Airtightness products on the test bench

Tests and certifications of the Passive House Institute

Overview Level of requirements

The Passive House Institute has been carrying out
certification ("Passive House suitable components")
for the numerous special products already available
on the market for the realisation of the air tightness of
a building for several years. The PHI does not only
carry out material testing, but also evaluates the
solutions for the typical use with the most common
types of application. In doing so, the connections
within the system as well as to common building
products such as membranes, wooden boards (OSB)
and concrete surfaces are examined. An air tightness
system is triple checked with the connection to these
building materials and tested for air tightness. This is
done strictly according to the manufacturers'
specifications and their instructions are improved if
necessary. This is a construction-realistic investiga-
tion.
The requirements are graded in quality classes
according to the area. The quality classes are
presented here as examples of surface sealing:
Results
Products were tested and certified in all three areas of
investigation. The results show the suitability of various
products from different manufacturers but also their
special features and limitations. In some cases,
changes were worked out with the manufacturers to
further improve the use of the products. The diagram
below shows the previous measurement results in the
field of surface sealing. It shows the range of products
and solutions: Membranes, wooden boards, liquid
applied membranes for spraying and brushing. Very
good results are achieved with all products. With the
certified products there is a high security to realize a
very good airtightness solution. All products with
measurement report, instructions and certificate can be
found here:

https://database.passivehouse.com
Example of an investigation: The membrane in the
measuring mounted and glued to an OSB board.

Areas of investigation
So far there are investigations for three
areas:
- surface sealing (membrane, wooden
boards, liquid applied sealing),
- penetrations (cables and pipes)
and
- window connections (solid and
lightweight construction with wood and
plastic windows).

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Søren Peper und Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Hasper

Passive House Institute
Rheinstraße 44/46 – 64283 Darmstadt – E-Mail: components@passiv.de