Hundreds of new low carbon family homes under construction in Leeds city centre will be fully protected against the elements thanks ISO-CHEMIE’s expanding foam sealing tapes.
Windows and doors on more than 500 properties in the Climate Innovation District in Leeds’s South Bank will benefit from a high performance airtight, acoustic and thermal sealing thanks to ISO BLOCO ONE.
Developed by sustainable urban developer Citu as part of a major city regeneration project, the Scandinavian-style properties are the first family homes built in Leeds city centre in over 90 years. They are set to incorporate the latest in sustainable building technologies to cut the carbon footprint of the occupants and create a zero-carbon neighbourhood.
Sustainability is a key driver of the scheme, so self-adhesive foam tape has been specified to provide effective long-term sealing of the window and door frame expansion joints and gaps as each house is constructed off site in Citu Works, the developer’s state-of-the-art purpose-built factory.
The use of ISO BLOCO ONE will significantly help to achieve a Passivhaus target of 0.60 ACH at 50 Pascals airtight seal per completed building. The external seal area provides weather resistance and breathability with a minimum resistance of 1000 Pascals (hurricane forces).
The intermediate seal area provides extra thermal and acoustic properties, with a U-value of 0.8 or better, while the tape installation itself gives less than 0.01 m³ air loss when tested at 1,000 Pascals air pressure difference.
Mark Fox, operations manager at Citu, said: “ISO-BLOCO ONE is an excellent product, meeting the requirements for an easy-to-install, cost effective and extremely reliable sustainable sealing solution.”
Andy Swift, ISO-CHEMIE’s national sales manager, said: “Developers like Citu are looking at new ways to deliver low carbon homes, which use sustainable technologies. Our tapes support this, delivering measurable airtight, acoustic and thermal sealing properties.”
ISO-BLOCO ONE offers a single product ‘fit and forget’ solution for fast and effective sealing based around the European RAL principles of three level sealing - the inside seal area is more airtight than the external one, allowing any trapped moisture inside the joint, or within the wall, to escape outwards rather than into the building.
Once installed, ISO-BLOCO ONE ensures a building is better protected from elemental factors like wind, dust and moisture ingress by accommodating the changes in structural movement caused by environmental, cyclical and settlement factors.
Product, which has Passivhaus certification, has CE marking and complies with energy saving regulations (EnEV) on windows and doors as well as the RAL quality assurance association, has an EC1 rating for very low emissions and a B1 fire resistant rating. It can accommodate extremes of temperature changes – from -30°C to + 80°C and is available with a 10-year performance warranty.