Jul 26, 2016

The term building enclosure refers to the materials, components, systems and assemblies intended to provide shelter and environmental separation between the interior and exterior of a building. A new ASTM standard will serve as a complete and authoritative practice for building enclosure commissioning.

The new standard, E2813, Practice for Building Enclosure Commissioning, was developed by Subcommittee E06.55 on Exterior Building Wall Systems, part of ASTM International Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings.

"E2813 establishes two levels of Building Enclosure Commissioning (BECx) - fundamental and enhanced - that can be readily applied to any project depending upon the performance expectations of the owner," says Dan Lemieux, recently elected chairman of E06.55, licensed architect and principal, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates. "It is an outcomes-based tool that provides guidance to an owner during the development of the Owner Project Requirements (OPR) at either the pre-design, or design stages, of the Building Enclosure Commissioning process. The standard then relies, in part, on ASHRAE Guideline 0 (The Commissioning Process) and NIBS Guideline 3 (Exterior Enclosure Technical Requirements for the Commissioning Process) to establish a ‘road map' for the design and construction team to follow during all phases of the project delivery process to further mitigate the risks associated with improperly managed heat/air/moisture transfer across a building enclosure."

According to Lemieux, testing to quantifiably evaluate building enclosure durability and performance, in addition to the establishment of minimum required Core Competencies of the BECx service providersare at the heart of E2813, and will be further reinforced through the recently signed Memorandum of Agreement between ASTM and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to jointly develop a family of fully aligned and complementary BECx guidelines, standards and certification requirements. Publication of a new ASTM Guide for BECx to replace NIBS Guideline 3 will be a critical step in that process, in addition to continued collaboration with ASHRAE and other stakeholders in BECx.

All parties interested in the continuing development of E2813, as well as future standards related to Building Enclosure Commissioning, are encouraged to join in the activities of E06.55 and the following task groups:

To purchase ASTM standards, visit www.astm.org and search by the standard designation, or contact ASTM Sales (phone: 877-909-ASTM; sales@astm.org).

CONTACT Technical Information: Daniel J. Lemieux, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates • Fairfax, Va. • Phone: 703-641-4601 | ASTM Staff: Stephen Mawn • Phone: 610-832-9726 | Upcoming Meeting: Oct. 21-24 • October Committee Week • Atlanta, Ga.