Re: Re: Airtight details and kit

[David Olivier]

All the experience from places such as Canada and Sweden is that making timber-frame energy-efficient is difficult for designers as well as builders – although they've obviously succeeded in Sweden after 30 years' hard effort. A German solid masonry wall has only 3 or 4 layers, the last timber-frame wall I happened to look at had 12.

My understanding is that the Canadians have always recommended using airtightness details that are able to withstand building movement and wind pressures over time. Polyethylene (protected from wind forces) does this better than a board material alone which can't stretch. A