Fantastic video! Maybe the best he’s ever done. He hits all seven steps of the instructional method (attention, motivation, overview, body, summary, re-motivation, closure). Every visual aid is clear, appropriate to the topic, and elevates the point he’s driving home, without adding clutter. In fact, there is an any clutter the entire presentation. He does a good job of using the face cam when what he saying is important, and using the slides when what he’s showing is important. An extremely tight presentation. This is how you do 27 minutes of all killer, no filler.
Matt, as a long term member of the building community I enjoy your videos. They're full of great info on the newest products and trends in the industry. However, guys like you just don't get certain things when it comes to building durability. Caulk, sealants, tapes and self stick building wraps will not keep out water long term in all but the driest, warmest climates. Even then it will not totally prevent water damage, although it can greatly delay it. What works is what has always worked. Carefully, and properly applied flashing,( real flashing, not tapes,and other self stick products.) and over hangs on a building. A building with out over hangs will eventually have water infiltration. My own home was built by my company over 35 years ago. It has none of the high tech water sealant products you use. It does not have a drainage space between the siding and the sheathing to allow for water drainage. What it does have on my 2,700 sq ft ranch style home is a hip roof with two ft over hangs all the way around. After 37 years there is zero water damage of any type. This is despite the 45 inches of precipitation we have in my area per year.Often wind driven. Get the point? Many modern building designs will have water infiltration no matter what products you use to prevent it because the design does not include over hangs. No one wants to accept this, I didn't either when I was younger,but one must often decide between building esthetics, and building durability. Hope this gave you and your viewers some food for thought.
Matt preaches overhangs, especially in wet climates, pretty regularly in his videos. That being said, the sealing products he pushes have a pretty good track record in Europe...so long as you provide a good drainage/drying space for the cladding. The secondary benefit of that gap is a thermal break from the siding, especially in hot climates. Now the sun-beaten wall acts as a shade, instead of a thermal mass permeating into the interior, that needs to be removed by the HVAC system.
I've read many studies that have attested to the fact that the smaller the overhangs, the more water infiltration the building will have. Making a building without an overhang is just asking for trouble IMO. Completely agree with your post 100%.
The EIFS story is interesting. I am an architect who used a fair amount of primary barrier EIFS in the late 1980’s through the mid-1990s in medium sized contemporary commercial work. In my region we some very good commercial plaster and stucco contractors who did very good work who always told us that it required good installers who knew what they were doing and everything was detailed according to manufacturer’s requirements. Our designs were relatively simple and planar. We avoided over-articulated facades and always used top-of-the-line commercial-grade silicone sealants and proper flashing. Synergy in Rhode Island provided excellent support. ALL of these installations are still up and performing well. One is almost 40 years old. Here in New England it is almost never seen in single family residential construction. EIFS had been successfully used in Europe for low-to-moderate cost construction for decades...almost always as a finish over structural clay tile substrates...never wood. By the late 90s you saw less and less EIFS except on buildings like CVS drug stores and other miscellaneous strip mall structures. Styles changed and budgets got better. When EIFS hit the overheated Sun Belt residential market in the early-to-mid 1990s all hell broke loose. Misapplication and poor workmanship lead to a cascade of lawsuits that utterly transformed how it was perceived.
You are an amazing teacher Matt. I'm not a builder, just a DIY homeowner. I look forward to your videos as I always learn something from each one you post. Thank you!
I’ve become a big fan of the build show and Matt your clearly awesome. When watching I can usually keep up but sometimes your using terms I don’t know. I’ve been interested in super insulation for many years. What’s good for me as an amateur who has built 1 house and light remodels is seeing the build from a professional contractor angle causing me to up my game to build better by understanding the situation differently . In other words when you are explaining concepts remember amateurs like me are trying to take it all in. Love all your shows keep it up.
You probably covered this in other videos... cold bridges. Cold bridges tend to concentrate condensed water when below dewpoint of air. Over time, they can encourage mold and rot. Many of the examples you give in this video minimize or eliminate cold bridges. It is important. Likewise attention to the HVAC system is also important. Well insulated houses with minimal infiltration need ventilation and humidity control in most climate areas. For example, if you insulate you home but do not install double glazing or better, the moisture will often condense on the inside of the windows at night and on the outside during the day. It can be a large amount that damages your building. Great video!
I am glad to find this video, here in UK they are using the old method you have described, lucky for me now that I know what happens I definitely don't want this done to my house. Your video is 3 years old, how come they are still stuck with the wrong way of doing this job is unbelievable.
Ive been going over your videos for months how to deal with penetrations from exterior cladding/insulation with fluid applied membranes... and here it pops up.. thank you for finally covering this!
Always enjoy your videos Matt. And learn a lot. I'm a DIY'er and only wish the contractors I hire occasionally would *ALL* watch your channel and others to keep up to date on the latest advances in building materials, practices and building science. Many thanks.
