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Wouldn’t you want sheathing for shear strength? Drywall on one side and foam on the other kinda doesn’t sound adequate.
At any rate, about ten years ago I installed vinyl siding on my house in Toronto, Ontario over 2″ rigid foam. On the advice of the supplier I just used 3″ roofing-type nails (galv. w/ large heads) nailed into the sheathing. Seemed dubious, but after 10 years, no problems, nothing’s worked loose. I would imagine that there would be essentially no difference if you omitted the sheathing, except that you couldn’t just nail wherever, so you might have problems if the nailing slots in the siding didn’t always line up with your studs. It might turn out to be a pain in the butt if stuff doesn’t line up in a big way, and then you’d either have to take off the foam or punch jillions of nailing slots – since you can’t just nail through the siding.
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We have not Installed vinyl siding over foam in a long time,But the problem we always ran into was the corner posts & J-channel sometimes didn't have any wood framing to nail to, also around windows if we were using trim boards,it would put the j-channel past the window framing on the sides. something to think about.
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I agree with jack.
Bruce, Our preference (& required by code in some instances) is sheathing of osb or ply at corners & around windows & doors. Foam for the rest although osb is usually cheaper.
*Gnat fart's it is then...Not wanting undo explosions,J
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Can vinyl siding be installed where rigid foam is the only wall sheathing? If so what does one nail into, the studs?
Please lets not have this turn into a discussion of whether vinyl is the "right" thing to do.
*yes, and yes.
*This is one thing I have not understood. Joe Lstiburek and others have recommended using rigid foam sheathing with taped seams as the primary air flow retarder in cold climates. But then we put nail holes through it to install siding. Seems to defeat the air sealing benefit of the rigid foam.
*Jim,The nail hole has a nail in it and goes into underlying wood...I would say collectively each nail hole allows about one ant fart of air movement per hole....b Not a lot,J
*When I install soild foam we use 1x3 screwed to the studs to provide a nailer
*Wouldn't you want sheathing for shear strength? Drywall on one side and foam on the other kinda doesn't sound adequate. At any rate, about ten years ago I installed vinyl siding on my house in Toronto, Ontario over 2" rigid foam. On the advice of the supplier I just used 3" roofing-type nails (galv. w/ large heads) nailed into the sheathing. Seemed dubious, but after 10 years, no problems, nothing's worked loose. I would imagine that there would be essentially no difference if you omitted the sheathing, except that you couldn't just nail wherever, so you might have problems if the nailing slots in the siding didn't always line up with your studs. It might turn out to be a pain in the butt if stuff doesn't line up in a big way, and then you'd either have to take off the foam or punch jillions of nailing slots - since you can't just nail through the siding.