Air and Water Tightness in Building Envelopes - Evaluation of Methods for Quality Assurance

Abstract: The purpose of this work is to contribute to a process formaking buildings with good function and to avoid prematurefaults.The design, construction and installation of low-slopedroofs are important parts of creating a durable building. Mostof the leakages in low-sloped roofs occur where materials withdifferent thermomechanical properties are joined together. Withbetter knowledge about these joints, the expected service lifecould better be estimated. Common roofing materials onlow-sloped roofs are roof membranes.To avoid damages and to minimise energy consumption thedetection of air and water leaks is essential. It can bedifficult to localise a leak in e.g. a roof since water canflow far within the construction. Leakage detection can beapplied both as a quality assurance method after installationof low-sloped roofs and as field inspection methods. Theleakage detection can also be extended to terrace slabs and thewhole building envelope.To investigate the strength of jointsbetween sheet metaland roofing membranes, several small-scale tests and somelarge-scale tests were performed. The test methods weredeveloped to match the loads that can be expected on this kindof joints.A number of water leak-detection methods were evaluatedthrough application on test roofs. Some of the methods todetect leaks on low-sloped roofs can also be used to detect airleakage in other parts of the building envelope. To develop andevaluate air leak-detection procedures, selected methods wereused in two case studies.The circumstances regarding welding of the material jointswere found to have great impact on the strength. The roofshould be designed so no long-term strain will appear since acomparatively low stress may damage the joint over time.The performance of the leak-detection methods depends on theroofing material. All methods tested were an improvementcompared to visual inspections. Different recommendedapproaches for leakage detection and quality control is given.The case studies show that air leakage detection could beperformed with good accuracy. The potential difference methodcould without doubt be a tool for leakage localisation inwaterproofing layers both on roofs and in terrace slabs.Keywords:Roofing, roof membrane, durability,waterproofing, leakage, wind-load, non-destructive testing,NDT, BSL4, BSL3, air leakage, building envelope