Member Spotlight: Wayne Butler
Wayne Butler has 23 years of architectural design and building enclosure consulting experience. He provides a variety of skills during both the design and construction phases of new, repair, and historic renovation projects. Wayne’s scope of work ranges from building enclosure consulting, building diagnostics and testing, to performance-based design and research. During his tenure at Applied Building Sciences, Inc., Wayne has had the opportunity to learn from buildings that have failed to meet design and construction expectations, as well as those that continue to perform well in our warm / humid climate. Seeking to understand the multitude of variables and components involved in both our contemporary and historical structures, Wayne realizes that a team approach to finding practical solutions is best. Endeavoring to find a balance between design, performance, and practical installation methods is increasingly difficult but remains the goal of Wayne’s practice.
Prior to joining Applied Building Sciences, Inc., Mr. Butler’s experience was in the field of architectural design, with practice in corporate, institutional, retail, residential, mixed-use, and project work outside of the United States.
Mr. Butler has a BS in Design and a Master of Architecture from Clemson University. Wayne is a Registered Exterior Wall Consultant (REWC) and is certified Level I Whole Building Airtightness Testing (WBAT). Wayne is an active member of American Institute of Architects (AIA), Air Barrier Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA), International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIEBC), ASTM International – Committee E06 Performance of Buildings, Building Enclosure Council (BEC|Charleston), and Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE Mentor).
Name: Wayne Butler
Title: Project Manager/Building Enclosure Consultant
Company: Applied Building Sciences
City: Charleston, SC
ABAA member for 8 years
What inspired you to pursue the Whole Building Airtightness Certification
Program with ABAA?
A: Charleston, SC has an oddly unique microclimate. Although there are numerous examples of historic cities within climate Zone 3A*, the historic buildings and type of new construction found in our region provides for buildings that are highly susceptible to uncontrolled outside air. Naturally, this uncontrolled outside air carries with it a substantial humidity load that is detrimental to materials within interior condition spaces. Seeking to better understand and quantify uncontrolled outside air infiltration in our region has tremendous value in diagnosing a host of issues, which is why Whole Building Airtightness testing is critical.
Share your insights from the certification program. What are your key takeaways?
A: The week of training in Seattle, WA was invaluable. Both Denali and Gillian were instrumental in covering a fairly dense topic with examples and hands-on experiences from the field. The week long class covered the full breath of knowledge base needed to understand the software, equipment set-up, onsite logistics, and problem solving during testing.
w do you plan to apply the knowledge and skills gained in your professional work?
A. Whole Building Airtightness Testing is an extremely valuable tool that facilitates benchmark conversations with the design professionals and construction team. This tool also provides the client with a (hopefully!) repeatable process to reconcile performance issues prior to turning the building over. As a building enclosure consultant, the ability to test an entire building at once, helps to focus attention where needed and provides the General Contractor a pathway to rectify non-conforming conditions with the appropriate trades.
Which parts of the certification program did you find most impactful?
A. The physical proximity of the testing lab space with that of the classroom space…if the class was not understanding a specific concept or piece of equipment / software, we simply walked ~15’ and were immediately hands-on.
What advice do you have for others considering ABAA certification?
A. The WBAT certification program pushes you to understand the complexities of actually getting a building to perform as a complete system. That knowledge will in turn inform acceptable performance expectations for detailing, product sequencing, durability, material transitions, and the infinite quest to manage air/water/vapor.