INNOVATION March-April 2018

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AIRTIGHTNESS DEMONSTRATION HIGHLIGHTS STEP CODE REQUIREMENTS ROBYN EDGAR, P.ENG. In the Lower Mainland, many people are aware of the phenomenon of “leaky condos,” a serious problem in the ’90s in which there was moisture ingress into buildings due to the premature deterioration of the buildings’ structural systems. Air leakage through the building enclosure was discussed during this time, but it was largely overlooked, as there were larger issues to address. Historically, the BC Building Code discussed air barriers and defined the properties of airtight materials, but it did not stipulate airtight system performance limits or airtightness testing. Because air leakage can cause significant heat loss in the building enclosure along with conduction through the enclosure and the effects of thermal bridging, airtightness has become a focus of energy- efficient construction initiatives. Over the last few years, various Lower Mainland municipalities have enacted their own energy-efficiency bylaws for new building construction. To standardize the approach throughout the province, the government developed the voluntary BC Energy Step Code, which came into effect in December 2017. This is a voluntary provincial standard that provides an incremental and consistent approach to achieving more energy-efficient buildings, going beyond the requirements of the BC Building Code. The BC Energy Step Code establishes a series of measurable energy-efficiency requirements regarding building system energy use (thermal energy demand and total energy demand) and air leakage through the building enclosure. The performance-based airtightness requirements vary somewhat for houses and certain other small buildings (Part 9 buildings) and larger, more complex buildings (Part 3 buildings). Similarly, the City of Vancouver has incorporated energy-efficiency requirements into the Vancouver Building Bylaw 2014 and

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