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Weathertightness is an essential
element for healthy construction,
comfort and good health
What is weathertightness?
Weathertightness enables a building to withstand the natural weather elements. Watertightness and windtightness fall into this category. A leaky building allows water and moisture to infiltrate the building envelope where it becomes trapped, leading to mould and rot within the construction. Wind movement can also create issues with air forced from the outside into the insulation layer allowing the water to be transported into the construction through convection.
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Why is weathertightness important?
The importance of weathertight buildings has been highlighted in New Zealand over the past decade with the tragedy of leaky homes.
It is therefore important when planning your new home to consider this vital aspect in two ways - preventing water and air movement from entering the construction from the outside and allowing moisture to pass through freely from the inside to the outside (diffusion open).
It is impossible to provide 100% protection against moisture for any construction. This includes during construction itself when timber framing can become damp trapping the moisture once the cladding is in place. This highlights the need to choose a design and materials that can cope with the moisture that is conveyed. In principle this means sealing systems that are open to diffusion to the outside and ideally those that have variable diffusion resistance to allow for the varying moisture levels of the seasons.
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