Air Barrier

An air barrier is defined by the Air Barrier Association of America as an assembly that controls the unintended movement of air into or out of a building enclosure. The air barrier needs to be constructed as a rigid pressure boundary, that essentially stops all airflow from leaking out of the building. Proper ventilation occurs through the implementation of ASHRAE ventilation standards in the subject building.

Your team needs to understand what it takes to build a complete and continuous air barrier in order to meet many of the specifications that are required for today’s building. This need also means that in many of today’s existing buildings, you are expected to greatly reduce that building’s air infiltration. These specifications and details need to be provided by design, right from the beginning of the project.

Our experts perform diagnostics, evaluation and testing of buildings of all types. We see a consistent pattern of very few project teams understanding the fundamentals of an air barrier and how to provide workable and clearly explained details to be successful. In addition, the sub-trades are usually not equipped to build a functioning air barrier and site supervision does not know how to manage getting the details completed, that often time they never receive!

AEI can help your team gain some of the fundamental principles that will help your project’s air barrier provide a continuous system that meets project requirements the first time! You can spend a little time and money now or a lot of time, money, delays and headaches later. Air Barrier Boot Camp is your answer if your project is not clearly airtight.