What this covers
HouseWrap... more like HouseCrap! This brand new house has some rot & mold issues and it's never been lived in. My company took over this job under-construction and with some investigation we realized there were some inferior waterproofing details behind the siding and stucco. When we ripped off the facade we found tons of problems on this 6 month old house. Join Matt and Jordon on this Build Show where we investigate the issues, talk about an inferior house wrap, and test for leaks with some dyed water.
Here's the videos mentioned: Water Testing The Stone On This House https://youtu.be/Rd60AlJgwrw
Zip 2.0 Method https://youtu.be/rSdb8cCOc6c
Matt's Knife in the Video https://amzn.to/2Y64R60
All Matt's Favorite Tools on Amazon: (affiliate link fyi) https://www.amazon.com/shop/mattrisinger?listId=VJDABKE10ANZ Huge thanks to our Show sponsors Polywall, Huber, Dorken Delta, Prosoco, & Rockwool for helping to make these videos possible! These are all trusted companies that Matt has worked with for years and trusts their products in the homes he builds. We would highly encourage you to check out their websites for more info.
http://www.Poly-Wall.com http://www.Dorken.com http://www.Huberwood.com http://www.Prosoco.com https://www.Rockwool.com
Source description (no synthesized summary yet).
Builders must prioritize proper waterproofing materials and installation over cost-cutting, as water infiltration causes rapid structural damage even in new construction, and cheap house wrap with poor installation leads to rot and mold within months.
- A six-month-old house developed severe OSB blackening and rot in one corner due to inadequate overhang and poor house wrap installation
- Standard micro-perforated house wrap fails waterproofing tests under minimal water pressure, particularly at staple penetrations
- Builders must resist client cost-cutting pressure by protecting waterproofing budgets and redirecting savings to cosmetic finishes instead
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Modern construction codes create sealed wall cavities with insufficient air flow to dry trapped moisture, even when house wrap has high perm ratings, unlike 1930s houses with no insulation that had abundant air circulation through cavities
“think about that 1930s house that your grandma had that had no insulation that had solid wood had plenty of air through flow through the cavity to dry it if it got wet this is new construction this is modern codes we don't have air flow through there it doesn't matter how much perm rating we have on that house rap there's not enough airflow through there to dry it”
For climate zones 1, 2, and 3 (Southern US), bulk water is the biggest issue and zero-perm products are acceptable; for Northern climates, builders should be cautious about vapor barriers on the outside and use more permeable materials, though many builders think permeability is needed in the South too
“in the north and when I say climate zone one and two what I'm really talking about is the southern US I'm talking about the builders climate zones America has about eight climate zones in the South climate zone one two and three you can get away with this really bulk water is the biggest issue but if you're in the north you want to be cautious about that vapor barrier in the outside you want to use a more permeable material and a lot of people think in the south you need that too”
The corner with minimal overhang and fascia-to-fascia junction developed severe water damage: water ran down the facade, encountered the non-fully-adhered house wrap, and penetrated behind it, causing blackening and deterioration of OSB that in a six-month-old house resembles 20-year-old damage
“in this corner here look where we've got basically no overhang I've got this fascia dying into this fascia board and water could easily run all the way down this face and now what's it going to encounter right here that house wrapped because it's not a fully adhered house wrap it's not a fluid apply to house wrap had to be cut and probably that water was gonna right here in getting right down behind at that house wrap and look how torn up as OSB is on this corner it's all black and nasty looking”
OSB (oriented strand board) is a moisture-sensitive material that will deteriorate rapidly if it cannot dry, unlike older solid wood that had air flow through wall cavities even in houses with no insulation
“we've got moisture sensitive materials right OSB is a modern man-made material it's got some wood there but it's a more broken-down wood which means small amounts of moisture that can't dry means it's gonna have problems”
The house wrap product used on this house is made by a third-party manufacturer and is woven material with micro-perforations, which gives it a perm rating but makes it inherently not waterproof—essentially a plastic saran wrap on the house with visible pin-dot holes when held to light
“this is a third party manufacturer thats making it I'm not really calling out the name and manufacturer of this but honestly you could buy this on just about any Home Center in America and it's always gonna be this woven material and it's got micro perforations that's how they get a perm rating because it's basically a plastic saran wrap on your house if you were to hold this up to the Sun or a really bright recess K in your house you can actually see these little pin dots of light through that”
Jordan emphasizes that proper installation is a major tricky part of waterproofing: getting details right around windows, doors, and penetrations requires careful execution, and this is where stapled products make it difficult because they don't stick and require complex 'origami' to get details right
