Insulation Draws Water

摘要

In the late 1930s, an architect and two researchers created a version of hygrothermal building science for the United States that focused on moisture conditions in exterior materials during cold weather. The version they created was partial, and it was biased: It highlighted the importance of vapor transport, while it obscured the importance of temperature impact. They based their argument on the prevention of "condensation," yet they failed to provide a definition of condensation sufficient for use as a performance measure or criterion. They produced prescriptive recommendations that later became code requirements, and these prescriptions embodied the incomplete and biased nature of their analysis. They supported their argument with a flawed and misleading analogy.