Past Meetings

September 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Portland BEC Half Day Symposium (Hybrid)
Location

Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark
Portland, OR 97214

Presenters
Andrew Dunlap
Laverne Dalgleish
Description

3.5 LU/HSW learning credits

Schedule

  • 8:45 – 9:15 Sign In & Welcome
  • 9:15 – 10:15 Oh no! What did I miss? How to properly specify an air barrier system Laverne Dalgleish 1.0 LU/HSW
  • 10:15 – 10:30 Break
  • 10:30 – 12:00 “By Others”: The Elusive Subcontractor Responsible for Transitions Andrew Dunlap 1.5 LU/HSW
  • 12:00 – 12:30 Lunch
  • 12:30 – 1:30 Air Barrier Material Evaluations & Testing Laverne Dalgleish 1.0 LU/HSW

Presentation Overview


Oh no! What did I miss? How to properly specify an air barrier system Laverne Dalgleish

Design and Construction documents are one of the first steps towards achieving an effective layer of airtightness to manage moisture and air movement. The importance of a proper specification cannot be understated and a well-articulated document will ensure that the owner is provided with materials, performance and quality. The presentation will review some of the consideration and language that should be reviewed prior to developing a specification and will outline code requirements, performance requirements, what can be done for quality and ensuring material selection meets the intent of design and for crucial coordination with other components of the enclosure.


“By Others” The Elusive Subcontractor Responsible for Transitions Andrew Dunlap

This course will take you through a multitude of details with a review of assembly environmental separators that will show common enclosure assembly discontinuities and provide an education on common system transition methods.


Air Barrier Material Evaluations & Testing: Why Peanut Butter Is Good For A Sandwhich But Not For Your Air Barrier Laverne Dalgleish

Air barrier technology has been around for decades, but the use of air and water resistive barrier material in buildings is fairly new. Some air and water resistive barrier materials have been used in other applications for years and now are being used for the air and water control layer. Now that the application has changed, does the material still perform in the new application? As the air and water resistive barrier industry has grown over the past decade, new materials have come on the market. These materials have a short track record, but should you shy away from using them? This presentation shows how you can sort out the different materials and how you can get help in choosing the right one for your project.


Cost

This event is free to Portland BEC Members. For non-members the cost is $50, which includes membership.

Registration

Registration

This event will be both in person and streamed online.

In-person attendance will be limited to 50. 

Streaming will be hosted by the ABAA through GoTo Webinar. 

June 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Spontaneous Glass Breakage
Location

Live Zoom Webinar.

Presenters
David Nicastro
Description

All buildings use glass in the building envelope, and all will have some breakage during their service life. But sudden, unexplained breakage is not normal, expected, or acceptable. Spontaneous breakage is most likely caused by a defect in manufacturing, fabrication, or installation, including surface scratches, edge defects, thermal shock, edge contact, and inclusions. This presentation will synthesize a practical understanding of the causes of spontaneous glass breakage based on theoretical behavior and failure case studies, and will include diagnostic methods, prevention, and mitigation strategies.

David H. Nicastro, P.E., F.ASTM, is a licensed professional engineer specializing in durability and failure causation theory. He analyzes existing buildings and designs remedies. He is the founder of Building Diagnostics and Engineering Diagnostics, which grew to be an Inc. 500 firm by 2000. He also founded The Durability Lab, a testing center housed at The University of Texas at Austin to study the durability of building components, identifying factors causing premature failure. Mr. Nicastro is the past chairman of ASTM Committee C24 on Building Seals and Sealants, and has published over 50 articles and books on durability and failure of building materials.

1 AIA LU/HSW

This course was not recorded at the request of the speaker.

May 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
The Big Disconnect - The Importance of Wall to Roof Connections for the Air Barrier
Location

Live Zoom Webinar. Pre-registration is required at the link below.

Presenters
Roy Schauffele
Description

As more states, jurisdictions and the design community require air barriers, the issue of connecting the wall air barrier assembly to other building assemblies, such as below grade, window systems and roofs need to be completely understood in order to design and construct a functioning building enclosure.

One of the most often missed or not well executed details is the connection between the wall air barrier and roof assembly. With a myriad of roof systems, wall configurations and the growing number of wall air barrier products, it can be difficult to navigate the process in regards to what systems work best with each other and the chemical compatibility of these systems.

This presentation will focus on things to consider from a design standpoint, along with practical approaches to ensuring a robust connection is constructed and executed.