“just install right I mean that's one of the that's one of the big things like you said about the other product that is a good product install is always the tricky part getting those details around the windows the doors any penetrations you have in the wall... I like about the self adhered stuff is it sticks to the wall and sticks up against your windows you can get the details right you're not having to figure out origami”
Paper-based flashing is not a flexible material, cuts easily, and when used in sill pan applications creates vulnerable seams at corners that fail to protect the sill, especially where window joints are weak and windows leak from the factory and over time
“they ran this paper based flashing which is not a flexible flashing it cuts really easily they ran that into the corners and up and they've got this vulnerable cut right here but in the corners they've got the paper which you can see here they probably dropped the window on their cut that paper right away it's not going to provide any protection for that sill in windows many of them right from the factory leak and they certainly leak over time especially in the corners where those joints come together”
A stone facade on this specific house tested by Jordan allowed significant water infiltration behind the cladding, demonstrating that all facades require properly executed waterproofing regardless of facade type
“this job behind me if you remember this is the one that Jordan I chose tested that stone facade and found that a ton of water got behind that facade all facades elite guys we need to make sure that the waterproofing behind there is done correctly”
It is important to use the correct liquid-applied product for each manufacturer's sheathing system: for instance, Zip sheathing has a fully-applied waterproofing system on the sheathing itself, and the Zip 2.0 method uses liquid-applied product on all details, penetrations, and nail fasteners to complete the system
“but you want to use the correct one for the manufacturer so for instance if you're using zip as your sheathing in the outside in effect zip system is basically a fully applied system right it already has the waterproofing on the sheathing and then you're going to detail the seams I like the zip 2.0 method I'll put a link to the description there that's using fluid applied on all the details all the penetrations all the nail fasteners really tightening it up guys”
Builders should never offer cheaper house wrap, cheaper waterproofing, or cheaper installation labor; they must spend the money correctly on this because waterproofing will be on the house for its entire lifespan
“we never want to say you know we could go with that cheaper house wrap or the cheaper waterproofing or the cheaper labor to install that we need to spend the money right on this because it's gonna be on the house for the life of the house”
Capillary action pulls water through fastener penetrations and into house wrap materials when pressure is applied, which is why cap fasteners that break capillary action perform better than plain staples
“and that helps break that capillary action which is going to suck the water in”
A house with a one-to-one-and-a-half foot overhang had no water problems on the OSB, even when covered with the inferior house wrap, because the large overhang protected the facade from water exposure
“let's look at where we didn't have problems look at this side of the house back here we've got a maybe foot foot and a half overhang and if you look at the field here where the OSB is this was covered with that inferior house trap we've got no problems here this looked really good because the house had a big umbrella over the house and it wasn't getting wet”
Proper window sill detail requires a sill pan that directs any water entering the window base to the front side and out, with the window base waterproofed and back-cocked for backup protection
“that's a place where we really need is a builder to put a sill pan in and then make sure the base of that window is waterproof and back hoc so any water that gets in can run to the front side and get out”
David Nicastro articulates the principle: 'if it can't dry it's gonna die', which accurately describes what happened to the OSB in this corner
“my friend David Nicastro says if it can't dry it's gonna die and that's exactly what's happened here”
With liquid flash systems, jobsite damage can be repaired by applying liquid flash to that specific spot, whereas with other products damage (e.g., a ladder dropped against wrap) creates a permanent weakness that allows water penetration and spreading damage below
“with the liquid flash systems that all these guys are selling now yeah you can you can fix any jobsite damage you drop a ladder against it you can do a liquid flash repair of just that spot and you know you have a great product that no water is going to be able to get behind and run behind that's where all of this damage came from you get in at one spot and it runs”
All penetrations in this house (window heads, duct penetrations, wire penetrations) were flashed extremely poorly and would have developed rot and mold within a short period without remediation
“as we took off the cladding we also found a bunch of other problems if you look at all the penetrations in the house they were done extremely poorly whether that was a flashing missing for the heads of the windows whether that was a penetration for a duct coming through the wall or wires all those were done substandard and every one of those would have had some rot and mold within a really short period of time”
The problem with micro-perforated house wrap is that it is not inherently waterproof; the big brand white house wraps are woven materials without micro-perforations that are inherently waterproof
“now the problem with that though is it's not inherently waterproof and the other big white ones that you see sold this is by the big boys this one is inherently waterproof this is a woven material it's not micro perforated”
