The
Air Barrier Association of America worked with Oak Ridge National
Laboratories to conduct assembly testing on a wood-framed wall to
determine the gaps, cracks and holes that would leak the most. The
testing was conducted at Tremco’s facility in Cleveland, where they have
a fully automated test apparatus to conduct an ASTM E2357 Standard Test
Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate of Air Barrier Assemblies. The
funding to ORNL was supplied by the Department of Energy Building
America Program.
This research was an extension of the ABAA
Research Project on Air Barriers, which was to determine whether there
are energy savings when you make a building very airtight.