Building Science Insights are short, informal discussions that highlight one or more building science principles. Like all BSC publications, they are grounded by solid research and experience. Unlike most BSC publications, however, they may also feature anecdotes, opinions, and even a joke or two (or three…).
Lively and engaging, Insights provide a fresh perspective on important industry issues. Enjoy them with your morning coffee or any time you need to wake up your building science brain.
One of the dirty little secrets that never gets talked about is that water leaks through building papers, building wraps and housewraps and runs down between them and the sheathings that they cover. The water enters through nail holes and staple holes and sometimes just through the field of the material if you have a poor product. The good news is that the nail holes and staple holes don’t leak too much and we know how to handle the incidental leakage.
If you take rocks and melt them and blow air through them you get fluffy rocks. And fluffy rocks don’t burn. If you take gypsum and make it into sheets you get “sheet rock.” And guess what? Rocks don’t burn. Also, metals don’t burn. You can look that up. OK, some metals burn, but you get the idea. If you take wood, which burns, and add rocks and metals to the wood, you get wood that does not burn. We could be on to something here.
