Standards & testing

The standards behind the panel

Guardian's three-part specification references 25 testing and design standards. Each one is explained here in plain words: what it measures, why it matters for a structural thermal envelope, and what Guardian's own documents report against it.

Acoustics

ASTM E90 Standard Test Method for Laboratory Measurement of Airborne Sound Transmission Loss of Building Partitions and Elements

Air tightness

U.S. Army Corps Air Leakage Testing Protocol U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Air Leakage Test Protocol for Building Envelopes

Fire

ASTM C36/C36M Standard Specification for Gypsum Wallboard ASTM E119 Standard Test Methods for Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials ASTM E2226 Standard Practice for Application of Hose Stream ASTM E84 Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials

Indoor air

EPA Indoor airPLUS EPA Indoor airPLUS Construction Specifications, Version 1 (Rev. 04)

Insulation

ASTM C203 Standard Test Methods for Breaking Load and Flexural Properties of Block-Type Thermal Insulation ASTM C303 Standard Test Method for Dimensions and Density of Preformed Block and Board-Type Thermal Insulation ASTM C578 Standard Specification for Rigid, Cellular Polystyrene Thermal Insulation

Moisture

ASTM C272 Standard Test Method for Water Absorption of Core Materials for Structural Sandwich Constructions ASTM E96 Standard Test Methods for Water Vapor Transmission of Materials

Steel

ASTM A370 Test Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products ASTM A500 Standard Specification for Cold-Formed Welded and Seamless Carbon Steel Structural Tubing in Rounds and Shapes ASTM A513 Standard Specification for Electric-Resistance-Welded Carbon and Alloy Steel Mechanical Tubing ASTM A653/A653M Standard Specification for Steel Sheet, Zinc-Coated (Galvanized) or Zinc-Iron Alloy-Coated (Galvannealed) by the Hot-Dip Process ASTM A787 Standard Specification for Electric-Resistance-Welded Metallic-Coated Carbon Steel Mechanical Tubing AWS D1.3 Structural Welding Code — Sheet Steel

Structural

AISC Manual of Steel Construction American Institute of Steel Construction, Manual of Steel Construction AISI North American Specification North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members ASTM D1621 Standard Test Method for Compressive Properties of Rigid Cellular Plastics ASTM E72 Standard Test Methods of Conducting Strength Tests of Panels for Building Construction NASFA L-Header Field Guide L-Shaped Header Field Guide, North American Steel Framing Alliance SSMA ICBO ER-4943P Steel Stud Manufacturers Association, Product Technical Information

Thermal

ASTM C518 Standard Test Method for Steady-State Thermal Transmission Properties by Means of the Heat Flow Meter Apparatus

Specifying a Shield™ building?

The full three-part specification and technical description are on the documents page.