Mat this video nailed it for me, i do construction in commercial Building as a sheet metal worker, an were going to build our first home with little knowledge of home building, were building through 'Ubuild it', but being around other trades an getting to know them an watching your videos give me confidence to go through with it, this video an the last was great, keep up the great work, never miss a video from u
I've been in the construction field since the 70's, been a licensed contractor in California going on for four decades now, so I've seen the construction industries gone through a number of evolutionary phases. The irony I've noticed is that even though buildings were much less efficient back in the days of cheap energy up to about the early 70's, the conventional building practices and building technology up to that point were reliable tried and true methodologies that typically were free of chronic failure issues. It was when energy conservation became an ever increasing goal beginning in the 70's that building construction practices began being plagued with ever increasing chronic system failures. And what I've also noticed to compound the problem is a growing failure of understanding the fundamental proper practices because there's and serious lack of experience and education among new architects and contractors. An example is a low rise condo/apartment building in a local city who had the window and door fenestrations torn out and reinstalled up to three times do to poor system design and practices caused by a lack of experience and knowledge in today's building industry. So the long story short is your efforts in correcting these problems are very refreshing! 👍
People are worried about Walls when it's the Windows that are the problem with efficiency. A YETI would be worthless if it added even a small window to see inside. People need to look at the Total Sensible Load, example Wall 250 BTU Vs Windows 13,000 BTU. Give me reasonable insulation with a water tight barrier and R equivalent glass to wall .. then my house is better than yours!
Good points. I wonder how long even the best tape will last on windows and seams as on ZIP board. How long does the coating last on ZIP? I've removed siding covering Tyvek and there were bug holes in it so there goes the water proofing. There is still a lot to learn. I want LONG LIFE in my building materials!
@@brucestewart3170 That is why Joe Lstiburek came up with the idea for his "perfect wall". Think about how long those membranes and tapes would last if they were kept inside your house. Joe's idea is to put the water and air barrier on the sheathing and tape the seams. Then put all of the insulation on the outside of the sheathing, using a vapor permeable but water repellent insulation. That design would keep the membrane and tapes away from extreme temperatures, UV light, and insects.
Matt, this was a great follow up video. I'd love it if y ou did more of these. The current format where you show off the latest toy that excites you is great. It would be great if there was a second half to each video/follow up where you show some of the techniques for the install of that HVAC, toilet install or whatever with this level of detail would be amazing.
We always talk about the importance of a air gap to let moisture wicking away and help the drying process. And I like it. But I keep having this vision of a double walled building with an air gap of 12-24”. This large gap could be a “conditioned” space that gets heated or cooled depending on temperature. So you have insulation on both sides of the gap and the structure on the inside never gets exposed to air temperature and moisture swings. Commercial boats are build with double layered hulls. I wonder if such a design has ever been considered
Sort of a building in a building? Not so much structurally a double building, but maybe more like a house inside a greenhouse? A thing to look for is where things go from Cold-to-Hot, or Hot-to-Cold depending on which direction and the season . . . . where the moist warm air encounters cold dry air -- water in the warm moist air will condense. So that would need a vapor barrier -- and/or -- a way for the water to get out. Consider the gap between the Brick Veneer layer and the rest of the wall. Maybe catch some of this -- Joe L. is a bit of a Hero to Matt Risinger >>> ua-cam.com/video/rkfAcWpOYAA/v-deo.html
That's how my house is built. I have an insulated metal building with traditional framed and insulated walls and ceilings inside. About a 4-6 inch air gap on the walls
Matt I have been watching your channel religiously for a few years now and love your content. We are designing and building a home with metal siding and metal roofing and had hoped you would eventually cover how to effectively install insulation and water barriers in such an instalation, but haven’t come across that topic yet. I know spray foam is generally used for insulative properties and I considered an additional layer of rockwool, but I am not sure if there should be a vapor barrier applied before the metal is applied or if there is a better solution for such an install. I am in the hill country as well so value your building methods because they make sense and are directly related to our building conditions Thank you and keep up the great work
Help me to understand - at 15:00 is that metal flashing staying like that? Seems to be many entry points for water as you have introduced lots of 90 degree corners for the wind to push the rain into, plus it kinda looks ugly....
This is why I like brick siding so much. That air space between the brick and wall sheathing saves the house. I have torn down brick that has been there 60 years and zero rot in the sheathing, even without modern day water barriers on the sheathing. Rain screens are 100% mandatory imo. Even if your siding and windows leak, it absolutely will dry out because of that air space.
I have been installing Eifs for 15 years in Ontario. The EPS foam is water vapour permeable and has channels in the back side. We do not use that inferior house wrap (tyvek) in our installs. The sheathing is covered with liquid WRB which is applied with trowel and it is thick and has fibers in it. Sheathing seams and corners gets meshed. If applied right, there would be no pin hole so no water could touch the wood from exterior. It is important to slope the window sills and make sure you use very good quality caulking around openings that will last couple years. Not the crap you get from big box stores. Rockwool is also good for exterior application but it is for exterior cladding. Also much more $$$
Also that eifs house you showed at the beginning of the video has no water/air barrier. The installer did not care about vertical channels for drainage and air movement. Also there is no overhangs. It looks like caulking around the windows failed, chances are window sill moulding had negative slope towards the wall so this wall constantly got wet and did not have any chance to dry out. So it doesn't matter what you use this house would be damaged with that much water going behind the wall. (Except concrete/block walls)
Thank you for your videos. Your enthusiasm, reviews, callouts and just plain builder homage makes me believe anything is possible in home building, and it doesn't have to cost a fortune. I so like this.
I have three foot overhangs all the way around the house I am building. It makes a big difference for keeping water off of the side of the house and well worth the effort. And I agree it looks good too.
@@TheLeaversFamily I've watched several videos detailing the nightmare of water damage..huge overhangs would alleviate all of them, but some builders consider them to be "too expensive". yeah, I've heard that said.
This is my next home project this year: new windows, siding, and obviously waterproofing/insulation. This video encompasses all the work I need to do. Thanks! Also, you got a great shout out from Essential Craftsman on UA-cam if you didn't already know. Thanks again.
