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Calculators

Calculators and tables for support, for building science.

What Caulk should I use?

A table on different caulking products

There are many different types of caulk that have Pro’s and Con’s for many different purposes.  In this table, we try to break it down.

This is a generalised summary of different products of a few manufacturers products.  Check the product information of your product to verify.

Type in the title row to filter out the other rows to make an easy comparison between all the different types of caulk.

TYPES OF CAULK

SILICONISED
ACRYLIC

FIRE- RATED
ACRYLIC

POLYURETHANE
(ONE-PART)

ACETOXY
SILICON
(ACETIC ACID)

SILICON
NEUTRAL
CURE

SILICON
NEUTRAL
CURE
(SANITARY GRADE)

Ease of Use

Relatively easy to tool & clean up

Relatively easy to tool & clean up

Harder to apply and “stringy”

Easy to tool, but leaches into porous

Easy to tool and use

Easy to tool and use

Tooling Time

15 minutes

15 minutes

10 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

Clean up with

Water immediately

Water immediately

Mineral Turpentine.
Cured material may be cut and removed

Mineral Turpentine

Mineral Turpentine

Mineral Turpentine

Solvent

Water-based

Water based

Oil-based

Oil-based

Oil-based

Oil-based

Paintable (after full cure) None of these Caulk materials are Sandable

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Mould/Mildew Resistant

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Durability

Interior & Exterior

Interior & Exterior (exterior use must be protected from the elements)

More durable. Interior & Exterior

Interior ONLY

Interior & Exterior

Interior ONLY

Toxicity

Less toxic than polyurethane

Less toxic than polyurethane

Somewhat toxic;
Not recommended for use around intake ducts or ventilation grilles

Strong odour, recommended for drying stage only

Low odour

Low odour

Flexibility/Shrinkage

Shrinkage upon curing (up to 28%) Flexible ±20%

Flexible ±20%

More flexible. Flexible ±25%

Flexible ±20%

Flexible ±20%

Flexible ±20%

UV Stability

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Water resistance

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes
(good for weather-proofing)

Yes. Recommended for use in damp and steamy areas

Dry Time to Touch @ 25°C and 55% RH

Approx 25 mins

Approx 25 mins

6 to 12 hours. Tack free time 2 hours

8-10 minutes.

8-10 minutes

8-10 minutes

Dry Time @ 25°C and 55% RH

Full cure achieved after 7 days (depending on size of joint)

Full cure achieved after 7 days (depending on size of joint)

1 to 10 days (approx. 2-3mm/day)

24 hours

5-7 days (10mm)

5-7 days (10mm)

Problematic applications

Not to be used for joints subjected to temporary or permanent immersion in water.
Not for use in joints subjected to foot or vehicular traffic.
Do not apply below 5°C or if temperature exceeds 35°C.

Not recommended for use in areas of high humidity or presence of free water during application or initial cure.
Do not apply when rain exposure is likely within 24 hours of application.

Harder to apply and tool off, not recommended for internal areas.

Not to be used on porous surfaces.
Can be corrosive to certain substrates and metals.

Not mould/mildew resistant.
Not recommended for wet areas.
Not to be used for joints subjected to permanent water immersion.

Not for use on polycarbonate plastic sheeting.

Uses

Perimeter sealing of door and window frames.

Acoustically rated:
• Sealing construction joints and penetrations in acoustic partitions and walls.
• Used as a putty for filling holes in fire rated substrates.
• Perimeter sealing of door and window frames.
• Fire-rating of cable tray penetrations.

• Construction and expansion joints.
• Curtain walls, external walls and window frames.
• Sandstone, Limestone and external paving.
• Aluca Bond.
• Holes and Gaps which can then be rendered over.

Cabinetry, wood skirting, internal window frames to sills, all internal gaps that require no painting and finishing touch.
Not recommened for wet areas.

Cabinetry, wood skirting, internal window frames to sills, all internal gaps that require no painting and finishing touch.

Bathtubs and shower joints, kitchen splashbacks, bathroom and laundry counter tops, wet area tile joints. Avoid heavy chemicals.

Air Tightness Unit Converter

A calculator to understand the difference between permeability leakage rates and ACH@50Pa leakage rates, while at the same time understanding other permeability rate units and size of hole, using different exponents for context.

Inputs
Building
Target Leakage Performance
Air leakage test result – converted to other units
Total Flow (of envelope area) Min 0.5 Mean 0.65 Max 0.95
cfm at 50Pa ft2 0.0 0.0 0.0
cfm at 75Pa ft2 0.0 0.0 0.0
cfm at 150Pa ft2 0.0 0.0 0.0
m3/h at 50Pa m2 0.0 0.0 0.0
m3/h at 75Pa m2 0.0 0.0 0.0
m3/h at 150Pa m2 0.0 0.0 0.0
L/s at 50Pa per m2 0.0 0.0 0.0
L/s at 75Pa per m2 0.0 0.0 0.0
L/s at 150Pa per m2 0.0 0.0 0.0
Air changes per hour
ACH50 0.0 0.0 0.0
Size of hole ( Equivalent Leakage area)
EqLA (in2 at 10Pa) 0.0 0.0 0.0
EqLA (cm2 at 10Pa) 0.0 0.0 0.0
ELA (in2 at 4Pa) 0.0 0.0 0.0
ELA (cm2 at 4Pa) 0.0 0.0 0.0

What’s my actual R-value of my walls and my ceiling?

