Front Matter

With the increased interest in constructing new, comfortable, energy efficient, and durable buildings and retrofitting existing buildings with similar goals, limiting air leakage through the building envelope is essential. Most building codes and a growing number of owners now require the inclusion of an air barrier in the exterior envelope and, in addition, a few require performance verification testing. While consultants and testing agencies have been performing whole building air leakage testing for decades, technical papers focused on the testing and building performance impacts of air leakage have not been compiled and as a publication of Selected Technical Papers (STPs) by ASTM Subcommittee E06.41 for over 20 years. As air leakage testing requirements continue to be adopted into the building codes and otherwise applied to buildings, this STP will provide an important reference for design and construction professionals to increase understanding of the benefits of increased air tightness in buildings and improved processes for measuring whole building air leakage. This STP provides a collection of sixteen technical papers written by architects, engineers, testing agencies, and contractors from around the world, as well as a code official from Seattle, WA, and a building owner from Manitoba, Canada. A symposium was held in San Diego, CA, in April 2018, and it included presentations of all the papers included in this STP.