Analysis of Hygrothermal Performance of Wood Frame Walls according to Position of Insulation and Climate Conditions

The insulation of a building envelope influences the hygrothermal performance as well as the thermal performance of the building. While most of Korean wood frame houses have an interior insulation system, the exterior insulation system with high thermal performance has recently been applied. While it can be effective in energy savings for better insulation performance, without consideration of the moisture, condensation and mould growth can occur. Therefore, in this study, hygrothermal behaviour, water content, and mould growth were analyzed using hygrothermal simulation of an exterior wall of a wood frame house with which the interior insulation and exterior insulation systems were applied. The wall layer included Wall A (Interior insulation) and Wall B (Exterior insulation). The U-values were identified as 0.173 and $0.157W/m^2K$, respectively. The total water content and OSB absolute water content of Wall A were confirmed to be higher than those of Wall B, but the absolute water content did not exceed the reference value of 20%. The moisture content of the two walls was determined to be stable in the selected areas. However, mould growth risk analysis confirmed that both Wall A and Wall B were at risk of mould growth. It was confirmed that as the indoor setting temperature decreased, the mould index and growth rate in the same area increased. Therefore, the mould growth risk was affected more by indoor and outdoor climate conditions than by the position of the insulation. Consequently, the thermal performance of Wall B was superior to that of Wall A but the hygrothermal performances were confirmed to be similar.