更多产品指南
ThermalBuck inventor John Brooks is a very clever, passionate building professional who is job-site savvy. He saw a weak component of high-performance walls: wood window bucks in exterior walls with exterior rigid insulation. His ThermalBuck system virtually eliminates that thermal bridge and is very airtight to boot.
Thermalbuck是具有高密度EPS芯和高密度塑料套管（很像卡车床衬里）的“粗糙开放扩展支撑元件”。它在结构上使用钉子和粘合剂在结构上固定在墙壁框架上，然后使用长＃10螺钉将窗户通过Thermalbuck结构固定到框架上。GBA新闻编辑斯科特·吉布森（Scott Gibson）在2016年4月的一篇文章中报道了Thermalbuck“An Alternative to Wood Window Bucks.”
ThermalBuck is quite newsworthy
Thermalbuck的新颖性和John Brooks的孜孜不倦使Thermalbuck成为了高性能的“ Outie”法兰窗户安装系统。
- At Greenbuild 2015, my former company, BuildingGreen, called out ThermalBuck in an article,“Greenest of the Green Energy-Saving Products from Greenbuild.”
- The ever-popular Matt Risinger did a“Risinger Goes Rogue” video on the ThermalBuckin November 2016.
- Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) identified ThermalBuck as a“verified” window installation detail（带有Alpen窗口）。
- R.K. Miles, a building materials supplier in Vermont and Massachusetts, identifies ThermalBuck as a “featured product” and a key component of a wall system that it calls the蒸气打开气密（VOAT）墙。
- An R.K. Miles employee named Nick Stonegave a presentation on vapor-open wall systems，在演示文稿中提及Thermalbuck。
Nick Stone’s presentation was at the Better Buildings By Design conference in Burlington, Vermont. At that conference, I saw Stone compare five wall assemblies. The comparison was based on 4 key elements, including moisture management. Nick’s presentation identified the VOAT wall as having “extremely effective moisture management.”
But when I looked at the five wall mock-ups in the front of the conference room, I saw just one — the ThermalBuck VOAT wall — that did not accommodate a sloped sill or a back-dammed sill pan.
It sure looked like the ThermalBuck system resulted in a face-sealed rather than a water-managed window installation. But ThermalBuck claims to have an “integrated sloped sill.” So which is it?
面部密封与水管理的窗户装置
GBA的细节库有一系列的细节“face-sealed” and “water-managed” window installations。两者之间的关键区别在于，前者依赖于用密封剂在防水屏障（WRB）面前将水排出，而后者则添加了一个天气笼罩的粗糙开口系统，导致窗台锅流到外部，。
The Building Science Corporation climate-based Guides and their Water Management Guide state that while water-managed window installations are recommended for all levels of bulk water exposure, situations exist that will tolerate a face-sealed approach: regions with less than 20 inches of precipitation, sheltered designs, storage/reservoir claddings, and high drying potential wall assemblies. While not explicitly stated thatall这些条件是面部密封的窗户安装所必需的，我相信暗示了整个蒙蒂。
Details of the ThermalBuck window installation system
ThermalBuck has severalstep-by-step installation guides available on their website以及几个installation videos。
I believe that all of ThermalBuck’s installation methods have the following characteristics in common:
- Reliance on sealant as an adhesive:密封剂的连续珠被用作水平和垂直腿内的粘合剂。这包括窗台分量的水平和垂直腿。在安装之前，所有四个“图片框架”片的斜切关节都饰有密封胶。
- Reliance on sealant as a face-seal:Continuous beads of sealant as fillet joints are run on both the interior and the exterior of all ThermalBuck components.
- High-performance silicone sealants（DAP DYNOFLEX 800或道琼斯指数758）建议在整个密封剂系统中使用，但Thermalbuck不需要使用它们。
- The 1/16-inch cant built into every length of ThermalBuck results in a slight down-and-out slope to the sill or horizontal leg. John Brooks refers to this slope as an “integrated sill pan for drainage。”Authors’ Note, 4-30-19: From the ThermalBuck manufacturer – The very first TB version had a sill slope of 1/32-inch but 2 – 3 years back, TB re-configured the slope to 1/16-inch.
- Windows installed with the ThermalBuck system must be flanged.(While this is not stated by ThermalBuck, I could not find any examples showing unflanged windows, nor do I think the system is designed for unflanged windows).
- ThermalBuck window installations are all outie installations;任何庇护降低窗口的接触bulk water would need to come from design elements (eave overhangs, window roofs or window overhangs, etc.).
- Weather-lapped tape flashings are installedto cover the face of the vertical legs of the ThermalBuck components after the flanged window is installed.
