The Functional Requirements for Water Resistive Barriers Exposed to Incidental Water Leakage. Part 1: Classification of Membranes

摘要

This article presents a classification system for Water Resistive Barrier (WRB) products currently available on the North American market. Over the years, construction products have evolved to perform different functions in building enclosure and different generic names bear witness to this process. We use terms such as water-resistive or weather-resistive barrier, wind barrier, building paper, drainage plane, wrap, or house wrap to denote a membrane/placed on the exterior of the sheathing or exterior insulation board. To introduce a unified terminology, a group of experts~3 decided to use the abbreviated term WRB for such products. By using the abbreviated term one avoids the choice between "weather" and "water," as each of them has a common abbreviation.