Green Technology

Superior Building Envelope

When it comes to home construction, beauty really is only skin deep. What matters most in any upgrade or renovation is the building envelope—the layer between ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ your home. That’s where you’ll save the most money, make your home more energy efficient, and prolong the life of your home.

The building envelope contains the insulation and vapour barrier, the house wrap, and the sheathing, the foundation walls, the windows and doors and the roof. It’s what protects you and maintains your comfort at home, by providing insulation and water control and preventing air leakage.

Think of a cooler filled with ice cold beverages on a hot day. The beverages stay cold and the hot outside air stays outside the cooler for a long time. There’s no condensation on the outside of the cooler because there’s minimal heat transfer. That’s a good thermal barrier.

That’s what you want your house’s envelope to do: Just like a cooler, you want it to keep the air movement to an absolute minimum, and provide a thermal barrier to reduce the risk of condensation forming. A superior building envelope will reduce or eliminate air and vapour and water and moisture movement between inside and outside.

All types of insulation provide a thermal barrier; some provide a superior barrier—what I like to call a thermal break. Building code typically calls for a minimum of batt insulation, with vapour barrier, sealed to prevent air leaks. But there may still be spots that have thermal bridging—where there is the possibility of cold meeting warm. A superior envelope has closed cell spray foam insulation in intimate contact enveloping or encasing the entire structure—ceiling, walls, above and below grade. Like a cooler.

When planning your renovations and upgrades, make sure the choices you make are the best ones—remember these are choices you’ll be living with a long time. It’s not like a coat of paint or flooring choice you can change. So stop thinking about making your home’s facelift a priority. A house’s real beauty is on the inside.