DuPont Tyvek Roofing Underlays Testing, Vapour-Open Building Material Images, Product Watertightness

DuPont Tyvek Roofing Underlays Testing, Watertightness

Maintaining Vital Watertightness After Ageing – Independent Field Tests News

19 Sep 2016

The most important anti-ageing product you can use?

One that will keep your reputation watertight for the long-term

Reality Check: Independent ‘field’ tests prove DuPont™ Tyvek® maintains vital watertightness after ageing, where many alternative underlays fail

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development

• The primary quality in terms of longevity for a roofing underlay is water tightness – an area which presents the most risk for property, insurance and reputations

• An independent expert opened up 30 roofs to undertake rigorous watertightness tests on roofing underlays after ‘real world’ ageing

• 17 Roofs installed with Tyvek® over 20 years ago and 13 roofs with multi-layer or coated roofing underlays installed between 5 and 10 years ago were investigated

• The independent test reporting went beyond the limitations of current standards to check the precise scale of performance

• Results show troubling failures in watertightness in most of the alternative roofing underlays tested

• The industry’s reputation and home owners investments are at risk as current standards with focus on mechanical stress don’t fully represent reality

Concerned by multiple reports of some alternative vapour-open underlays failing in their secondary water shedding role, DuPont™ Tyvek® instigated a thorough investigation into ‘real world’ performance. When the reputation of a whole class of roofing underlays is at risk because of water tightness failure in some products unable to withstand heat or UV stress, it’s time for the market leader to address the issue.

Website: DuPont Tyvek Roofing Underlays Testing Video

Independent expert Martin Peifer of German consultants Steildach-Technik opened up 30 roofs to take away underlay samples which the Kiwa GmbH TBU laboratory then tested in ways that exceed the limitations of current water tightness pass/fail classifications.

Standards lag behind

As building and industry codes have been working hard to catch up with a rapidly evolving market, assessment methods such as those within standard EN13859-1&2, still lag behind in evaluating vital issues such as actual longevity. Qualities such as long-term waterhold – which most crucially affects the homeowner – must be assessed after exposure to natural environmental stresses, both during the build and when occupied.

Increasingly vapour-open but decreasingly fail-safe?

While ageing of underlays can positively affect vapour diffusion with increased porosity, this may adversely affect the water shedding function, should the primary covering fail. This unfortunate occurrence is becoming more prevalent in today’s increasingly stormier weather. Ultimately, the primary quality in terms of longevity is water tightness – an area which presents the most risk for property, insurance, and reputations.

Test methods:

First the basic EN13859-1&2 W1 classification system for watertightness was used: each specimen was exposed to a 20cm water column for 2 hours to measure not only whether any leakage occurred, but how much, over what surface area and how quickly. In parallel a graded system over a scale of 10 (1 being the worst performance, 10 the best) was appplied to differentate between the failing specimens.

The EN20811 method for evaluating resistance to water penetration in textiles was also used. This established, in crucial and revealing detail, precisely how well each underlay withstood water after 5 to 10 years in a roof, or, in the case of Tyvek®, for more than 20 years. (For more detail on the test methods and results please see this link: www.tyvek.co.uk/rooftest

DuPont Tyvek Roofing Underlays Testing

Results:

The table shows the W1 results, W1 with the added grading system applied to all 17 Tyvek® roofing underlays and all 13 alternatives, as well as the EN20811 water column test results.

Age (years) Product
description
Weight
gr/m2
W1 (EN13859)
pass / fail
W1 grade
1-10
specimen 1
W1 grade
1-10
specimen 2
EN20811 (cm) specimen 1 EN20811 (cm)
specimen 2
5 coated material 120 fail 2 1 27 9
5 coated material 120 fail 1 2 22 25
7 coated material 190 pass 10 10 540 540
8 coated material 160 fail 6 9 200 141
8 coated material 200 pass 10 10 540 540
8 multi-layer
(microporous film)
145 fail 1 1 17 7
9 multi-layer
(microporous film)
150 fail 1 1 25 24
9 multi-layer
(microporous film)
125 fail 1 1 18 17
9 multi-layer
(microporous film)
145 fail 1 1 25 24
9 coated material 140 fail 2 2 29 16
9 coated material 140 fail 6 6 58 50
9 multi-layer
(microporous film)
145 fail 1 1 6 12
9 multi-layer
(microporous film)
125 fail 1 1 13 18
21 Tyvek® 60 fail 7 7 111 120
21 Tyvek® 137 fail 6 6 28 39
21 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 123 141
21 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 171 185
21 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 147 171
22 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 162 161
22 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 155 160
22 Tyvek® 60 fail 6 7 61 98
22 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 156 170
23 Tyvek® 60 pass 10 10 143 137
23 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 145 170
23 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 153 165
23 Tyvek® 60 pass 10 10 111 125
23 Tyvek® 60 fail 9 8 72 78
23 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 152 153
23 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 176 176
24 Tyvek® 137 pass 10 10 178 148

