Building science: The key to high-performance structures

By Emma Peterson. 

Explore the science and testing behind creating long-lasting and high-performance buildings. 

As we face increasingly extreme weather conditions, understanding building science has become more important than ever. At its core, building science is the study of how different components of a building interact to create healthier and better environments, both for its occupants and the ecosystem around it. To learn more about this important topic, we hosted Marcy Tyler, the director of building science for Tremco CPG Inc., for an episode of Roofing Road Trips®.  

In action, building science is the reason we have high-performing buildings. Marcy explained, “The products we install and the way we install them makes a huge difference with overall performance. For example, if we're doing an air barrier installation, before they're going to put up this air barrier, they need to know everything about that substrate and its condition. Because bare minimum they need to know what type of anchor they can put into it and what type of air barrier works can be effectively used on top of it.”  

How do you figure out what substrates and air barriers can be used together effectively? Scientific testing and extensive material tests. Marcy explained, “At Tremco, all products are made with the goal of raising the bar when it comes to performance and accessible installation. To reach this goal, there’s a lot of what we call material testing.” These are small scale tests that look at a developing product’s performance in the face of different factors, such as high temperature, low temperature, UV exposure, immersion, rain, etc.  

Once it has gone through this testing and the development team has improved the product’s performance under each individual condition to their satisfaction, they move onto assembly testing. Marcy explained, “We want to make sure it’s compatible and works at the assembly level. That’s when we do high performance air and water leakage testing, as well as some structural, thermal performance, fire resistance, seismic and sound quality testing.” 

This might seem like a lot of tests for a product to go through, but it’s this work that makes our buildings stronger and safer in the long run. Marcy emphasized this, sharing, “It's so important a combination of all of these factors together and really understanding how it's going to impact performance overall as a system. That’s what building science is about.”  

Listen to the rest of the podcast to learn more about building science.