Skip to main content

​
Introduction

Walls manage water in three fundamentally different ways: storage (mass walls), exclusion (perfect barrier walls), and drainage (drained walls). While there is no “best” approach to water management — each of these three strategies is entirely valid — it is certainly true that one approach or another may be more appropriate in the context of a specific project with a particular aesthetic, material palette, and performance objectives. This short course describes the three approaches to water management in walls and explains how water management is best understood as a system as opposed to a feature of any single component or building material. About Building Science Fight Club

​
Video: The Three Fundamental Ways Walls Manage Water

​
Quiz

To earn AIA Continuing Education Units (CEU), you must complete the quiz below and get all 3 questions correctly. Feel free to retake the quiz if needed. To keep learning, check out more courses in Building Science.