New airtight solution for walls and ceilings

A new membrane that is claimed to genuinely provide an airtight solution for walls and ceilings has been developed by Glidevale Ltd.

Protect BarriAir is a high performance, coated non-woven membrane. Installed immediately adjacent to the insulation on the warm side of the structure, Protect BarriAir can significantly reduce air leakage in any construction to meet the increasingly important standards for air tightness. Uncontrolled air leakage from all types of buildings is one of the major causes of energy loss and CO2 emissions.

Nick Beswick, Glidevale Sales Director, elaborates, “Studies have found that air leakage can account for up to a third of all heat losses in modern buildings. Research by the Fraunhofer Institute showed that with just a 1mm continuous air leakage gap, a building can suffer thermal performance worsening by a factor of 4.8 and increased moisture penetration by a factor of 1600!

“Protect BarriAir delivers the airtightness so reduces heat loss, but also helps avoid interstitial condensation, delivering an effective solution to optimise a building’s thermal efficiency in all stages of the structure’s life, from design through creation to occupation.”

Glidevale has specifically developed Protect BarriAir to deliver high tensile and nail tear strength, yet still be easy to cut and manoeuvre to- and on- site to simplify the installation process, whether in traditional masonry or timber frame construction. With laps and penetrations secured using Protect sealing tape, Protect BarriAir provides air permeability at 200pa of just 0.01/m2/s and water vapour resistance of 95MNs/g- surpassing requirements to ensure airtightness, and simultaneously optimising protection against interstitial condensation.

Protect BarriAir complements Glidevale’s established range of Protect membranes. The range further includes Protect impermeable (type HR) and vapour permeable (type LR) roofing underlays, all of which are certified for unrestricted use with regard to wind uplift in all exposure conditions in the UK and Ireland, Protect TF200 and Protect TF200 Thermo breather membranes for timber frames and Protect VC Foil insulating vapour control layer. Full details of the Protect range are available on the company’s website www.glidevale.com.