The growing demand for Air Barrier System Assembly testing has shown that it is feasible to develop Air Barrier Assemblies that will meet the required performance in terms of air tightness. The standard tests methods, like ASTM E2357 ‘’Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage of Air Barrier Assemblies’’ and ULC S742 ‘’Standard for Air Barrier Assemblies’’, clearly define the mock‐ups needed to demonstrate conformance. Those standards require several penetration details to be included in the testing mock‐up, in order to evaluate the ability of the assembly to achieve continuity of the air barrier. The performance of the air barrier system will be establish by the results obtained on mock‐ups usually prepared by the proponent or approved trade personnel, in a laboratory environment. The experience has shown that the knowledge acquired during the development and testing phases of the mock‐up is not always transfer to the on‐site installer or trade. A lack of information and/or training provided to these trades may lead to performance issue with respect to the as installed air tightness of the air barrier assembly.

This presentation will focus on a process by which the proponents of an air barrier system assembly can improve the as installed performance of his product or system. This process includes:

• Training on the basics of air barrier design and performance, review of the methods of performance evaluation;
• On hand installation of the air barrier assembly on a mock‐up representing a small building to include all the important details of construction;
• Air tightness testing of the mock‐up similar to the test performed as per ASTM or ULC standards;

The outcome is to evaluate the as‐build condition and performance in order to identify defects and propose corrective measures. The presentation will describe the process in detail and show example of the propose method.