Wilfried Walther
Year:
2021
Bibliographic info:
12th International BUILDAIR Symposium, 25-26 June 2021

Purpose of the work
Only qualified specialists can deliver airtight building envelopes. Unfortunately, such airtight envelopes still have many defects after completion, causing all kinds of adverse effects. This course is intended to train and qualify contractors and workers to ensure that they are able to seal building envelopes without instructions, safely and without defects - as far as this is possible.
Method of approach
Based on the airtightness concept, a working group with members of the members of the professional association set up a qualification course that comprises 7 modules.
Content of the contribution
In my presentation I will give a general overview of the curriculum: Fundamentals of building physics and facts about airtight seals - Planning and executing an airtight building envelope based on an airtight design - Interesting facts about gluing and sealing - A detailed look at the air barrier - Problems and solutions - Demos and hands-on training to install air barrier systems - Working with your own 1: 1 specimen - Written and practical test to assess the participants' performance.
Results and assessment of their significance
This course has been designed mainly for contractors involved in creating airtight building envelopes, e.g. drywall builders, carpenters, joiners, roofers etc. Architects, designers and energy consultants can also benefit from the curriculum and hands-on training - it will be easier for them to plan the jobs to be done on site, to improve cost-benefit-analyses, and they will be able to analyze whether the contractors delivered a good job, or not. We held a pilot course with the best carpentry apprentices where we documented lessons learned and identified areas where we can still improve.
Conclusions
The professional association will be happy to provide you with the master plan, the details of the qualification process, the curriculum and the presentations. Going forward, contractors installing air barriers might have to provide credentials that they are qualified for such work (for instance, when owners apply for financial assistance from a funding program). When applying for financial assistance from the Federal Funds for Efficient Buildings (BEG) building owners already have to submit proof that relevant parts will be installed with a view to airtightness and that thermal bridges are minimized. This course anticipates this development.

For further information please contact Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Wilfried Walther at: walther@e-u-z.de