If you read advertising, you may get
the idea that a housewrap is all you
need to protect a building from air
leaks. Building scientists, on the
other hand, have always been skeptical
of the product's effectiveness as
an air barrier. Unfortunately, both
sides have been hampered by the
fact that the energy-savings benefits
of housewrap have never been
accurately quantified. DuPont tried
to remedy the situation by sponsoring
two research projects that
aimed to nail down the value of its
Tyvek brand and a half-dozen
similar products. While the results
indicate that a properly installed
housewrap can bring
real energy benefits, they also
confirm most building scientists'
commonsense evaluations (Focus on
Energy, 10/91).
Field Tests
The first DuPont project
involved a group of