This is one in a series of blog posts about the materials we’ve chosen to build our Zero House project…

What is 475 High Performance Building Supply?  475 High Performance Building Supply provides essential building knowledge and components to building professionals, focusing on materials that provide the best air tightness, ventilation and durability.

Where are 475 products used in Zero House?  There are 475 High Performance Building Supply products used throughout the Zero House building, including:

• Mento 1000 house wrap – A 3-layer airtight, vapor-open housewrap that is an extremely strong weather resistive barrier (WRB). It provides superior weather protection and can cover most exterior building substrates. It has an actively vapor open, monolithic layer of TEEE film that is extremely waterproof – and outperforms perforated/stretched WRBs both in outward drying potential (38 perms) as well as airtightness.
• Intello Plus – A “smart” vapor retarder that provides a first class air barrrier for thermal insulation in roofs, walls and floors. It gives structural systems a previously unachievable degree of protection from structural damage (from condensation), even under extreme climatic conditions, due to its intelligent vapor retarding properties.
• Tescon Vanna – Air sealing tape is a long-lasting, robust solution for building airtightness. Used to seal the air control membranes over our prefab panels on the exterior and interior side.
• Tescon Profil – Same great airsealing, weather resistance, and vapor profile as Tescon Vana, but with a 3-split release backing to make airtight connections and waterproof seals at corners quickly and easily.
• Extoseal Encors – A watertight adhesive tape with high adhesion for creating window sills.
• Roflex pipe gaskets – Creates durable and airtight seals around pipes, ducts and cables which pass through membranes, wood-based panels and other substrates.

How do 475 products help achieve the Zero House goals?

• Zero net energy use – A building must be air-tight to be truly energy efficient, and the air-tightness products from 475 High Performance Building Supply help us to ensure that our building is free of costly leaks and that our air sealing will be durable and long-lasting.
• Zero toxins – All Pro Clima tapes and membranes are free of solvents, VOCs and softeners

Other reasons for using 475 High Performance Building Supply products:

• Waste – Most of the ProClima products are 100% recyclable
• Workability – The membranes and tapes are very rugged, and don’t stretch or deform. They are much easier to install than other house wrap and vapor retarders, and it is easy to install without waves or folds. The tapes adhere extremely well and can be applied smoothly and accurately.
• Moisture control – All the products have top ratings for moisture control in their intended locations, and together allow us to safely create a vapor permeable wall, roof and floor assembly.
• Durability – The membranes and tapes are long-lasting, and the excellent moisture control characteristics help the building to last a long time in a wide variety of humidity and weather conditions.

Any drawbacks to using 475 High Performance Building Supply products:

• 475 recently added a Canadian warehouse, so shipping times are greatly reduced. Products must be ordered directly from 475.
• Many products do not have Canadian code compliance documentation, so even though they outperform conventional options, builders may have to use Alternative Compliance pathways to get code approval

Air sealing materials from 475 High Performance Building Supply are a key part of the high performance and energy efficiency of our projects at Endeavour. It is our hope that more builders will turn to these top-notch products in the move toward more energy efficient buildings.