Matt, Few follow up questions to this video please... 1) The one sealing point that I dont recall you discussing is the bottom edge of the ROCKWOOL exterior seething boards. How do you deal with an otherwise exposed bottom edge (assume typical lap siding) so that mice and rodents dont see that as an open invitation to tunnel into it and make a house high rise? How would this sealing be different if you used the vertical rain boards behind the siding? 2) Can/should you use a product like Tyvec (or similar) over the ROCKWOOL so that any water that does get past the siding or window/door edges, drains to the bottom and not have an opportunity to be absorbed by the ROCKWOOL? Does this answer change if you use the rain drain vertical boards you talk about at the end of the video? 3) You talked about laying a 2x4 flat all the way around window/door framing to help compensate for the ROCKWOOL board thickness. Would it make sense (assuming no code issues) to only do this at the corners and maybe a small blocks along long edges between corners so that the ROCKWOOL board can be under most of the window flanges to help compensate for the otherwise wood thermal short at the flanges? Note: One aspect you didn't touch on that might be another benefit, is that the ROCKWOOL board likely does a lot for sound canceling out outside->inside noise, although I suspect that most outside->inside noise likely comes through windows and not really the walls.
#2 don't get confused between Rockwool insulation and rockwool utilized by the agriculture industry for growing plants in. The insulation product does not absorb water as you suggest; it repels water (better than those house wrap products) as shown in the video and it allows moisture laden vapour to pass through. Can you pressure wash rockwool insulation and not have any water penetrate? Probably not, but the same is true for Tyvec and needle punched house wraps. Try placing a chunk of mineral wool insulation into a pail of water; its likely to stay floating like Styrofoam, indefinitely. A selling point is that it doesn't require protection from UV rays. Now whether your building official will let you use Rockwool insulation in lieu of a traditional housewrap will depend upon how progressive they are and the jurisdictional regulations.
Matt this was a beautiful post and exactly why I started following you many years ago. Returning to this duration, explanation, and format was greatly needed. Thank you!
Excellent Matt - Absolutely sound information and its all very easy to understand and implement. All that is required is the correct mindset , follow through and attention to detail . . . Keep up the good work .
If this is planed from the start, why not frame out the window and door openings with the next size up lumber. eg: if building 2x6 walls then frame the window/door openings with 2x8 and have them flush as usual?
My favorite Build Show yet! Thanks for the illustrations. I really enjoyed seeing how Mark Larson put the flashing tape at each of the batton strip locations (for self sealing the fasteners I assume).
Totally ghetto but on my house as we redo things in stages I have been converting the exterior walls where practical to a 'poor mans 2x6' by ripping 2x4's in half and screwing them to the studs and top/bottom plates to make a false wall extension of sorts. An R23 rockwool batt fits right into the added depth, massive improvement to the original R7 crapola that was in there.
Exactly ... lots of benefits. Durability one of the important ones. Also: Comfort. Health. Noise protection. Some of the constructions (especially at the beginning of the video) still look a bit complicated - keep it simple!
I really like that last quote and it gives a good perspective on more things than just building houses. Yeah, things are different and harder, and more expensive than the status quo but that’s not necessarily a knock on what’s new. Often times the status quo isn’t at the standard it should be.
Awesome video! It's amazing how you have grown over the years. UA-cam is revolutionizing construction. I've never been so proud to be one those building the future.
Great video. One little thing about the foam window edging. Good product but here in rural Australia we have the peril of the cockatoo. This large parrot will chew this kind of stuff to pieces. Cause they're jerks.
That “exterior window jam extension” looks terrible. I would have had one custom welded up, with a slope away from the house incorporated into the bottom blade. Those corners not only look like a hack made them, but also look like the perfect channel for water to bypass your siding, rain screen, and exterior insulation.
@@kippaboard 1) By the time it's time to replace the window, it's probably time to replace the siding 2) You can always install flangeless windows from the inside to avoid having to mess with the exterior
Love ya. This is were we old school remodeling folks like to talk about the “breathable” space. Science and old school craft is not so apart. The reductive conversation about breath ability is really about new and unique construction. Remodeling uses artistic and history to make a job simpler.
Always remember, “breathing” is done by the central air system, not the walls. If power fails, you can always open a window. I trust my lungs to give me fresh air because punching holes into it seems counter productive
Are there fire code issues with the air gap/rain screen system? If for any reason fire were to start behind the cladding it would be able to spread unencumbered up the entire wall before anything was noticed on the outside.
How would the fire start between the cladding? That's not even an ignition point. It would either start in the wall, within the insulation, or outside of the building envelope. Also, since he used rockwool insulation batts, the worst that would happen would be the burning of the exterior past the rainscreen. So the facade would burn off but the rest of the house may very well be spared.
@@imzjustplayin It's common for a flames to blow out a window and spread via a rainscreen system, as happened in the Grenfell tower disaster and many smaller fires in vinyl sided houses, especially when there are soffit vents waiting at the top. In this case, the fact that the only combustible pieces in the cavity are the wood battens would probably make it a minor problem.
Are they comparing 2x6 walls also in these studies? Most everywhere should require 2x6 walls already but they don’t. I’m in KS and don’t understand why.
I fought back tears during this entire video because I'm just that moved by the number of simple building science details today's homes lack (on average).