Roy Schauffele is an internationally published author and speaker in the fields of energy conservation and sustainable building envelopes including insulation, air barrier technology, roofing & waterproofing, vegetative & cool roofing, all with an eye towards improving building science, performance, and quality of life. He is the acknowledged inventor of “The Perfect Wall” which is now the nationwide building code standard for wall construction.

He is President and founder of Division 7 Solutions, Inc, now entering its 35th year of continuous operations.

Roy currently serves, at the request of the ABAA (Air Barrier Association of America) Board and Executive Committee, as the Executive Advisor to the ABAA. He has served on the ABAA Executive Committee as a Director at Large of the ABAA, after 3 terms as Chairman, also the first Regional ABAA Regional Advocate. As an appointee by the City Council of San Antonio, he has served as a Technical Advisor to Build San Antonio Green (BSAG) and was an award winner in 2012 for his Technical Contributions to BSAG and was named the (2016) Individual Green Practitioner for Sustainable Education and Outreach.

Globally, he is the only person to be a Fellow of both CSI and ABAA, and he was the first to become a Certified Air Barrier Specialist. He continues to be a requested national speaker on all items related to Division 7 Thermal & Moisture, and especially on air barriers, roofing, insulation, energy conservation design, and sustainability.

April 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
So, You Have a Leak. Understanding Water Ingress and Associated Envelope Failures
Location

Live Zoom Webinar. Pre-registration is required at the link below.

Presenters
Caroline Segsworth
Description

In this course we will present a basic guideline for identifying and understanding water ingress in new and existing buildings. We will review the different modes of water-related building enclosure failures, discussing how to identify and approach repair of both unique and systemic issues, in the context of multiple different building typologies, materials, and typical assemblies. The course will present a number of case studies, highlighting issues that may arise both during and after construction, as well as after many years of operation and occupancy. Using these case studies in hand with the understanding gained on modes of failure, attendees will learn how to avoid common mistakes in design and construction that may compromise durability and performance of the building enclosure in the long run.

Caroline has over 15 years of experience in the building design and construction industry. She joined Morrison Hershfield in 2014, relocating to our Portland, Oregon office in 2016. Caroline has worked in the fields of architecture and building envelope consulting throughout the Pacific Northwest. She brings a multidisciplinary approach to building science and endeavors to incorporate new technologies and innovative problem solving into building design, construction, and rehabilitation.

March 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Exterior Envelope: Providing Long Term Solutions During and After Construction
Location

Live Zoom Webinar. Pre-registration is required at the link below.

Presenters
Darrell Whatley
Description

The building enclosure design is an important element in all project construction types but is elevated more when considering the use of Mass Timber. In the Southern US region, the learning curve is high androject examples are low for Mass Timber. Two projects in the Houston area have experienced high rain levels and even a rare snow storm event during construction. These weather events have brought to the forefront the many challenges that exist in building a project constructed of wood in this wet weather climate. The typical construction with steel and concrete does not take into account the need to allow for rain water to be alleviated during construction. These lessons learned have created new responses that allow for water to be quickly removed off the CLT deck and all the pow for quick, noncombustible envelope installation. Therefore, the building dries out faster, providing a better working environment for the remaining installation trades.

Darrell Whatley, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, is a Vice President with Kirksey Architecture and serves as a project manager on the Collegiate team. He has 24 years of experience focusing on higher education buildings that have ranged from 1,000 bed student housing, dining halls, classroom buildings to workforce training facilities. Currently he is managing the design of two mass timber collegiate projects. The first is the nation’s largest collegiate instructional building for San Jacinto Community College at 122,000 square feet. The second is a 5 story, 166 bed New Hanszen College for Rice University at 56,000 square feet. He has developed new detailed design approaches with the use of mass timber in these facilities with a thoughtful approach to sustainability. Recently he has presented and actively promoted mass timber at the San Jacinto College’s Gulf Coast Mass Timber Conference, Woodworks Texas Wood Design Symposium, ULI Tulsa Conference and the Gulf Coast Green Conference.

February 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Adapting to Changing Conditions
Location

Live Zoom Webinar. Pre-registration is required at the link below.

