Siding question
Tyvek housewrap and similar products are designed to stop drafts but let
moisture through. That is why they can be installed as a wrap outside of the
insulation and sheathing. If they prevented the passage of moisture you would
have condensation problems inside the wall.
Polyethylene, on the other hand, is a moisture barrier. It is installed on the
warm side of the wall, under the sheetrock. The kraft face of insulation batts
serves the same function.
Seems to me that if you removed the old siding and installed insulating
sheathing like Dowboard, with plywood or OSB sheets to brace the corners, you
would get a better job. You also would avoid problems with the siding
overlapping the window trim, etc.
In addition you could fix framing problems like deteriorated studs and such, as
well as allowing the installation of batt insulation.
Doing the job this way might cost more, of course. I understand that vinyl
siding is designed to be installed over existing lap siding – the only
experience I have with this is when I was a team leader for a Habitat for
Humanity house in Atlanta – learned more about putting vinyl siding on a new
home than I ever wanted to, since we don't use this product in homes of our
price range ($300,000 up).
Michael
Read action !re 11190
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1: Why, I was just watching a rerun of a PBS ho9meme show about
2: Habititat in Minneapolis…. . and my uncle I'm familthey were installing
3: vinyl on a new home.
4: /postTjhanknakhanks for the information.
5: /You're a builder?
6: /post
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