House wraps or WRB (weather resistant barriers) provide the drainage plane behind the siding that the openings should be flashed into. Yes they do limit air infiltration, but the more important reason your home should have a house wrap is to give the home a complete drainage plane behind the cladding material. So how do you know which house wrap to use?
House wraps or WRB (weather resistant barriers) provide the drainage plane behind the siding that the openings should be flashed into. Yes they do limit air infiltration, but the more important reason your home should have a house wrap is to give the home a complete drainage plane behind the cladding material. So how do you know which house wrap to use?
House wraps come in all shapes, sizes, colors, custom logos, etc. How do you know which ones to use? With the knowledge that the house wrap is the drainage plane behind the cladding it makes sense that we want the house wrap to be water resistant. However you do not want to install plastic on the exterior for a house wrap. Why? Because a wall assembly should be built to dry out as well. None of us are perfect, and leaks do happen, we build in wet environments, we introduce thousands of gallons of water into the building process, so the wall must dry out. So we would want a house wrap that breathes or is permeable to water vapor, but impermeable to bulk water. Think of it as gortex on your home, for the same reason we buy goretex jackets we should have a house wrap that performs the same way. Here is a simple test of your building wrap. Take your building wrap, fill one jar with hot water, strap your building wrap over the top, set another jar on top of that. The top jar should fog up (vapor escaping) GOOD! Now take the jar with water and turn it upside down and rub your finger on the WRB, Does it leak (kinda like that old canvas hunting tent when the kids touch it ?) If it leaks you don't want it on your house. For more information go to www.buildingscience.com http://www.eeba.org all have great resources of why you should be installing House wraps, and what to look for, How to do it properly. 9.9 our of 10 jobs with house wraps are installed wrong. We can help.
Tad Duby
407-5414
