Tamarama is a beachside, eastern suburb of Sydney is affectionately nicknamed Glamourama by the locals, as it is a beach where the seriously beautiful and trend setters come to sunbathe and swim or just to be seen. Tamarama has a small but perfectly formed ocean beach located about 1 km south of the world famous Bondi Beach and a couple of hundred metres north of Bronte Beach.
The architects, Studio GA, wanted to make best use of the long narrow site and designed a two level warm pitched roof, insulating above the rafters with Dow Deckmate Styrofoam™, thus using the loft space to maximum effect with large windowed gable ends looking out towards the Pacific Ocean.
A Proctor Group Roofshield and Frameshield 100 were selected as the roofing and wall underlays due to their high vapour permeability. The membranes provide temporary waterproofing during construction and a secondary waterproofing layer for the life of the building preventing moisture ingress into the structure from wind driven rain. Unlike commonly used non vapour permeable foil sarking products Roofsheild and Frameshield 100 permit the free passage of vapour through the building envelope without the risk of interstitial condensation.
As well as being the most breathable products on the market with a 15 year track record globally they are manufactured from 100% recyclable Polypropylene means they will not be subject to deterioration from corrosion that is considered a risk with more commonly used sarking.
Through regulation and customers demands for energy efficient homes there is a greater recognition of the need for increased use of insulation. The use of insulation should not be see in isolation and architects are also starting to carefully consider how the addition of one element into the building envelope can have a knock on effect on where, when and for how long the due point is reached.
The consequent risk of interstitial condensation can result in an unseen build up over a period of time until the problem becomes apparent though either structural degradation or health problems for residents due to mould.
The need for vapour permeable underlays became apparent in Europe in the late 1970s & 1980s when homes started to be insulated. More recently North America has been going tough an expensive learning process where the building industry spends an estimated $9 billion each year on repairs and litigating damages from water and moisture related issues.
Proctor Group Australia offers a service to architects including condensation risk analysis at the early design stage using independent software built up from a long experience in the diagnoses and prevention of vapour control related problems.