Panels, Perfect Walls and Prefabrication: High Performance Enclosure Retrofits
Team: Garrett Mosiman P.I., Liz Kutchke Co-P.I.
Program: Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR)
65% of buildings that will exist in 2040 are already standing. Of these, a substantial number were built before the advent of modern energy codes. These are likely to have enclosure designs that are not capable of high energy performance due to inadequate insulation and excessive air leakage. Many of these buildings also suffer from durability issues, either to exterior finishes or the structural components of the wall. These issues can be remedied through the application of a carefully considered exterior insulation retrofit. Historically, these retrofits are carried out using highly customized processes that are slow and prohibitively expensive.
The Overcoat Panel System is our proposed solution to these issues. It is intended to be prefabricated in a factory, and simply hung on candidate buildings. The panel design observes “Perfect Wall” principles of control layer sequencing. Another method in the original study, using proprietary EPS foam panels with an integrated cladding attachment component, is now being deployed in a field study in Minnesota. This paper will summarize the findings of the original study, and present the OPS and EPS systems and preliminary findings from its application in Minnesota.
Keywords: Retrofit, Prefabrication, Perfect Wall
Funders: Minnesota Conservation Applied Research and Development grant
Other Collaborators: Fatih Evren, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
