The interaction of the Air Barrier airtightness and the resistance to water penetration through Wall Cladding Systems, as seen by AAMA 508 and 509 Standards
Track 3: Testing & Inspection
Wednesday, March 27, 3:30 – 4:30pm
These two test methods are procedures that evaluate the resistance to water penetration of different rain screen wall cladding (panel) systems. The use of these procedures allows to establish a direct correlation between the airtightness of a building wall and its ability to prevent problems associated with water penetration.
More specifically:
AAMA 508-14 Voluntary Test Method and Specification for Pressure Equalized Rain Screen Wall Cladding Systems, establishes the requirements for test specimens, apparatus, test procedures, test reports and minimum performance criteria to be used in the evaluation of pressure equalized rain screen wall cladding (panel) systems.
And:
AAMA 509-14 Voluntary Test and Classification Method for Drained and Back Ventilated Rain Screen Wall Cladding Systems, establishes the requirements for test specimens, apparatus, test procedures, test reports and performance data that may be used in the evaluation of drained and back ventilated rain screen wall cladding systems. The primary purpose(s) of this test method is to quantify the volume of rain water contacting an imperfect AWB and the system’s ability to allow for ventilation/drying as measured by air flow through the cladding.
Both methods allow for testing with a “generic” air/water barrier (AWB) or the use of the actual air/water barrier (AWB) intended for a given job or system design. This presentation will explain the two methods in details, highlight their differences and show the importance of the Air Barrier performance to reduce problems associated with water penetration.
Learning Objectives:
- Acquire knowledge of the referenced testing standards.
- Review the requirements of the testing standards.
- Understand the importance Air Barrier performance to reduce problems associated with water penetration.
- To be able to compare the performance results and which Standard to be use in which situation.
Robert Jutras
CLEB-UL
Robert Jutras is a Principal Engineer for the Building Envelope Performance Group at UL LLC.
He is a graduate of École Polytechnique, the engineering department of the University of Montréal, earning a Bachelor degree in mechanical engineering. He has devoted the last 32 years of his career to building components testing and evaluation as well as standard and code development. He actively participates at ASTM, CSA, AAMA, NFRC, ULC and IGMA. He is also a voting member of the standing committee for environmental separators (Part 5) of the Canadian building code. He is also the codes and standards director at CLEB a UL company located in Varennes, Québec.
Pierre-Olivier Fecteau
CLEB-UL
Pierre-Olivier Fecteau is a project manager in the Materials & Systems Testing department at CLEB-UL. Graduated with a mechanical engineering Bachelor degree, he learned the foundation of building envelope science during his years working for a major building envelope testing laboratory.