Air tightness tape yes, no?

[Selfbuildsarah]

Morning all, having read a fair bit about taping windows for air tightness I am still not sure if there are circumstances where you wouldn’t use it. We are having Norrsken windows in our timber frame build but they don’t include it as standard. Everything I’ve read says don’t rely on just foam and silicone. I have to tell them yes or no today. It is a considerable amount of money to add to the build (I even thought I’d do it myself!) but we have 17 windows and 5 doors! 😅 

[Nickfromwales]

11 minutes ago, Selfbuildsarah said:

Morning all, having read a fair bit about taping windows for air tightness I am still not sure if there are circumstances where you wouldn’t use it. We are having Norrsken windows in our timber frame build but they don’t include it as standard. Everything I’ve read says don’t rely on just foam and silicone. I have to tell them yes or no today. It is a considerable amount of money to add to the build (I even thought I’d do it myself!) but we have 17 windows and 5 doors! 😅 

If using AeroBarrier then I’m confident to say it wouldn’t be needed, but if you’re using the likes of MBC TF then you’ve got nothing to worry about as they will tape these for you in their price. 
 

Have you checked that in the contract? Not seen one yet where they didn’t tape them

 

Double-check, and then tell Norrsken to stand down and just foam and mastic seal for weathertight, and be on their way.

 

 

[Gone West]

16 minutes ago, Selfbuildsarah said:

Everything I’ve read says don’t rely on just foam and silicone.

All I can say is, on my timber frame build, i didn't use any tapes or membranes for airtightness. For windows and doors I used two strips of Combriband and the Soudal SWS foam system on the inside. It achieved  an average 0.47 ACH without any tweaks. It just requires care.

[Selfbuildsarah]

10 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

If using AeroBarrier then I’m confident to say it wouldn’t be needed, but if you’re using the likes of MBC TF then you’ve got nothing to worry about as they will tape these for you in their price. 
 

Have you checked that in the contract? Not seen one yet where they didn’t tape them

 

Double-check, and then tell Norrsken to stand down and just foam and mastic seal for weathertight, and be on their way.

 

 

Thanks Nick, I will check that before I reply to Norrsken. 

[Thorfun]

Did all the window and door taping myself. Norrsken didn’t offer it from what I recall. 
 

it’s not too bad once you get the hang of it. 

[SBMS]

13 hours ago, Selfbuildsarah said:

Morning all, having read a fair bit about taping windows for air tightness I am still not sure if there are circumstances where you wouldn’t use it. We are having Norrsken windows in our timber frame build but they don’t include it as standard. Everything I’ve read says don’t rely on just foam and silicone. I have to tell them yes or no today. It is a considerable amount of money to add to the build (I even thought I’d do it myself!) but we have 17 windows and 5 doors! 😅 

How much is it to add to the build?

 

we’ve just finished doing it ourselves. Probably overkill because we are planning on aerobarrier as well… but it’s one thing that wasn’t expensive in materials but was time consuming. Soudatight membrane with fleece over all cavity closing joints and then airtight tape on window to cavity junction.