Indoor humidity is an important parameter influencing the occupants’ perception of indoor air quality, and is also a cause of harmful processes that may occur on surfaces of materials, such as cracking of walls or microbiological growth. Building material
This paper presents results of air leakage measurements on brick walls and concrete block walls, used as outer or inner leaf of a cavity wall. The results are obtained using a pressure box on a series of test walls. The variable parameters that are examined: workmanship, pointing of the joints andplastering of the inner leaf. Out of the results can be concluded that, in general, only a plastered wall can guarantee a sufficient airtightness.
Treats a research study by the Danish Building Research Institute to develop a comprehensive set of design details for the use of bricks in a highly insulated cavity wall and building methods that could easily be followed by contractors. Illustrates photographically and describes the detached house which resulted from the project. Illustrates structural details diagrammatically. The energy consumption of the house is less than a quarter of older houses of similar size. Explains the design details to avoid thermalbridges and the application of modular coordination.