As a homeowner, I am restoring our 1820 farm house located in Western New York (Lots of snow and high winds!). The old asbestos shingles and clapboard are coming off, replaced by a base layer of 1/2″ ply. This will be covered with house wrap. I am currently looking at 2 siding options, cement-fiber board (CFB) siding or higher grade vinyl siding. My question is on the use of a rain wall. From what I have read, this makes sense if I was using wood clapboards, but does it provide any value if using the CFB siding in maintaining the paint on that surface? I don’t see where it would provide any value if using the vinyl siding, but it wouldn’t be hard to incorporate at this point if it is benifical. I have also considered using, as part of this siding option, aluminized foam insulation between the house wrap and the exterior siding. I am currently installing styrofoam-type insulation in the interior of the house (6″ to 8″). There does appear to be a benifit of adding the aluminized insulation on the exterior to further reduce heat loss, but from what I have been reading lately, I am not sure wether it is just overkill, or if it may possibly defeat the purpose of the house wrap. Another option is the aluminized bubble wrap that is available. Again, is there any benfit or is it detrimental to what I have as the base layer?
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Replies
This will keep your post current...I also have an old farmhouse. Forget the vinyl. There is no such animal as "better quality vinyl" - maybe it's thicker, but it's still vinyl. The cf is an excellent choice; a bit more work to install, but well worth it. I'll let somebody who knows better chime in on the rain screen question.
Good luck, & enjoy your old house!
See my posts about foil on the "closed cell foam vs batt" thread here. With 6-8 inches of foam in the wall cavities and hopefully over the studs to reduce thermal bridging effects, the expensive, low R foil insulation will still be paying for itself when you're in your grave. Be sure to use truly durable, long life airsealing techniques and install an HRV.
The vinyl siding is OK without a rain screen. The painted Hardie board has not been around here long enough to determine if it needs a screen. To be safe, I'd put one on.
Thanks! I figure it's not that much more work to put one in now and it should help protect the paint on the CFB siding from peeling off in the short term. Guess I will keep the foil faced insulation out as well.