Quality of 77 Houses in Japan | 2009 | English
In order to determine the causes of SHS (Sick House Syndrome), a field survey on indoor air quality and health conditions of occupants has been conducted for 8 years in 77 detached wooden houses in Japan. The result of this survey had been reported partly in the proceedings of Indoor Air 2008. In most of these houses...
This paper investigates the practical feasibility of an exterior air barrier for the construction of a recently constructed light weight passive house in Ghent, Belgium. The paper discusses the results of pressurisation tests, conducted in the different construction stages of the building envelope. The windbreaker, which will also act as an...
"Performance" project: Improvement of the ventilation and building air tightness performance in occupied dwellings in France | 2009 | English
As we increase energy requirements on ventilation, it is essential to assess the real performance of these systems on site, both for energy savings and IAQ aspects. Applied on two new buildings located in Paris and near Lyon (France), "Performance" project has given the opportunity to check the feasibility of applying quality approach...
Creating drying reserves! Consideration of convective moisture stresses for the evaluation of wooden constructions | 2009 | English
Already in the year 1983, the general basis paper for noting air tightness, which was elaborated by the Swedish construction council for the AIVC, pointed to the particular risk of moisture stresses in consequence of water vapor carriage due to air flow through leakages in buildings. In Germany in 1989, a laboratory examination...
From the year 2007 the buildings must have energy efficiency calculations, which requirements are now part of Building Code Book. This is based on European Performance of Buildings Directive. This presentation will discuss about the results collected by VTT from multi-storey apartment houses and one-family houses mainly during...
The combination of air tightness measurements and thermography introduces new application areas for both practices: the building thermography will be extended by a systematic leakage locating in the building envelope and during air tightness measurements, effects of air infiltrations through leaks can be shown. Scopes of...
Although there have been built about 20 sports halls with passive house standards by now, where the principles of residential houses and first experiences of built sports hall projects were used, but concerning the principles, there are still considerable gaps in the knowledge. In this article, questions concerning ventilation, heating and...
There is increasing recognition of the importance of quantifying the airtightness of large commercial and residential buildings. Often these tests must be performed with multiple fans and technicians, usually within a narrow time window. Despite the best preparations, surprises and interruptions are unfortunately the norm. It is therefore...
The role of air tightness and heat recovery in the ventilation system of energy-efficient office buildings in Norway | 2009 | English
With the background of different climates within Norway it was interesting to show the resulting differences in energy demand for the same typical office building. Further it was important to analyse the effectiveness of a climate adapted design that tightens the building envelope and increases the efficiency of the heat recovery system. The total...
Calculation of the infiltration-exfiltration-volume flow according to various standards – Comparison and appreciation of the results | 2009 | English
There are currently at least 6 national and European standards in Germany, which describe the assessment of infiltration- and exfiltration-volume flows subject to building air tightness. The results of window ventilation and balanced ventilation systems are identical for some standards; they partly distinguish themselves in height. The dependence...
In this work the air leakage database of French single family dwellings, available at the CETE de Lyon (Centre d’Études Techniques de L’Équipement), has been analysed. This database accounts for 251 blower-door measurements of single family dwellings, made after 1983 as a result of several campaigns carried out across France to...