Vapour barrier measurement service for the building industry
Vapour barrier measurement service for the building industry
Keywords: Vapour, Measurement, Coatings
Water vapour permeability technology experts, Versaperm, are offering a fast and economical testing service to determine the often critical permeability of building materials. Without it, for example, humidity can seep in causing mould and rot to develop. This not only causes damage to a property's structure, but also sometimes triggers allergies and asthma for the people within.
Versaperm can test the permeability of paints, coatings, roofing felts,sarking board, mastics, laminates and a wide range of commonly used products. This is particularly important due to the recent growth in both "breathing building" constructions and historical building renovations where vapour barriers can cause a building to rot away in just a few years. The company has substantial experience in the area and is always interested in the challenge of measuring the leakage rates of new designs.
The Versaperm service is unusual in that it can measure very thick samples for permeability. Using the standard flat sample chamber, the company can measure samples up to 50 mm thick, which is sufficient for most laminates,timber, felts, films and other materials used in the building industry.
However, the company also has a number of non-standard chamber configurations for measuring almost any thickness of building material. It also has specialist equipment for measuring adhesives, mastics and other sealing materials for leakage rates.
The company uses its own-developed water vapour transmission (WVTR)equipment, which can produce accurate and reliable results to better than 1 ppm– sometimes in the parts per hundreds of million range. With some materials, these results can be achieved in as little as 30 min, but even with hard to measure foils, results can normally be turned around in a day. Sensitivities are in the range 0.05-3,200 g/m2/day.
As well as standard testing on products such as films and foils, dry coatings, pharmaceutical packaging, small bottles and small industrial objects,Versaperm has the facility to test unusual or hard to measure objects such as large bottles and containers, large industrial objects and even pizzas!
