Durable, Resilient and Sustainable Design

Avoiding stupid mistakes in the quest for the Perfect Wall

Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng., ASHRAE Fellow
Principal, Building Science Corporation

There are many durable, resilient and sustainable materials that can be used to build a building enclosure assembly. Each of these materials have different inherent properties that determine conditions that they can withstand and those that they cannot. When exposed to the latter condition, these materials experience failures. When this happens, the assembly is no longer durable, resilient or sustainable and the result may be anything from a minor fiasco to catastrophic disaster for the assembly. Let’s explore what these conditions are and how to avoid them.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the properties of various building materials used in building enclosure assemblies.
• Learn the factors that can affect the integrity of various building materials.
• Learn how to properly incorporate these materials in building enclosure assemblies based on their properties and location in the assembly.
• Learn what happens when you don’t do it correctly.

Speaker:

Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng., ASHRAE Fellow
Principal, Building Science Corporation

Speaker’s Bio:

Joseph Lstiburek is the founding principal of Building Science Corporation. Dr. Lstiburek’s work ranges widely, from providing expert witness testimony to overseeing research and development projects, to writing for the ASHRAE Journal and buildingscience.com. Dr. Lstiburek’s commitment to advancing the building industry has had a lasting impact on building codes and practices throughout the world, particularly in the areas of air barriers, vapor barriers, and vented and unvented roof assemblies. For example, his work with industry partners through the Department of Energy’s Building America program led to significant research into the wetting and drying of walls and ultimately to a major code change relaxing the requirement for vapor barriers in the International Residential Code.

Dr. Lstiburek is also an acclaimed educator who has taught thousands of professionals over the past three decades and written countless papers as well as the best-selling Builder Guides. Fittingly, the Wall Street Journal has described him as “the dean of North American building science.” He has a joy for telling tall tales to his protégés and audiences.

Dr. Lstiburek holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Building Science. While still an undergrad, Dr. Lstiburek worked as a residential construction manager; during his Master’s degree, he developed the Air Drywall Approach to air barriers. Other formative experiences include working on the Canada-wide Super EnergyEfficient Housing R-2000 program and serving as senior engineer on commercial construction projects for Trow in Toronto. Dr. Lstiburek founded BSC in 1990 with his business partner Betsy Pettit, and he has been a key figure in establishing BSC as one of the most influential, innovative, and respected building science firms in North America.