Seal, Tape, Gasket:
A Sticky Search for Better Materials

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Tremco's Sustainable Building Solutions Test Facility measures air leakage, exposing the assembly to varying air pressures to test the performance of a variety of sealants, tapes, and other materials. The facility was designed and is being used in cooperation with both the Air Barrier Association of America and the Department of Energy.

In just about every climate in which we live and build, the number one job of any building envelope or enclosure is environmental separation. Keeping water, air, and heat in or out of buildings can make them more resource-efficient, durable, and safer for occupants. Lots of building products offer some help with that, but without attention to the joints, you lose critical continuity in your air barriers, drainage planes, and insulation layers—particularly at the penetrations, transitions, and margins of building assemblies. Adhesives, sealants, tapes, and gaskets play a critical role in achieving barrier continuity, but any sound building should employ three strategies: weatherlapping, mechanical fastening, and then selective, task-specific use of sealants.

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