80% of construction defect litigation is water-related, making water management the builder's primary concern
“as a builder my number-one enemy is water 80% of construction defect litigation is water related”
The builder correctly laced three-sided flashing around windows and cut the house wrap at a 45-degree angle, flapping it up and applying peel-and-stick to the OSB, but failed to install sill pans, which is a critical detail
“one thing the Builder did right here was they did a really nice job of lacing they're flashing around the three sides of the window they cut the head of the house wrap at the windows on a 45 degree angle flap that up and put that peeling stick right on the OSB in fact you can still see that above these windows right here but what was done poorly and that will be a problem especially like on that gable window over there that we saw where that stone was leaking was that there's no sill pan underneath here”
OSB can deteriorate from black staining and flaking within just six months when moisture cannot dry, even though the house is brand new, never lived-in, showing the accelerated damage timeline in modern sealed construction
“I can't imagine how nasty this would look in 10 years... this house is six months old we took this over in the drywall stage just never been lived in it's never even had a CEO that's stained that black stain runs all the way down this corner all the way to the base”
Luma Flash is a zero-perm product with no vapor permeability, meaning no drying occurs through it, but this limitation would have prevented the stucco leak problem in the corner because full adhesion prevents water from running behind the material even with cuts or tears, localized the problem instead of spreading damage down to grade
“however this is a zero perm product I mean there's no meaning there's no drying through it now this would have helped us though up in this corner remember we have that stucco leak up in the corner with a no overhang house because it's fully adhered and stuck all the way to the OSB even if we have a cut or a tear that's gonna be some localized problem but it's not gonna run down behind the material and rot all the way down to the ground like we had here”
On this house, the team chose a peel-and-stick product called Luma Flash by Polywall, which is a rubberized asphalt (modified asphalt) with an aluminum facer, providing excellent waterproofing, nail sealability from fastener compression, and two-year UV exposure rating
“in this house what we chosen to do is a peel and stick product this is a luma flash by poly wall and what this is this is an asphaltic material meaning it's a rubberized asphalt a modified asphalt that is super sticky there's also quite thick but here's the key it's also got an aluminum facer on the outside so we've got really good waterproofing as you can see it's really thick it's going to some nail seal ability as well when we staple that and have a fastener holding pressure on to that because that asphalt has a little bit of give to it the aluminum facer also means it can be exposed to the Sun for a really long time in fact this now has a two year exposure rating”
Jordan created a testing apparatus using the actual house wrap from the house, stapled to OSB with a paper towel behind it, with two fastener conditions: a regular staple and a cap staple that breaks capillary action
“this is original SB and house wrapped now what I've done is I've slid a piece of paper towel back behind there and then I've used two fasteners to connect it one is just a regular staple which is how this was originally applied to the whole house the whole house has done exactly slap tacked on and then this is the this is a stinger detail which has this plastic cap here and I'm sorry cap fastener exactly and that helps break that capillary action which is going to suck the water in”
Clients always initially perceive the presented budget as too high and request cost reductions, regardless of project size (200k to 10M+ dollar houses), but builders should protect waterproofing from cost-cutting and instead redirect client requests to value-engineer other finishes like tile selection, appliance budget, countertops, and cabinets
“I've never built a house yet for a client that didn't think the initial budget was too high whether you're building two hundred five hundred million dollar or ten million dollar houses when you first present that budget the clients always want to take something out and bring that cost down and we as a builder need to not offer up what's important to the clients and to us which of course is the waterproofing we need to say you know what let's take a look at your tile selection so let's look at the appliance budget let's look at the countertops and the cabinets let's bring those down notch”
Water pressurized through a backpack sprayer immediately penetrated the house wrap without a staple, penetrated easily with a staple, but showed markedly reduced penetration with a cap staple, though still some water reached the OSB after a few seconds of water pressure
“two sprays and you can see it coming through there yeah not waterproof at all as soon as you put a staple on it certainly not and in fact not waterproof in my previous thing without a staple on it”
The decision to rip off all cladding on this house was not easy and cost the clients significant money, but it was necessary to ensure no water problems remained
“now that I've shown you some of the problems on the outside you can see why we made the decision to rip off all the cladding on this house it was not an easy decision we spent a lot of money for our clients here but now we know we're not getting any problems”
