I’m getting ready to wrap an addition. The plan is to finish sheathing, Wrap it and get it “weatherized” so I can finish inside over the winter. I was planning to put the siding on in the spring.
I was told that if the housewrap was to remain exposed for a period of time TYPAR was more resistant to UV and weather than Tyvek.
Anyone with experience?
Thanks
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Replies
"I was told that if the housewrap was to remain exposed for a period of time TYPAR was more resistant to UV and weather than Tyvek. "
Yes, that is true. If you read the Dupont literature on Tyvek it limits the exposure to 90 days (I think it is) whereas Typar has a manufacturer recommended exposure time of a much longer period - maybe unlimited. I found that after a year of exposure Tyvek becomes brittle and tears much easier which I assume means that is is partially degraded.
We try our hardest to avoid using Tyvek. Most every other wrap is superior in many ways, but Tyvek started the trend and is most often shipped automatically. In most cases, there's no cost difference to get a better product.
blue
Actually, I find Tyvek to be one of the more expensive house wraps. For example, locally, our building supplies push "house brand" house wraps that are maybe $120 for a something like 180'x9' roll vs the 150'x9' Tyvek roll for ~$155. I wonder about the performance of these house brand wraps as they are typically woven polyethylene whereas the mesh of the spun Tyvek is much tighter.
Please expand on "Most every other wrap is superior in many ways," and "In most cases, there's no cost difference to get a better product." BTW - my interest is more with performance/value than with ease of installation.
Mark, in my neck of the woods I can get a product called weathermate by Dupont for the same money as tyvek.
The physical properties of weathermate have better numbers in five categories according to duponts testing.
The question of which wrap is superior could be debated from several different points of view and in the end you end up having to pick your poison. It's kinda like the ford vs chevy vs dodge thing. Each has their strengths and weaknesses and sometimes a product will fit you better than me, becuase we have different needs.
blue
I did a web search for weathermate. I guess it's made by DOW: http://www.dow.com/styrofoam/na/res-us/products/weathermate_plus_housewrap.htm
If it is the same stuff I've seen at my building supply it is like a thin foam material (maybe 30 mil)
It has something to do with whether the product is a woven product or other. All the wraps that are woven are about 3 or 4 month exposure. Tyvek is 90 days, typar is a bit longer but pushing it until the spring might be too much. I'm in a similar situation to you and decided to use a wrap that I found at the JLC show last year. The UV exposure is one year and it has a small dimple pattern on both sides to allow a small amount of air movement and a drainage plane if any moisture did get behind the siding. They are the same company that makes R wrap which is used quite a bit around here. It only comes in 54" x 200' rolls, it was $110 a roll when I got it a few weeks ago. Your lumber yard might not stock it but they can get it from their distributor in a few days.
http://www.ludlowcp.com/pages/weathertrek2.html
I'm building a workshop which will also be exposed to the weather all winter. I hope you aren't right about "Tyvek is 90 days, typar is a bit longer but pushing it until the spring might be too much."
I just ordered Typar because their website says, "Typar was the first HouseWrap and remains the only HouseWrap with an unlimited, unconditional guarantee against UV damage".
I just checked out their website, it says as you say. I had always heard that it was only a little longer than tyvek, my bad.
What was the price for the Typar?
I bought one roll of 9' X 111' Typar housewrap on Amazon (it came thru a sub-vendor of theirs named "Home and Beyond"). The cost was $117.89 plus $14.39 shipping plus $5.30 tax, total = $137.58. Wasn't thrilled about the shipping or tax, but their website only lists 2 distributors in NY state, neither of which is anywhere near me. I have no idea whether that price is high or low.
We just paid $250 for a roll of 10' Stucco Tyvek that is 150' long. Of course, we are getting ripped, but I don't want to use the weathermate, even though it has superior data, because when the eifs leaks, I don't want to be caught in the middle.
blue
UV resistance is only part of the equation. Tyvek performs better than the others in many ways. But having said that, we don't use anything but grade "D" paper, which is similar to but not the same as conventional tar paper.
Woodroe
I put tyvek on my house last DEC. and have since mid Aug.(8 months) been slowly putting on the cedar shingles. I too was concerned about the UV damage so I called the dupont regional rep. and what he said is this....."good for 4 months but that is an average. Norhtern US and Canada it is probably good for longer than that, southern areas is probably less than that so they use 4 months as an average for North America. If it is longer than four months u can remove and replace it but there is no probablem with just tyveking over the outdated stuff. also your tyvek on the northerly side is probably good as it gets little to no direct sunlite but best to do it all over."
Anyway thats what I was told and I hope it helps....
Derrick
P.S. gotta get some more pics of the new house on here soon but have just been so busy this summer and fall......so some coming soon........and wait till u see the kitchen cabs I built.......they came out not to bad if I must say so ........considering I do not make a living in the building biz....... as one contractor who has been watching my progress has said...boy, your not a bad builder but I will not tell you what I think of your speed.......lol
...tighten it til it strips then back it of a quarter turn...