How Building Enclosure Commissioning Saves Your Project Critical Long-Term Risk

It has been estimated that over 30% of the energy used in buildings escapes through the building enclosure or envelope. Current code requirements in addition to Green Building benchmarking systems are increasingly challenging design and construction teams to build more healthy, efficient, sustainable buildings. The building enclosure is another major building element being impacted by governing agencies and the industry’s drive to build high performing, healthy buildings.The building enclosure includes the roof, walls, fenestrations, and floor slab. It is a critical boundary between the interior conditioned space and the outdoors.  Proper design and construction of the building enclosure greatly impacts the health, performance and energy efficiency of the building. It provides a critical function of building moisture control by preventing the accumulation of moisture which leads to mold, mildew and decay. Proper construction of fenestration details, air and moisture barriers, as well as flashings ensure that the enclosure protects the building elements from damage and limits the transfer (and subsequent loss) of energy from the interior of the building. In addition, when the proper building enclosures are selected, designed, constructed and tested in coordination with the greater building systems (HVAC, MEP, lighting), the owner is ensured a building that performs according to their requirements and goals for occupant comfort, energy efficiency, maintenance and operations, and utility costs. Applying an integrated quality process based on building science to all building systems including the enclosure helps owner’s build lasting, functionally efficient buildings.3QC was founded to help solve two of the industries’ most persistent problems, leaky building and hot/cold complaints.  Our team of certified Building Envelope Commissioning Providers focus on architectural and envelope systems to ensure that the owner’s building functions as designed and achieves the efficiency standards intended.  Although they may appear simple, building enclosure (envelope) systems are complicated and require specific review, testing and inspection to verify proper, weather-tight installation. The design and installation challenges created by integrating these systems requires specific skills, training and experience.3QC’s integrated quality approach assists owners and their design and construction teams ensure that the building enclosure is correctly detailed during the design phase and correctly installed and tested during construction.