Monarflex Wind barriers
What is a wind barrier?
A wind barrier also referred to as a rain barrier, is the secondary climate screen that must be used behind any kind of light weight facades.
The light weight facades can be made of wood, steel, cultured stone, slates, stucco or similar, however important for all these construction types are that they must after installation be closed off from any kind of sun light that could shine onto the wind barrier membrane.
If the façade is a so called open façade, where the joints in the façade are open, then a special kind of wind barrier has to be used. The same applies if the façade is made from glass and you need a wind bar-rier behind this transparent façade.
Why use a wind barrier?
The wind barrier has a function of acting as the secondary climate screen, where it must protect the insu-lation material from moisture that condensates on the backside of the exterior wall.
Furthermore the wind barrier must also be diffusion open in a degree that allows any kind of trapped va-pour inside the insulation material from passing through the membrane so it may condensate on the exte-rior wall backside or just simple be ventilated away.
The general thumb rule is that a ratio of 10/1 is use as a minimum, where the 10/1 refers to that the wind barrier must be 10 times more diffusion open than the vapour control layer.
Monarflex wind barrier product range
The Monarflex product portfolio for wind barriers covers most of the needs for different applications rang-ing from ordinary houses with wooden facades to slightly open steel facades, where sun light in some cases can shines directly onto the wind barrier
The wind barrier from the Monarflex portfolio is covering widely from the traditional paper/polyethylene based product that are perforated to the new and more sophisticated coated breather membranes of poly-propylene and acrylic coating:
• MONARFLEX® Decofol (Tetofol)
• MONARFLEX® SP400
• MONARPERM® Fassade
All the materials used to produce the Monarflex vapour control layers are from virgin materials, hence no recycled material is used.
Choose the right product
When having to choose the right product for the job, it is very important to remember that the wind barrier has the same function as a roof underlay, only it is installed in the wall instead of the roof.
This means that the wind barrier is installed on the cold side (the side that turns towards the exterior wall) of the insulation material. The protection of the insulation material is from vapour coming from use of the habitat area – the diffusion open abilities of the wind barrier or condensated water forming on the exterior façade coverings backside.
The following conditions most be evaluated before choosing the correct product:
• What kind of exterior façade is used
• Is it a long duration job – installing the exterior façade
• It is an open façade structure
What can Monarflex offer to suite the right choice?
• Traditional wind barrier for closed wooden or steel facades.
o Use the MONARFLEX® Decofol (Tetofol)
• Long duration of construction period of the façade before closing off to the wind barrier, it is rec-ommended to use the very watertight non perforated breather membrane.
o Use the MONARFLEX® SP400
• Open façade structures, where the exterior façade is slightly open in the joints and potentially could allow a very limited amount of sun light direct to hit the wind barrier
o Use the MONARPERM® Fassade
Importance of application
In order to get the optimal protection out of the Monarflex wind barrier it is extremely important to recog-nize that the installation and the role that the accessories play is just as important as the wind barrier itself. By using the different Monarflex tape accessories a total system is formed, which will assist the wind bar-rier in being the best possible protection for the insulation material, please see our tape options at acces-sories for our vapour control layers.
At Monarflex "we are setting the standard"