New Building Methods

Building methods are improving every year giving us better insulated buildings which in turn lead to lower energy costs. Sometimes it's hard to see where we are making these improvements, but just compare a house that was built 40 years ago and compare it to a modern house built to the latest building regulations. One can see pretty quickly how much easier it is to heat a modern house and how much better a modern house will retain heat, why is this? The obvious and the main reason is that houses are now built with better insulation; new modern materials help retain heat in the building and therefore reduce energy costs. In combination with better insulation, new building methods have given us a more air tight structure. This is important because controlling the air circulation is just as important if not more important than insulation one's house.

Think about it this way. Imagine a wall built to the highest possible standard in terms of installation, sound proofing and air tightness and in that wall we insert one window and one door. If you think about it you can begin to understand very quickly that once you interfere with a completely sealed wall there is a higher chance of air escaping and heat escaping. With this in mind it is hugely important how we install windows and doors in any building, making sure that the hold structure is of a uniform standard. This is something that the building industry is only coming to terms with. There has been some resistance to introducing new recommended building regulations as they can increase the cost of the build, however as builders become familiar with new technologies and new building methods some of the costs can be absorbed by increase in the skill set of employees and becoming more efficient. No matter what the difficulties are it is important that the construction industry incorporates these new building methods in order to construct buildings to a higher standard and reduce our energy costs, improving our air tightness standards is a very efficient way to achieve this.

From the builders point of view extra care and attention needs to happen around all joins in a building. Joints are found around Windows, doors, corners, attics and wall plate level. Expanding foam can be used around Windows and doors and it also helps if these joints are taped giving them an all-around seal. Also there has been a move away from plastering especially in large apartment blocks this has been replaced by what's referred to as tape jointing whereby plasterboard's that have a groove joint are taped at each joint, sanded down and painted directly on to the plasterboard surface. Even though the plasterboard is of the recommended finish the joints don't often last the test of time. Even though reinforced mesh is used with a sealant it can crack over time mainly because the sealant may not be applied uniformly. This can lead to leakage in the building.

As you can see while there is huge progress being made especially as I mentioned before when we compare a house built 40 years ago to the modern-day house, we still have a long way to go before we have synergy between the building authorities, contractors and suppliers of new building materials. One of the main drawbacks with introducing new building methods and new building materials is that it is often years before we can really determine if they work!