Chapter Nineteen

Question 1

Exterior wall enclosure

Answer 1

The part of a building that must defend the interior spaces against invasion by water, wind, sunlight, heat and cold, and all the other forces of nature.

Question 2

Building envelope

Answer 2

The parts of the building, principally its walls, roofs, and fenestration, that separate the interior of the building from the exterior, and that must effectively control the flow of heat, air, and moisture; also called the thermal envelope.

Question 3

Thermal bridge

Answer 3

A component of higher thermal conductivity that conducts heat more rapidly through an insulated building assembly, such as a steel stud in an insulated stud wall.

Question 4

Gravity

Answer 4

The force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth.

Question 5

Capillary action

Answer 5

The pulling of water through a small orifice or fibrous material by the adhesive force between the water and the material.

Question 6

Rainscreen

Answer 6

An exterior wall detail where the siding (wall cladding) stands off from the moisture-resistant surface of an air barrier applied to the sheathing (sheeting) to create a capillary break and to allow drainage and evaporation.

Question 7

Rainscreen principle

Answer 7

A theory by which wall cladding is made watertight by providing wind-pressurized air chambers behind joints to eliminate air pressure differentials between the outside and the inside that might transport water through the joints.

Question 8

Rainscreen cladding

Answer 8

Any cladding system with a system of internal drainage.

Question 9

Loadbearing wall

Answer 9

See bearing wall.

Question 10

Curtain wall

Answer 10

An exterior building wall that is supported entirely by the frame of the building, rather than being selfsupporting or loadbearing.