We were the beneficiary of an Aerobarrier install at the project site over the weekend. What does this mean? Well, we pressurized the houses, put a powerful fan on the door to blow air inside, and sprayed an aerosol like caulking around the building. This pressurized caulking acts as a vigilant sealant, seeking out and destrying any air leaking through the poly vapour barrier into the walls or attic space. This becomes like an airtight drywall approach, where the drywall helps to bond with typical leakage zones, preventing unwanted humidity from escaping in winter. Given our cold climate, this is a way to dramatically reduce what I call ‘fugitive’ emission of humidity into the attic, which can then condensate or frost up and cause moisture problems later. https://www.aerobarrieralberta.ca is a link to more video on the process. No doubt Mike Holmes and Matt Risinger approve of this process and enjoy sponsorship from the manufacturer. The rest of us pay for these procedures. Are they worth it? Well, that is a complex question. It is an investment in efficiency, and also in reducing problems that are really difficult to resolve. We have a climate where all homes could benefit from the use of an Aerobarrier process to seal the vapour barrier moreso than perhaps anywhere else on the continent. With the movement toward greener building finally going mainstream 15 years after I built my first house, perhaps the time is now to increase the specs on what we can offer our clients? Well, if you can afford $50 for a piece of OSB you can afford meaningful improvements in air tightness as well.
0.5 ACH50 is a tough bar to reach. Mortals with a caulking gun and some poly cannot eliminate the thousands of tiny leak zones that add up to a major leakage problem. Thus Aerobarrier to the rescue.