ᐅ Door vapor barrier tape damaged – how to properly repair it?

The vapor barrier tape at one of our doors was damaged or removed...

I reported this to the site manager, and now it looks like it has been sealed over with silicone. Is this the correct professional method?

Thanks for your help

It’s a bit hard to see in the photos, but I believe this is the “compression sealing tape” if I understand correctly. The main purpose of this tape, as my window installer (and Google) explained, is to ensure airtightness. The tape will later be covered by the exterior plaster. Whether silicone applied at this spot will cause any long-term issues is difficult for me to judge. However, you might want to ask your construction manager exactly where in the RAL guidelines for installing windows and doors a repair using silicone is permitted. That should make them pause and think for a moment. Then you can follow up by saying: “Great, so we agree that the compression sealing tape will be properly repaired. Please let me know when this will be done so I can observe the process.”

Allthewayup schrieb:
It’s a bit difficult to see clearly in the photos, but I believe this is the "Kompriband," if I understand correctly.

The picture shows the inside... In terms of material, I would say it’s similar to roofing underlay.

If this is on the inside and acrylic is used instead of silicone, this approach is possible.

It is important that the inside is vapor tight (more so than the outside) and airtight. There are compressible sealing tapes for the inside (vapor tight) and outside (vapor permeable), as well as wide combination tapes that span the entire frame depth and fulfill both functions.

Acrylic is also vapor and airtight. If the interior is plastered over it, making it less visibly messy, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing solution but it can be done.

If you only agreed on “window installation,” you will have limited leverage. If you ordered according to the RAL quality standard, you could insist on compressible sealing tape or vapor retardant foil on the inside. Installation following RAL is not a regulation, standard, or norm but a quality standard that considers specific guidelines during installation and allows for different solutions here as well.

With silicone, it is different. Silicone is not vapor tight and cannot be plastered or painted over. In that case, room moisture could penetrate the area and, depending on the external sealing, not escape again. This would cause paint and plaster to fail at that spot, and the plaster profile, which hopefully is installed there, could detach.

I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but that doesn’t look like acrylic? Acrylic isn’t glossy, right? And they probably wouldn’t have been careless enough to apply silicone there. I’m guessing it’s something like Illbruck SP025, which is a sealing adhesive typically used to bond the inner window sealing tape to the masonry.

xMisterDx schrieb:

Acrylic doesn't shine?

When fresh, it does. But you are right, based on the color, it could also be an adhesive and sealant. These are usually paintable and possibly even listed in the RAL standards.