Mitigating Moisture with High-R Walls

Energy-efficient building enclosures are key to decreasing energy load demand and enabling advanced space-conditioning systems for high-performance homes. One efficient enclosure design solution is high-R walls, which feature increased insulation levels as an effective solution for reducing air leakage and permeance of material layers. To increase builder confidence and encourage greater market adoption of high-R walls, Home Innovation Research Labs sought to demonstrate the long-term moisture performance of several high-R wall configurations in cold climate zones. The team monitored 22 newly constructed, occupied homes located throughout climate zones 4–7, where a substantial vapor drive to the exterior is present during the winter.