That is a fact. There are 3 things that always drove me a bit nuts about I think are just DUMB about the way the typical house is built that make no sense to me whatsoever, at least in the Michigan Midwest area that I live in; 1) 12" overhangs - 24-30" make so much more sense especially on a single story ranch. This would 80% eliminate typical rain penetration past siding of various types because the majority of that water would not directly impact the siding other than occasional high wind storms. Also apply more shade to the house for energy saving. Most trusses come with a tail that needs to be partly cut off anyway for a straight fascia run and the extra in shingles probably isnt much different that the scraps that is thrown away at the end of a project. So little cost difference and so much benefit 2) what now passes for a 2 car garage. I recently owned a condo that would of been physically impossible to park 2 cars in unless you only drive the roller skate cars, even then it would of been difficult to open doors to get in/out of them. It was a 20' square. One of the cheapest parts of building any house per sq foot, and we shoot ourselves in the foot by trying to pinch penny's in this area that just then is an anti feng shui perpetual source of stress to deal with. nuts... 3) 8' interior walls. 9' should be the minimum and 10' should be the slight indulgence. any room size is so much larger feeling with a wall height increase, but the real key is that when the tops of windows raise with the wall height increase, the quality of light in the room is so much better. Yes this is likely a significant cost increase compared to the other items i list, but its still a form of self torture to not do it. Next time you are in a 8' wall room, look very carefully on how the light coming through a window lands on the room. the brightest part is about belly height and below. if your raise the wall height and the top window edge with it, the room is equally lit up all the way up to eye level, so you need to use your ceiling lights much less. And we keep doing this culturally just because this is the way building has been done for 100 years.
I'm building my own home in Arizona and turn to your channel for knowledge and inspiration. The problem is, the more I watch you the more my build costs go up, lol. I'm building a house that is a combination of shipping containers and stick. Videos on my channel. My biggest concern is condensation. I learn a lot from you and appreciate the videos. Thank you
Question, why use a low grade 1x4 as the rain screen, when it's something totally susceptible to rot and damage esp. when its structural to the siding/exterior? Would a durarock or hardieboard style product or a vinyl plank/board/stud work better? Also, since this rockwool gets compressed from improper install, how much sheer strength does it have? I.E. how well does it hold the weight of a heavy exterior siding like stucco, rock or traditional wood siding? I live in earth quake prone CA and have seen exterior foam mounted underneath stucco "tear" away from even minor earthquakes and small impacts(cars or small vehicles hitting side of homes; Once even from a back yard BBQ devolving into a WWF brawl and had one individual thrown into a wall that crushed and tore the foam backing away, and took a 4' section of stucco with it.). Is that why the photo from the school showed those 2 part mounting clips being used to effectively bypass the rockwool and mount straight to sheeting? Seems labor intensive. Any other options for rigidity? Ty man. love your channel.
Great one Matt! I have two things to say about your demo's. People demonstrate similar burn results for cellulose. and In the vapor demo, there's no apparent vapor coming through-- i do believe it vapor permeable though.
Rain screen or air gap furring strips' orientation The Rain screen or air gap furring strips' orientation must be vertical to allow for unobstructed continuous water, air, and moisture flow. If your siding needs to attach to horizontal furring strips, they must be attached as battens over the required unobstructed vertical furring strips. Source: Hammer & Hand / Horizontal Rain Screen Furring for Vertical Siding
What I'm wondering any time I see insulation applied, is how the metal fasteners act like thermal bridges. So you have a metal plate on the outside of the insulation that warms or cools to the outside temperature, acts like a plate to transfer the outside temperature to the screw which penetrates the building and inside the screw is a little bridge which will transfer the outside temperature to inside, right? Since metal is an excellent conductor of heat energy, shouldn't you aim for a layer of insulation that is not penetrated or bridged anywhere in the layer by a conducting material?
yes, but you also have to consider the extremely small cross section. Using this calculator -www.engineeringtoolbox.com/conductive-heat-transfer-d_428.html - I got 2 btu per hour, per 6" #8 wood screw with a 35C temperature difference (Zone 4). Of course this is whats being transferred to the wood studs, which will slow that transfer down a bit as is disperses to the walls. If you calculate the energy of one square inch of stud surrounding the screw, you are down around .1 BTU per hour. A 50'x50' house with 10' walls has 2000 sqft of exterior wall and 2500 Sqft of floor space Each panel used 8 screws. thats 8 screws for every 32/sqft. thats 60-70 screws. 7 Btu per hour of heat transmitted through screws. 2500 sqft home in zone 4 should have 125000BTU a heating system. So, in conclusion 0.0056% of heat is lost through screws. Should we worry about this?
@@nathanshaffer3749 First, your math is wrong -- 2000 sf of walls divided by 32sf panels is 60-70 panels, multiplied by 8 screws per panels means 500+ screws. Second, did you watch the video to see how many long cap screws they were using ? It was not 8 screws per panel, it was more like 25-30 per panel and more for the furring or dimple mat. Thousands of screws all total. Third, water is going to funnel down all those screws and wet wood does not have the same insulating value as dry wood. It is really inexcusable to have fasteners penetrating the water and vapor barrier covering the sheathing. There is no need or benefit to putting thousands of holes in what was a perfectly fine membrane.
