Environmental impact comparison of traditional and modern weather membrane materials.

For the thousands of years humans were trying to find best protection from weather elements to be able to relax in comfort of the home. With evolvement of construction from a bunch of stones put together to skyscrapers we’re progressively improving efficiency and durability of the building materials.

In frame based modern construction e often see a requirement for a layer that divert water and do not allow it to go inside of the building frame. Traditionally tar impregnated paper or felt have being used for this purpose for a very long time but in the resent decades the are many synthetic materials introduced for the same purpose and most famous of those is probably Tyvek discovered and commercialized by DuPont company in 1950s.

Usually building walls has a highest area of water diverting plane and most significant to understand the impact when removed from service. For the purpose of weather barrier, rain control layer in walls paper based materials and synthetics posses very similar properties, we shall also mention that due to variation in testing approach comparing those is not an exact science and it is outside of the scope here.

When weather protecting layer of the outside wall is being replaced materials are not separated and weather barrier ends up mixed with other construction materials in landfill where it is exposed to all weather elements and breaks down. With most of synthetic membrane materials being some kind of non-woven polyethylene it is prone to producing microplastics when exposed. Weak bonds between fibers are breaking first making it easier for plastic to be carried by a wind or water runoff and eventually contribute micro- or nanoplastic pollution. To read more about general impact of sub 1mm plastic particles please check A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health – PMC (nih.gov). On the other side building paper consist of 2 primary materials: paper and asphalt. Paper is very much biodegradable and not much residue left after just a short period of time. While not being biodegradable and accumulate in landfill, asphalt is still ecofriendly as it stays in the designated location and do not contribute to global pollution.

All those makes traditional, natural fiber and cellulose base materials a much better choice for environment and shall be used where feasible to avoid excessive environmental impact in future.