Housewraps-Whats the difference?
kwh440
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
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I am building a new brick house in NE Ohio that should be framed in by mid-Janurary. I was planning on using “Tyvek homewrap”. This morning I saw a product called “Styrofoam Weathermate Housewrap” made by Dow Chemical being installed on a home. It is quite different and seems to be a bit thicker and possibly stronger than the Tyvek. I will not be brick veneering until the weather breaks in the spring so whatever wrap I use needs to hold up approx 4 months exposed. Any opinions re. this product compared to Tyvek will be greatly appreciated. Ken |
Edited 12/14/2002 2:52:44 PM ET by Ken
Replies
I would recommend that no matter what version of wrap you use that you make absolutely sure that the moisture that passes through the brick has a way to get out. Ask your builder/mason what they are going to do to keep mortar droppings from clogging weep holes and what they are going to do to vent the air space between the brick and the outside surface of the sheathing. (This is also a good test as well, if they don't know or don't care, get someone else!)
Personally, I looked into this a few years ago and found out that, with proper sheathing and good insulation, a house wrap is practically useless. 30# felt overlapped to form a drainage plain and good ventilation is the way to go.
Ken,
While I do not have experience with Tyvek, I do have experience with Dow Weathermate housewrap and another brand called R Wrap from Ludlow Coated Products. I can tell you that I would not use the Weathermate stuff because it is much heavier and harder to work with than the R Wrap--try gripping a full roll of Weathermate wet with one hand! The R Wrap, while thinner than Weathermate, is excellent at keeping out moisture (such as rain); about the only fault I can find with it is that it curls up on the bottom edges--proper nailing can prevent that to a large degree. I suggest you check out both products if possible, and talk to builders (especially the crews who install housewrap--here it's us the framers) to see what their preferences are.