What’s my actual R-value of my walls and my ceiling?

It’s becoming quite widely known these days that small gaps in your insulation installation can equate to significant losses in your insulation performance for your home.

When homes are being built these days, there are key areas where insulation is not installed as well as they could be and these areas are.

Ceilings:

  • Around the whole perimeter of a home behind the cornice.
  • Manhole hatch
  • recessed lighting
  • Random areas around the house around outlets and exhaust fans
  • Ducted heating platforms
Click on these photos for more detail
recessed lighting missing insulation
Recessed lighting
Summer perimeter insulation
Perimeter in Summer
Man hole with no insulation
Manhole Hatch
Exhaust fan with no insulation
Exhaust fan clearance
perimeter missing insulation
Perimeter in Winter

Walls:

  • Above windows and sliding doors
  • Above doors to outside
  • Walls to a garage
  • T Junctions with no insulationInternal cavity switchboards or hot water systems
  • T junctions of walls coming off the facade of your home upstairs and downstairs.

From a floor plan of your home, calculate the perimeter of your building and the floor area and input those details into this calculator, to get an understanding of what R-value your home may actually have.

For your walls measure the width of all your windows and doors and assume a lack of insulation to the ceiling.

 

Tjunctions missing insulation
T/Corner Junction
Summer above window and perimeter insulation
Above window in Summer
Above windows insulation
Above Window

Count all the junctions coming off your facade and add that total to the field specified.

What’s my actual R-value of my walls and my ceiling?

Instructions: Choose between ceiling or wall calculations.

Inputs
Ceiling
Metric
Walls
Imperial














Results













Static Pressure Limit

Static Pressure Limit

If the product of the temperature differential across the building envelope (ΔT), multiplied by the building height (m) is greater than 250 m·°C, it is likely that the stack pressure is too great to maintain an equal pressure difference across the whole of the building envelope.




Results


ATTMA Static Pressure Limit is 250

Air Leakage Unit Conversion

Credit to Retrotec for the initial work on this calculator.

Any assumptions made are listed below in the assumptions box.

Inputs

Enter envelope area directly (assumes square footprint for volume calculations)
Enter volume area directly (assumes square footprint for area calculations)
Enter floor area directly (assumes square footprint for volume and envelope area calculations)
Enter length, width and height
Use metric building dimensions

Assumption

Air leakage test result – converted to other units
Total Flow
cfm at 25Pa January
cfm at 50Pa January
cfm at 75Pa January
cfm at 150Pa January
m3/h at 50Pa January
L/s at 50Pa January
Permeability Rates
cfm at 50Pa per ft2 of envelope area January
cfm at 75Pa per ft2 of envelope area January
cfm at 50Pa per ft2 of floor area January
m3/h at 50Pa per m2 of envelope area January
m3/h at 75Pa per m2 of envelope area January
m3/h at 150Pa per m2 of envelope area January
L/s at 50Pa per m2 of envelope area January
L/s at 75Pa per m2 of envelope area January
L/s at 150Pa per m2 of envelope area January
Air changes per hour
ACH50 January
Size of hole ( Equivilent Leakage area)
EqLA (in2 at 10Pa) January
EfLA (in2 at 4Pa) January
EfLA (in2 at 4Pa) per 100ft2 of floor area January
EqLA (cm2 at 10Pa) January
EfLA (cm2 at 4Pa) January
EfLA (cm2 at 4Pa) per 100ft2 of floor area January

R-Value, Wind, and Air flow Imperial to Metric Converter

R-Value, Wind, and Air flow Imperial to Metric Converter

R-Value, Wind Speed/Pressure and permeability rate values can get really confusing with imperial and metric versions, so we thought we would dedicate some easy to use calculators to help people make these calculations. Enjoy…

Enclosed are some Calculators that may be very handy to some, researching air-tightness of commercial and residential buildings around the world. Converting a permeability rate in the United States of America so that the rest of the world can understand it, and vice versa.

Fill in any value in each table, and the calculated equivalent will automatically be populated in above or below fields.

Calculation converting permeability rate CFM/ft2 to m3/h/m2


 

Insulation R-Value Conversions, Imperial R-value is very very different to Metric R-values. If you come across any tables in the US, sharing R-value performance of materials, use this calculator to convert them to a more recognisable value.

Calculation converting R-value Metric to Imperial


 

Wind speed calculation with induced pressure calculation. This can be really helpful when understanding the average overall pressure that might be affecting a building in a particular area by using weather bureau data. Windspeed/Pressure (Pa) induced on building facades, on wind experienced on a day or via an average. ACH/Permeability rate @ an average induced pressure(pa) designated as ambient. Use this calculator to work out what the ambient pressure may be, using wind speed values.

Wind Effect Diagram

Wind speed conversion calculator





This calculator does not take into account form factor for the shape of the building.

 

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about these calculators, or if you have any ideas on other calculators that may be useful to you. Just click here…