Building Science Days

Join us for two consecutive seminars by renowned building scientists John Straube and Joe Lstiburek.

Straube and Lstiburek will will help us to understand old buildings and present repair and rehabilitation options. The focus will be mass walls constructed from brick and stone and plaster with the occasional segue to wood frame and timber frame. Old buildings working as a system will be emphasized and the effects on that system by the introduction of insulation and modern materials will be discussed.

On day one, Joseph Lstiburek will share some thoughts on how buildings age. The physics of freeze-thaw damage, efflorescence and spalling will be discussed. Wetting mechanisms and drying mechanisms will be examined. The characteristics of good brick versus bad bricks will be presented. Attendees will come to understand sacrificial renderings and what makes good mortar.

Speaker: Joseph Lstiburek, PhD, PEng, Prinicipal, Building Science Corporation

Joseph Lstiburek is a Principal of Building Science Corporation and one of the leading building science experts in North America. A building science pioneer, particularly in the areas of air barriers, vapor barriers, and vented and unvented assemblies, he has had a lasting impact on building codes and practices throughout the world. Lstiburek is an ASHRAE Fellow and an Adjunct Professor of Building Science at the University of Toronto with thirty years of experience in design, construction, investigation, and building science research. Through the Department of Energy’s Building America program, Lstiburek has forged partnerships with designers, builders, developers, materials suppliers and equipment manufacturers to build higher performance homes across the U.S.