@@kirkellis4329 @Kw Ellis I definitely missed the screws on the dimple mat. But I counted what they were using on the shots of the panels. It was 8 that I saw. I also had a typo, it should have read, 60/70 panels not screws. Which comes to 500 screws. So let's go up by a factor of 10. That's still a .0006 heat loss through screws. Also, I thought the dimple mat was specifically to mitigate water ingress and allow for drying. Is it not good at doing that? Also, I would personally use a fluid applied vapor barrier over the nail caps to seal it of. We can't assume they did, since it wasn't shown. The question I was responding to was thermal bridging. If the nails cause excessive water ingress, then that's a different problem. But if mitigated, the nails alone won't cause any perceivable loss.
@@nathanshaffer3749 If something is going on top of the insulation, it only needs enough screws to hold it in place until the next layer is attached, that is why it looks like so few screws. But if you look at 11:08 you will see that the green dimple mat has a screw at least every square foot and the grey at least every 2 square foot. So the total number of screws on a 2000 sf exterior wall is going to be at least 2000 including both layers. Plus the screws to actually attach siding if there are no furring strips, and another 1000 if there are strips, although at least the furring strips will definitely attach to studs. Notice that the screws on the green dimple mat cannot be going into studs because they are too close together. So they are going through the OSB or plywood sheathing and sticking out in thin air inside the stud bays. So your adjustment of the BTU number doesn't work -- those are not buried in wood studs. All together, at 2 BTU per screw, the thermal bridging could amount to 5000+ BTU loss on the screws. And while 125000 BTU furnace may be common for a poorly insulated house, the whole point of this exterior insulation and tight air sealing is to reduce energy use. Another of Matt's videos shows a Passivehous in Canada that uses 1500 watts to heat a 5000sf house -- that's only 25000 BTU figuring the heat pump has a COP of 5 ! So a 5000 BTU loss would be a big percentage, even on a house that was not super-insulated like a Passivhouse. Damp wood conducts heat much better than dry wood. So water ingress results in thermal bridging and the screws are the problem. The dimple mat is supposed to prevent bulk water, but only if (or as long as) it self-heals around penetrations. No plastic is going to do that for very long as the house settles due to wood shrinkage and wind and earthquakes pushing it around. But even while it does stop bulk water, vapor will not be stopped. Wood and cement/stone siding absorb rain and when the sun comes out, the vapor gets pushed away from the heat source and towards the relatively cooler house wall -- right through those penetrations and through the vapor open Rockwool to condense on the shafts of those screws and run into the wood that has shrunk away from the screw threads. Screws through exterior insulation are supposed to be driven at a slight upward angle so most condensation would run away from the house that way, but it sure doesn't look like they are doing that. All these penetrations just seem so unnecessary. Unless there is some compelling reason to have a thin wall, it would be so much cheaper and safer to build a second stud wall that was attached only to its own foundation stem wall and to the rafter tails. Insulate between it and the house wall with something like Rockwool that doesn't hold or wick water, and lets vapor escape. Attach the siding without all these layers of short-lived plastic and adhesive products and using inexpensive short nails and screws that don't come anywhere near the actual living envelope. The whole exterior insulated space becomes a rain screen that drys easily and has no way for water to reach the house except around doors and windows -- a few dozen places to worry about flashing and sealing instead of thousands of screws that will be hidden by drywall as they start to leak.
@@kirkellis4329 All very good points. Insulating the outside like this only makes sense if you can keep the insulation from getting wet. I have always been dubious about the current methods I see involving stucco walls. Seems destined for moisture issues.
3:41 I wouldn't try to defend putting up EIFS the way they installed it in the 1990s, but it seems that most of the water that got into those houses came in around the windows and doors. I suspect that if those vinyl windows had come with protruding ledges at the top as well as sills at the bottom and both were angled to carry the water away from the window, instead of into it, that house would have fared better. There were good reasons windows had those details in the past, for protection against both water and fire (ledges were mandated after the London fire of 1666); I've never understood the compulsion in recent years to make all windows look like something you'd put on a conversion van.
Large amounts of moisture is brought into all newly built homes with both the drywall mud and texture , as well as the water based primers and paints . That moisture inevitably makes its way into the walls, floors and ceilings . In cold climates , when that moisture meets the exterior sheathing , it will create frost . When frost melts , well you get the picture . You can NEVER eliminate moisture in the air , breathable products are a MUST for the northern climates .
Super good video Matt , I'm using all your knowledge on the process of building my home in the next few months. Great work Ed with eagle home services in Houston Tx
Matt, I value your shows, and share your want to help. I don't want to hi-jack your channel by linking, but I put out a video where I torch my closed cell insulation and put my hand on it immediately with out getting burned. Love your show. (sometimes this repeats, sorry in advance if it does)
That thermo-buck on top of the window is going to allow water to leak not only behind the rock wool but right into the interior jam. There needs to be a flashing over the top of that buck and that flashing needs to be overlapped by the wrap or liquid flash the top. Also that insulated attic gable end will allow any water that gets behind the siding to land on top of that rock wool. Since that rock wool is gonna have that water bead up, it’s going to be a mold problem. Particularly if this is on the shaded side of the house. You need to assume the caulking will NOT be holding up as the house ages and that the homeowner will NOT repair aging caulk he/she cannot see so that water as the house ages is going to run behind the siding at the window corners. Just because everything is vapor permeable today does not mean it will be as years of pollen in that weeping water will clog all the pores up and there will be mold and rot. These “systems” are only as good as the “tradesman” who is installing. These new insulation codes are making it more complex.