So what is the problem?
Everything is weatherlapped and there are two systems keeping water out: the face sealant of the ThermalBuck installation and the tapes that are used when the window is installed. The problem is, as John Brooks states in one of his installation videos (“How to Install ThermalBuck – Exterior Insulation as the WRB”），“所有窗户最终都将泄漏；这只是生活的事实。”
If the window unit leaks to the interior of the window unit (and interior to the interior fillet joint of sealant), that water has no place to go but in. And if any part of the WRB/window flashing system fails and water makes its way in rather than out at the rough opening, that water has no place to go but in.
High performance exterior wall assemblies all have these four control layers in order of priority:
- Bulk water
- Air
- Vapor
- Thermal
ThermalBuck rocks 2 and 4, and in the VOAT wall does the same for 3. But the most important first one — bulk water — the control layer is not up to the same level of defense as the other three control layuers, in my opinion.
Thermalbuck可以岩石1号吗？
What if:
- 在安装Thermalbuck系统之前，将闪烁粗糙的开口，并安装了带有反击或倾斜窗台（或两者）的窗台锅，and
- When the ThermalBuck sill leg is installed, it is not sealed with adhesive on its horizontal and vertical leg (so that any leaked water directed by the sill pan could weep out of the ThermalBuck sill leg)?
Would that do it? Make ThermalBuck high-performance all the way around? I am sure there are additional details to consider and issues that these changes will raise, but as we strive to improve the performance of buildings, we need to honor, by priority, those pesky control layers.
Author’s note: I want to thank John Brooks of ThermalBuck, Nick Stone of R.K. Miles, and Alan Benoit ofSustainable Designfor their continued work on high performance buildings, including our constructive email exchanges on bulk water management, the ThermalBuck system, and the VOAT wall.
彼得·约斯特（Peter Yost）是GBA的技术总监。他还是佛蒙特州布拉特尔伯勒（Brattleboro）的一家咨询公司的创始人，称为Building-Wright。He routinely consults on the design and construction of both new homes and retrofit projects. He has been building, researching, teaching, writing, and consulting on high-performance homes for more than twenty years, and he’s been recognized as NAHB Educator of the Year. Do you have a building science puzzle?接触Pete here。
12 Comments
In my conversations with the Thermalbuck representative regarding the process of using a Thermalbuck in conjunction with a liquid applied WRB such as Tremco (that would be applied around and into the rough opening before applying the Thermalbuck) it was suggested that a proper seal between the Thermalbuck and the liquid WRB might not be possible. It seems that the Thermalbuck must be directly sealed to the OSB or plywood sheathing in order to be effective and watertight.
如果您在连接Thermalbuck窗台之前锅刷并闪烁窗台（然后您也不会密封窗台件以允许水哭出来），那么Thermalbuck Sill不会连接到墙上，因为它旨在设计用于是。它破坏了在粗糙开口周围拥有一件集成系统的目的。
Why not just install the Thermalbuck as suggested by the manufacturer and then add a sloped sill pan on top off it? Then you can wrap the WRB up into the opening at the sill so it is all covered and protected? Then any bulk water that may get in can't seep into the interior.
Hi Scott -
Indeed the question is how to convert the ThermalBuck system to a water-managed one, still integrated with the WRB, still giving proper structural support to the window unit, and providing a drained-to-the-exterior sill pan.
I think either approach--drained sill pan BEFORE the ThermalBuck goes in (and under the TB sill leg) or AFTER (and over the ThermalBuck sill leg)--presents challenges and will need to be worked out by the manufacturer.
Peter
Peter, since the Thermalbuck has a 5 degree slope on its surface edge isn't that a "drained to the exterior" sill pan?
The problem you have with the design (as I see it) is that water could get behind the window casing/flashing/caulking etc, run down the frame of the window and sit on top of the Thermalbuck sill (and then possibly run in towards the interior of the room). Is that correct?
If so, then sealing the Thermalbuck to the exterior sheathing, caulking the joint between the Thermalbuck and the sheathing and then lapping the WRB up the sides of the Thermalbuck should create an integrated water managed system. The question then becomes, should you add a site built sill pan on top of the Thermalbuck sill pan for extra insurance?
As to putting a drained sill pan into the rough opening BEFORE the Thermalbuck sill pan, I think that would compromise the design of the Thermalbuck system. The product needs to be sealed to the sheathing. I think separating the sill from the rest of the pieces by creating a drainage space around or under the sill would just create a whole new set of problems.
