30 years of pro clima
30
years
of
pro
clima
Celebrating
three
decades
of
reliable
sealing
of
the
building
envelope
“Our initial motivation wasn’t to be successful. Our goal was to pass on knowledge to make construction practice better.”
“In order for buildings to be built on the basis of this knowledge, intelligent products are of course necessary – products that are simple to use, durable and reliable in terms of performance, and as ecological as possible.”
– the Managing Directors of pro clima, Lothar Moll and Jens Lüder Herms, describe their vision.
Innovations for construction practice
Airtightness. Over 30 years ago, there was little awareness among construction specialists about the impacts that an airtightness layer could have on our buildings and on the people who live or work in them. However, we now know that this layer is the key to better construction practice!
pro clima recognised three decades ago that an airtight building envelope means not just improved energy efficiency and greater protection against moisture damage to structures, but also healthier buildings and healthier residents, workers and users. This insight came at a time when terms such as ‘healthy buildings’ didn’t even exist yet and very few people worried about the problems caused by harmful substances in indoor air. In fact, pro clima was ahead of its time, and a building without airtightness is now inconceivable.
Airtightness?
pro clima developed the first vapour check membrane, DB+ building paper, in the 1980s (initially marketed under the ‘B.I. Baupappen’ brand name) to implement the airtightness layer and integrate it into building structures. Since then, continuous processes of questioning, research, development and improvement have resulted in many more innovative pro clima products for airtight building practice.
Airtightness!
Always looking ahead and firmly believing in what you do – with the result that lots of developments that started out as pro clima initiatives are now firmly established as standard best construction practice. Indeed, airtight building is required by construction regulations and laws in many territories!
30 years of new ideas
The world sets us new challenges almost every day ... and that’s a good thing! After all, when challenges are addressed with good ideas, they can open up opportunities that sometimes turn into real game-changers. At pro clima, we have always been about new ideas. The only pre-condition is that building culture has to be the winner at the end of the day. This is possibly the reason why a lot of ideas that started out as pro clima innovations are now standard building practice! And if you combine your new ideas with our new ideas, the result is almost sure to be a quantum leap forward in terms of innovation.
pro clima sets new standards for protection against mould and moisture damage
Diffusion-tight thermal insulation structures that have been subjected to moisture loading often exhibit moisture damage or else can only be implemented reliably in a laborious manner or with compromises in terms of the aesthetic finish. To address these challenges and deliver new solutions, it was clear that a system was required that is diffusion-tight in order to protect insulation against condensation resulting from humidity in the indoor air, but which also allows for the drying out of moisture that has entered in an unforeseen manner. This is the only way to avoid mould and moisture damage.
With the development of DB+, pro clima was the first company to launch a vapour check membrane (more commonly referred to as a vapor retarder in North America or a vapour control membrane in Oceania) with humidity-variable diffusion resistance on the marketplace. The high-performance INTELLO humidity-variable membrane followed soon thereafter. Just like DB+, INTELLO works on the principle of a climate-controlled membrane – but INTELLO is even more powerful. In winter, INTELLO reduces or stops the entry of moisture into roofs and walls with its sd value of significantly over 25 m (g value > 125 Mn·s/g; vapour permeance < 0.13 perms), which is equivalent to weekly moisture transport of less than 7 g/m². In summer, INTELLO facilitates exceptionally high moisture transport of over 500 g/m² per week out of the structure.
A humidity-variable vapour check membrane solves the problem of moisture loading in building structures in a quick, simple manner without major costs or labour, and greatly reduces the risk of subsequent moisture damage to structures.
Adhesives and adhesive tapes with 100 years of water-resistant adhesive strength?
The adhesive bonds created when installing the interior airtightness and exterior windtightness layers must be reliable and long-lasting, as even very small leaks in the airtightness layer – such as those due to defects in the taping of membrane overlaps or joints – have far-reaching consequences in terms of energy efficiency, the indoor environment and possible moisture damage to structures.
Unfortunately, the adhesive bonds installed on building projects are sometimes not reliable in the long term. And if there is moisture around, the adhesive performance can be compromised to an even greater extent. Vapour check or roofing underlay membranes can easily become damp or even properly wet during installation. After all, rain or the formation of condensation on building component surfaces are unavoidable features of normal building sites.
The water-resistant pro clima SOLID acrylate adhesive guarantees reliable adhesive bonds for both interior and exterior applications – in slightly damp conditions or even under water! This means that products featuring our SOLID adhesive can be installed even during wet and rainy conditions, ensuring that no valuable time is lost on site. Made to last: the durability of the adhesive strength of the pro clima adhesive tapes TESCON VANA, TESCON No.1, UNI TAPE and our ORCON F joint adhesive has been tested independently by the University of Kassel. The result: these three pro clima adhesive tapes and the joint adhesive were the only products that demonstrated 100 years of adhesive performance in tests – this is a unique achievement for all products worldwide!
But that’s not all ...
Monolithic and pore-free for improved protection and reliability on roofing underlay membranes
Roof and facade membranes have to fulfil very demanding requirements with regard to protection against driving rain and watertightness. At the same time, they also need to be very diffusion-open so that moisture can dry out of the building component to the outside quickly and reliably. The microporous membranes that were previously available on the market fulfilled these requirements only to a limited extent. In addition, they often had poor resistance to ageing. The result was roof coverings that were just a few years old with membranes in place underneath them in poor condition that were barely able to protect the insulation structure.
To meet these demands, pro clima developed monolithic TEEE functional films to create pore-free membranes that have high resistance to ageing and thus provide long-term protection for building components. The durability of these membranes is due not just to the innovative, monolithic functional film, but also to their stable covering layers. These membranes are highly diffusion-open, have excellent resistance to driving rain and offer the highest levels of hail impact protection (up to class HR 5 on the measurement scale of the Swiss VKF/AEAI directive).
Global impact
From innovative passive house designs in Sweden to the conversion of an old barn into a craft brewery in Canada or circular timber construction methods in Japan – all around the world, architects and project planners are incorporating pro clima solutions into their mould-breaking designs.