Those window bucks, wouldn’t you want to put that zip stretch tape over it before installing window and insulation? There are so many facets that can change how a house us build. I really appreciate you explaining the science and showing solutions. I would think most builders have to compete on pricing to the bottom because everyone wants it cheap. Totally agree with Steve’s quote. Unless building code requires it, we will continue to see poorly build homes. My own building project will be in cold northern Maine. I want it super insulated because it’s very cold in the winter. But considering climate change and how local weather will be affected, I might as well also consider summers with 110°F and high humidity becoming a norm. My second goal is to build hurricane and tornado proof. The cost can be steep. I will be building with ICF. To make it affordable, I will go down in size, 1200-1500 sqf. Monopoly style. It’s going to be another 6 months before I’ll have an architect draw up the plans. It’s exciting.
@7:39 you say "if we add cavity Insulation" and I think you meant to say "if we add external insulation" Thanks for another great informative video, Matt!
wth is that gapped top flashing at 14:25? I understand there's more layers to come, but shouldn't EVERT layer be constructed to be water shedding to the outside, instead of that terrible top corner gap? shouldn't all the elements in the vertical treatments be layered akin to shingles, so moisture is always guide down and OUT?
Rockwool is an amazing product; however, it will absorb water in a flood situation, just had it happen this year. It sucks up water like a straw and will never dry.
Matt, I think you are saying that moisture will always find a way inside the wall. From rainwater leaks to high humidity & condensation the material inside the wall must NEVER EVER hold water in the liquid state. Please consider this...The steam you demonstrated on the rock wool shows it to be a wide open path for humidity. Did you know that humidity inside insulation acts as a thermal bridge to conduct the cold from outdoors into the inner walls of the house? Insulation must be dry to get the full R-value. Without a true vapor-barrier humidity will move through a porous substance by molecular pressure (No Air Movement). It moves through concrete! What you are advocating is to allow this moisture to condense in the insulation but have enough air circulation inside the wall to evaporate the condensation before it can do damage to the wood. This humidity load can be 30% of the energy consumption if we want a controlled Rh indoors.
I think you are missing the point. Look at the perfect wall concept. There is only one point in the wall where you place your air/water/vapor barrier. Moisture on each side of the barrier needs a path to allow it to dry! (Note: There really isn't a perfect wall when trades people are allowed to use fasteners made of metal.) On the outside rockwool provides that path to the air. Matt showed several methods to provide the air flow behind the cladding to allow drying. Drying is key given that one cannot build a perfect cladding that is water tight for ever. (As he showed in the early side.) Insulation outboard of the air/water/vapor barrier is to reduce thermal bridging effects, increase overall thermal efficiency and if designed properly allow the wall to pass/manage water vapor in hot and cold seasons. Yes it can get wet in the summer, in the winter it provides the R value to allow the water vapor to stay a vapor inboard air/water/vapor boundary layer so it can dry i.e. not condense inside the wall. Note: That is why Matt can get away with only 2 inches where northern climates with colder winters require 4 or more inches external. We are lucky..... we don't get driving rain storms when it's sub zero outside. We call that a blizzard!
Dew point.. moving the Dew point out as far as you can ... if you have ever closed a cooler with a bit of moisture in it.. it molds.. it stinks..its nasty everything needs to breathe..
It would be nice to see insulation reviews start to show and include just how effective cork can be. Also, cork has many benefits to the environment. Is renewable, carbon sink, water resistant, vapor permeable, is almost perfect as insulation.
@MattRisinger any chance you will cover other exterior options? I'm in west tennessee, mixed humidity 7A climate zone and I'm looking at doing ICF with a basement in heavy red clay soil. I'm interested in exterior insulation to explore the possibility of exploiting the thermal mass of the concrete walls.
Your ICF already comes with 2” of exterior insulation. Some ICF manufacturers like Quad Block offer higher thickness for outside insulation going all the way to R59. Your ICF home is already air and vapor proof. If you want more insulation still, you could add interior framing, wood or metal and fill that cavity with Rockwool, fiber mats or spray foam or a combo of those. The real question is, what R-value are you shooting for in the roof?
So why wouldn't I use a perfectly acceptable ZIP Systems R-Sheathing (R9, 2" thick) with their fluid applied liquid flash seam and nail sealer? Add brick veneer (perhaps with a rain screen) and I'm golden. If I use insulated T-Studs (2x6 sized) as my exterior wall structure and normal cavity insulation (R19 or better) with standard sheetrock on the interior wall surface, I should have a pretty good wall section. Am I missing something?
So I wonder how many wonder materials today will be coming back a decade later seeing its faults, like the video shows like the one used in 2001. It was the best new thing back then wasnt it?
@@thebigmacd No that was not it! He is talking about the sealing out of the water hard to do and sometimes it still gets in. That's what I took away from it.
When I installed Rockwool in the 90s on commercial elevators and such I literally used a 10ft forked pole to stay away from the stuff as I pressed it into cavities. It was hard and dry sheding a dust as it was handled causing red bumps on the underside of your arms irritating for days. I would not want that stuff making its way into a home. In flawed batches it would have the equivalent of black lightbulb glass shards in it. It's was the worst floating in the air sticking to your tender parts. I imagine this "comfort" style is the same stuff with finer shorter strands that causes less obvious irritation. I'd not like looking at the sparklies in a ray of light and knowing its the hellspawn that is Rockwool.
If you get bored sometime can you do a cutaway of the ideal framing/insulation technique for each zone and do a video on each one? I’m getting confused, vapor barrier(in, out, none), what type of insulation and where to use it etc etc etc. Thanks!!!