As there is no clear definition in standards or codes, careful consideration as to how to assess functionality using this combined testing system is required. For example, with a W1-Grade 9 it is possible that a few drops of water could potentially move from the cold side to the insulation level.

However, as diffusion takes place over the entire surface of the underlay, such minimal moisture will dry out rapidly and no reduction of functionality is likely. Also, the reduced pressure of free-running water in normal conditions should be taken into account.

By applying this consideration to the W1-grading scale, it is only at Grade 5 or lower that a high risk of water infiltration becomes a concern, to the point where it may get beyond control. Martin Peifer, the independent expert, thus set the W1-grade of 6 as being the acceptable limit to ensure functionality, anything less becoming critical. For EN 20811 he set the functionality limit to < 50 cm.

Bearing this in mind, the picture is as follows:

• 16 out of 17 Tyvek® roofing underlays can be declared functionally watertight after more than 20 years
• 0 out of 6 multi-layer microporous film based roofing underlays can be declared functional after less than 10 years
• 4 out of 7 coated roofing underlays can be declared functional after less than 10 years

Even without taking into account the age differences (the Tyvek® samples being significantly older than the other installed products), Tyvek® clearly emerges as the most reliable in terms of crucial watertightness, while there is significant cause for concern with alternative roofing underlays.

For more information about DuPont™ Tyvek® in the UK please visit: http://www.construction.tyvek.co.uk or call 01275 337660 (087 922 2740 in ROI)

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development
DuPont building membranes have been chosen to enhance efficiency, both in construction and performance, for a new modular office block project for Pramerica by Extraspace Solutions in Donegal

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development
The interior walls of the modular office units by Extraspace Solutions feature DuPont™ AirGuard® Reflective metallised AVCL to create airtightness and enhance thermal performance and interior comfort

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development images / information received Sep 2016

DuPont Tyvek

DuPont Tyvek Product Links – Selection

DuPont Tyvek Breathes New Life into Heritage Renovations

DuPont Tyvek Reflex

DuPont Tyvek Advanced Breather Membrane

DuPont Tyvek Emergency Shelter System

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development
A new office block development in Donegal for Pramerica System Ireland Ltd by Extraspace Solutions benefits from advanced and high performance DuPont building membranes

DuPont Tyvek UV façade in Bristol

DuPont Tyvek FireCurb Membrane

DuPont Tyvek Breather Membranes

DuPont Tyvek Timberframe Solutions

DuPont Tyvek FireCurb Breather Membrane

DuPont Tyvek FireCurb in Dublin Hospital Building

DuPont Tyvek Modular Office Block Development
A new office block in Donegal, Ireland, for Pramerica System Ireland Ltd by Extraspace Solutions – using advanced DuPont building membranes

Location: UK

DuPont Corian

DuPont Product Links – Selection

Corian High-Tech Surface
Corian® High-Tech Surface

The Cineroleum

Corian Sphere, England

Selection of Architectural Products featured on e-architect

Libeskind Villa design by Daniel Libeskind

Zaha Hadid Jewellery – Celeste Necklace

Architectural Jewellery

The Wave Vejle, Jylland, western Denmark, northern Europe
Design: Henning Larsen Architects
The Wave in Vejle Denmark
photograph : Jacob Due
The Wave in Vejle, Denmark Building

Utter Space Photography Studio, Beijing, China
Architects: CUN DESIGN
Utter Space Photography Studio Beijing
Space photography : WANG Ting
Utter Space Photography Studio

Comments / photos for the DuPont Tyvek Roofing Underlays Testing page welcome

Website: Tyvek