我没有广泛研究各种闪烁的方法，但是这使我对这个问题感兴趣，我对此有一些想法。
In John Brooks’ video, he says the sill pan is integral with the Thermalbuck, and that the pan slopes at the rate of 1/32” vertical per 1-3/4” horizontal, so that is sloping downward in the exterior direction at an angle of 1.01 degrees. I think I can see that small slope in the drawing detail of the Thermalbuck installation, but it is nearly lost in the pixilation. Also, there is a space between the top of the pan and the bottom of the window frame that is filled with spray foam.
由于排水盘的下坡非常轻微，并且随着泡沫填充，我无法想象水从锅中自由排出。似乎在泡沫中会有太多的毛细作用，以至于水只会浸泡泡沫并通过蒸发到外部而慢慢退出。
But if the water had entered because it was raining, it would soak the foam, but not tend to evaporate back to the outside because the air would be moist with the rainfall. Therefore the rain would continue to leak in and back up inward from the sill pan. It is not clear where it would go, but it seems that the exit over the sill pan would be blocked by the foam fill being saturated with water that is not moving down to drain off the sill pan, due to being held back by capillary action.
But in the larger perspective, I am considering this premise: “All windows are eventually going to leak; it’s just a fact of life.” Why is it a fact of life? I can understand there being a potential advantage of a drain pan as leakage backup remedy, but it seems like a rather fussy detail, possibly having its own problems. Why can’t the window simply be installed with enough care and quality to prevent it from leaking during the life of the building?
罗恩，
我认为认为我们应该能够安装窗户，以便我们控制窗口（即窗户和周围墙之间的交集）根本不现实是不现实的，应该期望不泄漏很长时间。通配符是窗户本身，它可能在其中有弱点。
Somehow the discussion around proper window installation here seems to have painted it as a very complicated process, whereas the steps are really quite simple and quick. I've never removed a window and found rot without there being an obvious error, or neglect over time, that couldn't have been easily remedied.
马尔科姆·泰勒（Malcom Taylor） - 我要补充的是，通常使用“热块”安装建议，建议是墙壁的热性能和气密水平升高。然后，这表明墙 /窗口安装的外部将具有更少的能量来解决旧墙由于效率低下而轻松处理的任何小问题。我还看到许多实际上很差的窗户安装成功，因为墙壁是如此有效的问题，问题被干燥了。我遇到的问题是，障碍系统几乎必须完美，即使这样，您也必须依靠它50年+
史蒂夫，
这是一个很好的观点。老建筑around me here in the PNW are often very poorly detailed and suffered leaks at all the exterior penetrations, but damage was limited by the vast amount of heat that flows through their walls.
罗恩·基格尔（Ron Keagle） - 我认为在其操作的寿命上安装了成功窗口的许多变量。窗户本身，闪烁和胶带被用作障碍物，窗户相对于悬垂等的物理位置，该区域每年看到的降雨量等等。将窗户放置在最佳位置，以取得成功的最佳位置解决水可能进入的机会。我个人设计了一些屏障类型的安装，但是它们在窗户头顶上方有28个“悬垂11”。窗户的使用寿命不太可能超过50年，这是成功捍卫的一个巨大挑战。
It would seem to me any component that becomes part of a building assembly has to get scrutinized like I would the assembly it is part of. When I design my building assemblies I scrutinize for the 4 control layers - 1. Water . 2. Air. 3. Vapor 4. Thermal (In that specific order). Inherent to it's name "Thermalbuck" the component solves for the least risky of the four control layers - the Thermal control layer. In reality this is just energy $$. Now I realize we don't want to waste money, so don't go slamming me just yet. I am often heard saying " If it don't last, it don't matter", and I firmly believe that. That is why "WATER" is my number one concern to solve for. Failure to solve for water places the assembly in jeopardy and challenges the durability of the assembly. Energy efficiency needs to born from an assembly that solves for durability first, energy $$ fourth..... Here's the kicker, if I solve for #1 and #2 very successfully, then #3 and #4 usually can come along for the ride on the success train. I love the idea or concept in elevating details to perform better, I just think we need to scrutinize our decisions to solve for he higher risks first....... just sharing some of my personal thoughts
“当我设计建筑物组件时，我对4个控制层进行仔细检查-1。水。
An extremely simple but clear and practical way to assess assemblies and materials. Good stuff!
马尔科姆 - 只有两种做事的方式，正确的方式，再一次
To solve the issue couldn't you just bend some flashing at the top? Or the manufacture a separate piece with built in flashing for the top of the window. The assembly could also be adapted for recessed installation. It's not rocket science it's bent metal with insulation.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in