Matt I just love the idea of Rockwool for an exterior. I have used the Roadenhouse washers too. However, in particular with a stucco exterior, you did not mention how the foot of the Rockwool board is handled. In other words, if I take a mirror and look up the houses’s “skirt,” what will I see? Will I see exposed sheeting and Rockwool? Or will I see a weep screed that is especially designed for 2 inch Rockwool board? Does the Rockwool overlap the junction between the slab foundation and the sheeting? What about if you used Hardiplank instead? Is StuccoWrap enough of an air gap over Comfortboard when applying stucco? Do you recommend something else? Is there an R-4 Comfortboard too? (ie. 1 inch thick) Thanks for cutting edge ideas, but trying to sell them to local inspectors is sometimes tough.
Tons of info in video but these are Great questions. Installing hardie soon and wondering how they will deal with bottom trim board. I’ve seen a 4 to 6” trim board convering seam between wood wall and cement with seal tape from house wrap over the board(and rigid board sitting in it), also a thick L flashing that starts at the sheathing layer extending away from the house and (at least 4”) covering the wood to cement Seam with silicone sealing it. Also seen L flashing fastened to the rain screen furring strips. What is best ?
I have an old stucco home in Florida stucco in and out how should I insulate it should I use comfort or safe and sound insulation inside the walls I was planning on breaking the inside stucco putting one of those insulations then putting drywall
If building a passive house or any house for that matter let's say a window gets broken. Should the external insulation and siding around openings be redesigned so that future window and door replacements or upgrades don't require deconstruction of an entire wall system? Someone is going to need to get to the external membrane to get that opening back up to passive house air tightness. It would be nice if only a foot or two of siding and insulation needed to be removed around an opening.
Most broken windows on homes should be able to be fixed without removing the whole frame. There are stops built in that can be removed and just the glass can be taken out and replaced. That way you don't have to remove any siding.
@@TheLeaversFamily It's pretty expensive to get windows replaced this way, which has to include injecting dry argon and installing new gaskets between the panes.
At 18:30, I would think you would tape around the window rough-out, with the tape coming to the inside of the rough-out before framing. I'm not a builder, just an ol' dyi'er, but don't understand why you wouldn't cover bare window wood before installing the window. Or is that overkill? And Matt, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!
Can I use Tyvek on the sheathing and 2 inch rigid insulation over that with a rain screen then siding? I'm climate zone 6A. I just did all new osb 5/8 sheathing and sealed all the seams. I already have the 2 inch R-10 Kingspan Greenguard stacked up in the driveway ready to go. I already have the tyvek on, taped and sealed. Should I install a membrane over the tyvek, before I install the Rigid insulation? Should I tear the tyvek off and replace with a membrane or am I good as it is?
John Powell yes a comparison video would be great. I’ve often wondered what the cost comparison would be , as well the efficiency . Even better would be to include those T studs (insulated 2x6). A pro and cons list would be a nice add on.
I guess an ICF is a type of exterior insulated wall, no? Additionally ICF has thermal mass and is air tight, right? Does ICF need a vapor barrier outside? I’m getting confused with all the different systems.
@@paulreimer372 Yes Paul those T studs are a step in wall evolution. I got interested in insulated rim boards as my floors are cold near the walls and that led me to S.I.P.s structural insulated panels as a replacement for concrete and 2x4 walls and the things I've found since are many and Matt and his 'Build show' have been another great source of information on most aspects of buildings and building technologies. Seems to be a never ending journey of learning.
@@user-tv5dt3nm9y Hi Lew there is no need for the vapour barrier as the wall is solid concrete in the middle. ICF is like a hollow polystyrene block...not sure about the polystyrene...that is filled with concrete and the foam acts as a thermal break for highly efficient wall. Takes time to absorb it all but take your time and do what I do...rewind and reread and it sinks in.
@@user-tv5dt3nm9y Depends on the system and implementation. ICF walls with 3 inches of foam on each side aren't really exterior insulated, especially if the floors are concrete slabs connected to the concrete in the walls. Those with, say, 9 inches on the outside and 3 inches on the inside behave more like exterior insulated walls.
Episode 74 of the Modern Craftsman Podcast, Nick said foam/rockwool is the insulation in a Yeti cooler and AeroBarrier is the gasket. Individually they are ok but together they will keep your ice from melting for days.
Nice Bosch driver. I just got the same one. I haven't used it much, but I do like it. Have you ever made a video about tools you've had good or bad experiences with?
Talking about thick walls, the house my Dad was raised in had three foot thick walls. It was a sod house on the prairies. The roof was sod as well, supported on wooden poles. Grass grew all over it.
what about if your house is already built and poly extruded styrene known as Dow Guard (blue) or Dow Pink was used and is located in Dallas area. I made sure mortar was washed out and removed behind brick all the way around the house. Should I be concerned regarding mold building up ?
I am having a concrete block house built in the southern Philippines. No one in the town I am building in knows anything about exterior insulation. I feel it is absolutely essential. There are not even styro panels r Rockwool bats known about. Keeping the heat out is essential in my books. Are there any significant problems with just following the basic exterior methods as explained for temperate climates? Simple materials only. I will probably need to source insulation itself from Manila.
I lost the reason for vapor permeable exterior under the exterior insulation. Was that the condensation issue? I don’t understand how you get condensation outside opposite an interior, insulated wall. So then, where does the air tight wall and house come in to play?
