The construction of this house might look like all the others but look a little bit closer and the home serves as a case study for the future of sustainable living, leveraging leading edge construction technology. Tech expert Peggy Smedley and her husband David are embarking on a journey to build a home that will be a model for sustainable, resilient, and efficient residential homebuilding practices. Let’s take a look under the roof and behind the walls today.
From the Ground Up: Project Sustainability Living Lab home leverages the best building materials and innovative solutions—and construction is well underway. Case in point: Vycor enV-S from GCP Applied Technologies, (recently acquired by Saint-Gobain), which is self-adhering weather resistive barrier that provides an advanced alternative to house wraps. This is a highly durable membrane that directly adheres to the sheathing, avoiding the tears and costly reworks commonly associated with traditional house wraps.
The benefits here are clear. The wall is protected from water damage and the jobsite looks neat, sealed, and attractive even during construction. What’s more, it offers an air-tight, breathable home that is able to achieve high performance. The goal is to help the Living Lab ultimately build a more energy-efficient and better house. It does not require taping of seams or other special joint treatments along the OSB (oriented-strand board) panels. The result is an energy efficient, comfortable, and an as air-tight as possible house coupled with all the proper ventilation properties along the building process.
It is important to keep in mind that while it does not require mechanical fasteners for its installation, the membrane does form a water and air-tight seal around the fasteners used to install siding and exterior sheathing materials, thus avoiding the numerous leak points typical for traditional house wraps.
At the end of the day, this membrane helps ensure peace of mind both during and after installation, ultimately reducing costly callbacks and helping provide labor savings.
Building on this, VYCOR Plus high performance self-adhered flashing membrane provides premium protection against water and air infiltration in all critical non-roof detail areas.
This is just the beginning of the innovative solutions being leveraged on the Living Lab project. Companies are invited to participate in this Living Lab home. All participation and collaboration from suppliers will help determine the success of this construction project.
The Living Lab demonstrates and educates how we can create a sustainable, clean, and green future for all homes and future communities. Stay tuned. More is set to come as this project continues to unfold.
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