This article summarizes the results of a fungal investigation of a new, seven-story, 170-room hotel. The owners of the building were refused an occupancy permit by local building officials because of concerns about fungal contamination. This article discusses the processes that were used to investigate and abate the fungal concerns in this building. This investigation involved comparing fungal infestation levels in various building materials, including two different types of gypsum wallboard. During initial testing the indoor air concentrations of problematic fungi were up to 50 times higher than outdoor levels. After the removal of the fungal-infested materials and the replacement with more acceptable materials, the indoor air concentration of problematic fungi dropped to less than one-fourth of outdoor levels.
In the mid to late 1990s, the exterior insulation and finishing systems (EIFS) industry introduced drainage into its wall systems, aimed at increasing the water management of those systems. Along with this introduction came the development of test methods for drainage efficiency and the inclusion of drainage criteria in code requirements. More specifically, ASTM E2273, Standard Test Method for Determining the Drainage Efficiency of Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) Clad Wall Assemblies, was developed and published initially in 2003. This test method was adopted into code for EIFS with drainage with a drainage efficiency requirement of 90 %. The EIFS industry became leaders in this area, and the drainage methods originally developed for EIFS were adapted to evaluate non-EIFS wall systems as well, which in some cases (such as in the Oregon Residential Specialty Code) had decreased required drainage efficiencies. In parallel to the development of ASTM E2273, researchers have proposed other drainage efficiency test methods, although none has been standardized at this point. This paper provides a review of ASTM E2273 and other drainage test methods that has been reported. The applicability to water management in EIFS wall systems and to wall systems with other claddings is discussed. This paper also reviews code requirements and code evaluation acceptance criteria that require drainage validation.
Weather resistive barriers function as the second line of defense against water that has intruded past a building's cladding. Despite its importance, however, the evaluation of weather-resistive barrier water resistance performance is not conducted in a consistent manner across product types. Several different test methods that include vastly different water exposure techniques are used. Because of the variance in test methods and rating systems, the selection of optimal weather resistive barrier for a specific project can be difficult. Complicating matters further, the water resistance of weather resistive barriers is almost always reported on as-received materials, with little if any information provided on how the water resistance will change during the construction period or in service. This paper presents data comparing the water resistance of weather resistive barriers measured by both standard methods and by a small-scale water spray test. Additionally, the change in water resistance performance due to direct environmental exposure is discussed.
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