The builder poses a rhetorical question: would you choose a raincoat for your house knowing it leaks if your house is made of moisture-sensitive materials, implying that the house wrap's inadequate waterproofing is unacceptable as a building envelope system
“would you choose a raincoat like this for your house knowing that your house is made of sensitive materials”
Water management and waterproofing are discussed extensively because water is the number-one enemy for the builder, making waterproofing material selection one of the most important decisions on construction projects
“we talked about waterproofing a lot because as I said this is the number one enemy for me as a builder is water so in this house what we chosen to do is a peel and stick product”
The reason the builder prefers Luma Flash for long-construction projects is its two-year UV exposure rating, allowing the wrap to remain exposed during extended building timelines
“so quite long so on my builds that take a long time I really like this”
The central point of the episode is that builders must make deliberate choices about waterproofing products for their houses; they should not shoot themselves in the foot by value-engineering out important waterproofing components
“the point of this video is ultimately you as the Builder need to make the choice for the waterproofing you use on your houses we shoot ourselves in the foot all the time by value engineering out the important things in the house”
The problem observed on this house—a cheaper house wrap with install issues leading to severe water damage on a house not even a year old—demonstrates the consequences of waterproofing cost-cutting and should not be acceptable in construction practice
“and as you can see like on this house a cheaper house wrap with some install issues led to problems on a house that wasn't even a year old that's crazy we should not let our clients dictate what to use on the outside of the house guys”
Luma Flash is a fully-adhered product: a primer is applied first, then the sticky backing of the material is applied to the primed wall, creating a bond similar to applying Formica countertops where both surfaces are tacky and create an inseparable bond
“the other reason I like this is because it's a fully applied product we used a primer first when we applied it here and if you look at this house you can see it is absolutely stuck tight we primed the OSB first and then when we pull this backer off and stick this sticky to the primed wall that has the primer on it it's like what you're doing for a countertop you know if you've ever done a Formica countertop you know that when you put that Formica down on both surfaces that are tacky you're not getting it off it's just absolutely stuck”
Delta Vent SC is an alternative option with permeable performance: it is a thick jeans-like woven material that is very rugged on jobsite; it comes in a self-adhere version where primer is applied and the material sticks to the primed wall like Formica, providing fully-adhered vapor-permeable performance
“here's an option for you on the permeability side this is Delta vent acid this one happens to be a really thick kind of like a jeans material this is also very very rugged on the jobsite and much more rugged than these inexpensive ones but they make this in a self adhere version and that's what you've seen me make a bunch of videos on just like that aluminum you put the primer on and we use the self adhere version of this we've got sticky on sticky it sticks beautifully for through the life of the house it's not gonna come off”
Delta Vent SC in self-adhered form provides a fully-applied cladding strap that is both excellent for waterproofing and vapor-permeable, offering performance for climates where vapor permeability is desired
“so you know you've got this fully applied Cal strap that's great for waterproofing but in this case is also vapor permeable”
The speaker has used the inherently waterproof big-brand woven house wrap extensively over years, though it is no longer his choice today as he has moved on to more robust materials
“I've used this a lot over the years although this is not my choice today I've gone on to what I would consider some more bomber materials”
On this specific house being remediated, the team used a temporary tarp during construction and a more expensive house wrap, which is much better than the original product, though ultimately they chose an even more robust material for the final house wrap
“what we're doing on this house was we used a temporary tarp basically and we use this more expensive house wrap and this is a much better choice I've done a lot of houses with this but ultimately when it came to choosing the final house wrap we decided for a much more bomber material”
The self-adhered version of Delta Vent SC is what the builder has featured in multiple videos: primer applied to wall, then the sticky backing applied to the primed wall in a 'sticky on sticky' configuration that bonds perfectly and won't come off
“we use the self adhere version of this we've got sticky on sticky it sticks beautifully for through the life of the house it's not gonna come off”
The specific house wrap product used on this project is inferior and should not be sold in America
“this product used here you should definitely not use this in fact I would say it shouldn't even be sold in America”
On this house, the team is using Luma Flash with their mating material, which is Barrier 2200 (a blue-colored fluid-applied product), for detailing all penetrations, window pans, and other details, following manufacturer specifications
“now in this house we're using the luma flash that we're using their mating material which is that blue barrier 2200 that's their flute applied so we're doing all of our details all our penetrations all our window pans with that”