Hygrothermal performance of wood frame walls with low diffusion resistance wind barriers

To mitigate climate change there is a need to switch to low-impact materials, including bio-based alternatives substituting conventional materials. However, these materials are more sensitive to moisture induced damage and future climate scenarios predict a warmer and more humid climate. In addition, current best practice guidelines are challenged in terms of using bio-based materials in building constructions. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to demonstrate that it is possible to build bio-based exterior wall constructions that by modelling and experimentally are shown to be moisture-resistant, with low to no risk of mould growth, using low diffusion resistance wind barriers. This was done by comparing hot box – cold box measurements with baseline results from dynamic hygrothermal simulations.