Week 7 Airtightness Post Guest Lecture Resources

Many thanks to Tom O'Dwyer (in the photographs below) from SIGA who gave an excellent talk and demonstration of airtightness considerations when using different construction methods and materials to the M.Sc. students and final-year Architecture students.

Please refer to my previous blog post for some more detailed information on airtightness and SIGA products. Have a look at this article which discusses the importance of airtightness from a Passive House point of view. The Energy Saving Trust in the UK have produced nice guidelines on improving airtightness in dwellings that is worth a look and of course our own Department of the Environment, Local Community and Government has produced a document on air infiltration and thermal bridging as a supplement to the Building Regulations. Gavin O'Shea of GreenBuild has also produced an excellent document on blower door testing for passive houses. See below the video shown in class on how to carry out a blower door test.

Week 7 Passive House Airtightness and Windows Pre-Lecture Resources

I am really looking forward to having two guest lectures in this week: Tom O'Dwyer from SIGA and Thomas O'Reilly from SmartWin. SIGA have a host of resources on their website including a dedicated YouTube channel. I especially like the comic they produced 'Building Damage Horror..and how to prevent it'. They have also developed a 'construction feature' section where you can click into different applications that will link the product information to installation videos. SIGA were recently involved in the construction of the Irish Rail Train Drivers Building in Portlaoise. SmartWin have recently received their passive certification for their window products. For more information on Passive Windows check out Passipedia and the videos developed by Energyquarter in Ireland and the Green Building Store in the UK.

The 3D detail was produced by Gerard Nicholson as part of a REVIT Summer Competition in GMIT.