‘External moisture an introduction to weathertightness design principles’

The Department of Building and Housing has also released a new guidance document called External moisture – An introduction to weathertightness design principles. The guidance document will be available from the end of July 2006. The guidance document outlines the present state of weathertightness principles for small- to medium-sized buildings in New Zealand and provides a background to construction requirements in the Acceptable Solution for Building Code Clause E2 External Moisture, E2/AS1. It is published as guidance information under section 175 of the Building Act.

It also gives designers and building officials a common reference for developing alternative solution proposals that comply with Clause E2 of the Building Code and provides a basis for education and development of future weathertightness research. Understanding the principles of weathertightness will help in establishing a wide range of solutions to effective cladding design, beyond the prescriptive solutions outlined in E2/AS1 published by the Department of Building and Housing.

In addition to designers and building officials, the guidance document may also be useful reading for building managers, developers, insurers, financial investors, town planners and product manufacturers. The guidance document is published in an A4 format and contains coloured illustrations to demonstrate the principles. The External moisture – An introduction to weathertightness design principles guidance document will be available for free from the Department’s website at www.dbh.govt.nz

Hard copies can be obtained from the Department by calling 0800 242 243.