Presenters
Dr. Christopher White, PhD
Description

Adapting to Changing Conditions, Innovations in the Building Envelope: Technical Innovations, Adapting to Changing Weather, and Disclosure Requirements Related to Climate Change Performance

Building materials enable architecture, and innovation can test the strength of historical materials selection processes. For example, architectural innovation may require that plastics and polymer composites be subjected to operational requirements that were not as relevant to prior designs. As a result, traditionally successful materials may be subjected to not fully anticipated conditions during their development and testing. This presentation will explore instances where architectural innovation has resulted in materials functioning beyond the tested requirements. The examples include cold warping of insulated glass units (IGU), incidents of sealant failure in IGUs, and finally, how testing methods and models can be adapted from these examples to match the pace of innovation in architectural design.

Dr. White, a senior managing scientist for Exponent, assists clients by solving technical problems related to the specification, reliability and sustainability of polymeric materials used in a variety of industries including construction, infrastructure, transportation, chemicals and utilities. One of Dr. White's core competencies is characterizing weather-related changes to the chemical and physical properties of polymers and how those degradative changes may affect end-use performance. This expertise enables him to provide solutions to complex issues related to assessing durability, failure, sustainability, and climate change effects on materials and assets exposed to weathering. He is skilled in developing and utilizing test methods and standards to analyze plastics, rubbers, textiles, metals, glass, and ceramic composite materials. Dr. White is skilled in offering technical guidance throughout all phases of product development including formulation, scale-up, end-use testing and field performance assessments.

1.25 AIA LU/HSW

January 2022 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Whole Building Air Leakage Testing: A Tale of Two Completed Projects
Location

Live Zoom Webinar. Pre-registration is required at the link below.

Presenters
Stanley Yee
Description

The evolution of outcome-based performance criteria in the building & construction industry is placing more emphasis on the traditional ways of addressing air and water tightness. There is such a strong correlation between energy performance of commercial buildings and the management of uncontrolled air infiltration that we have seen Energy Codes (e.g. ASHRAE 90.1) and select jurisdictions adopt requirements to show a continuous air barrier systems in the construction documents and to demonstrate compliance of the construction through testing. As a way of measuring this performance criteria, the industry has seen a rise in whole-building air leakage testing.

The design of the building, the selection of the appropriate material, the awareness and means of addressing key interface details are pivotal in a successful whole-building air leakage test. With enhanced air-tightness requirements in the State of Washington Energy Code, this course will explore the paths that two recently completed projects took to achieve its air-tightness performance goals through a method paralleling that of the Building Enclosure Commission (BECx) process.

Focus will be on the on aspects of building enclosure detailing, installation, and material selection and their specific performance capabilities that enabled the building enclosure system to ultimately demonstrate how they positively impact the whole building air-tightness performance and verified through whole building air tightness testing. The financial implications of the BECx–inspired process, and its associated testing, will be discussed in the context of the overall benefit the process brought to the project.

A LEED® Accredited Professional, Stanley is a facade design and construction scientist for Dow. He has over 25 years experience in the global building enclosure industry working in curtain wall and exterior cladding contracting, as well as providing construction industry stakeholders with independent façade consulting expertise. Stanley’s specialties include: building enclosure design and construction practices, and performance consulting for air-water-vapor-thermal resistant design concepts and practices. He holds a Building Engineering degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Stanley has previously served on the Board of Directors of the National Glass Association and currently also serves as a technical advisor and delegate on various ASTM and ISO technical committees.

December 2021 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Green Roofing Update: Lastest Trends, ROI, What Happens When They Fail?
Location

Live Zoom Webinar. Pre-registration is required at the link below.

Presenters
Elizabeth Hart Morris, CDT, GRP
Description

This presentation is an overview of the environmental and economic benefits of a properly designed, installed, and maintained vegetated roof. We will review the generic components that comprise typical green roof systems, and we will address concerns in-depth including wind uplift considerations and how to treat drains to avoid flooding. We will also review local case studies ranging from thriving systems to outright failures, and how the design and maintenance of the systems affects the outcomes.

Liz Morris is the president of Green Up LLC, the firm she founded to work with architects, building owners, contractors and municipalities to develop and restore on-structure vegetation and amenity spaces. Liz has been working with green roofs across North America for nearly 15 years, with the majority of her project experience on commercial roofs in Portland, Washington and California. She is experienced in all phases of green roofing, from conceptual development and specification, through procurement and installation, as well as maintenance and restorations. She has presented hundreds of continuing education sessions to architects, and has trained dozens of installers in green roofing. Liz is the co-founder and past president of the Green Roof info Think-tank (GRiT) and is the Green Roof Professional Education Chair on the Board of Directors of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC).

1 AIA LU/HSW