Look at building science corp online papers, in particular RR-0410 Vapor Barriers. Here is an interesting segment from it "Building assemblies can be designed to dry to either the outside or the inside or to both sides. The rules to accomplish this depend on the climate zone. In general, assemblies should be designed to dry to the outside in cold climates, to the inside in hot-humid climates and to both sides in mixed-dry climates and hot-dry climates. In mixed-humid climates it is preferable to design assemblies to dry to the inside and to control exterior sheathing temperatures during heating periods using insulating sheathing." In this case the exterior blanket of rock board fills this need. The water vapor stays above the dew point and does not condense inside the wall. This allows for drying back into the house. This paper also touches on why and where vapor permeability is used. Note: It is this type of research that is now more available is the reason why horror stories that Matt started with should be less likely in the future. That is if builders read and understand the research.
I am having to put foam board on the walk out back area of my house. I'm pouring a patio and the city wants foam to the top of slab so they want me to pour my cement patio up against that foam. I'm not sure if this is okay or what to use on that foam to protect it?
It seems for the thermal bucks, you'd have to take them into consideration prior to framing windows. youd need to add 1" or so to the rough opening. Am i right?
@@sams.3209 Matt is on the cutting edge of construction practices. People with the budget for million dollar homes are more willing and more able to take the risks of being so.
2001? Wow! Here in South - Central Wisconsin I started noticing this exterior insulation going on in about 2015. I’d say we are a little behind here in Wisconsin.
So over the Rockwool board, if you want traditional stucco, do you use Stuccowrap and secure the wire lath with Rosenhouse washers? Or do you need more air gap than that? I live in the California central valley. Where do you get such wide drip screeds?
I’m in a cold climate (Buffalo, NY) and remodeling a kitchen in a 1964 brick ranch. I learned quickly that the brick wall has a one inch air gap and the exterior wall sheathing is a fiber board impregnated with asphalt I think (Buffalo Board, etc.) The insulation in the stud cavities was about 1/2 inch fiber glass, foiled on the inside and paper on the outside. I know I’m stuck with the exterior as is with the design of the house, but is there anything I can do to get these exterior walls as close to modern codes as possible? All I’ve come up with is using spray foam in header and framing gaps, and R-13 3.5” fiberglass insulation with vapor retarded backing in the stud cavities.
i would LOVE to see you do a video going around exterior eletrical conduit (Service entry conduit) and the panel or whats done for that area, this is my wall im starting with and its ugh
Matt, how can I put Rockwool outside a SIP envelope? I want 4 inches of Rockwool, then battens to give a rain screen air gap, then T&G siding. I cannot imaging attaching all that mass with only 7/16 inch for the screws to grab on the outside of the SIP. Any suggestions?
Matt hate to be down on things but I have a great friend that has done remodels for years like 30 plus. He just tore into a super sealed house with zip sheeting inside and out mold and rote. The insurance company stated in there findings that the house breathability was lacking and dented the clam. My proplem is I know you are sponsored by thees products but have you really done your home work just asking. I think people need to do there home work and check with quality contractor's to see what they have used and what works. Just my opinion
Wealth of knowledge. Australia is miles behind the US in insulation . And one thing that we struggle with is . How do you secure your battens for cladding over the comfort board? with out them flopping all over the shop?
@@phironosurvivors2069 Generally speaking, house condensation comes from and is an issue on the inside of the house - humans breathing, climate control, materials off gassing, etc - which creates heat/moisture/vapor. If the house is sealed up tight from the outside, that vapor cannot escape and often times ends up in your wall cavities as condensation creating rot. In the example of your ice cooler as our house, imagine hot food placed inside it (simulating human activity) rather than ice and you will have plenty of condensation dripping down the inside walls because it can not escape THROUGH the walls of the cooler. This is why condensation is a larger issue in colder climates where lots of heating is going on inside the home and cold temperatures outside turn the traveling vapor back in to water inside the walls.
I have a question about exterior insulation on an existing brick home. I live in the Chicago area in a brick house which was built in 1951. Typically, when these houses were built, there is a concrete slab foundation (or basement in my case) with brick on top of that. There are actually 2 layers of bricks on the exterior with a gap of 2-4 inches between the 2 layers of bricks. It was believed at the time these houses were built, that, that gap would actually help insulate the house, obviously that has been long ago proven to be wrong. I have seen a system where small holes are drilled into the mortar joints near the top of the house, and an expanding closed cell foam is injected. When the space between the 2 layers of brick is completely filled, the mortar joint is patched and resealed. I have heard plenty of good about this process including insulation improvements, water and bug/critter prevention. What if any experience have you had with this procedure and what are your thoughts on it??
Fantastic video! Maybe the best he’s ever done. He hits all seven steps of the instructional method (attention, motivation, overview, body, summary, re-motivation, closure). Every visual aid is clear, appropriate to the topic, and elevates the point he’s driving home, without adding clutter. In fact, there is an any clutter the entire presentation. He does a good job of using the face cam when what he saying is important, and using the slides when what he’s showing is important. An extremely tight presentation. This is how you do 27 minutes of all killer, no filler.
“Is an any” = isn’t any
@@jackjmaheriii, Grammar Nazi Detected !!! Jk Buddy !!
Matt, you're doing a real service to the industry and to the nations by dealing with these knotty problems. This is important stuff. Thank you.
Matt, as a long term member of the building community I enjoy your videos. They're full of great info on the newest products and trends in the industry. However, guys like you just don't get certain things when it comes to building durability. Caulk, sealants, tapes and self stick building wraps will not keep out water long term in all but the driest, warmest climates. Even then it will not totally prevent water damage, although it can greatly delay it. What works is what has always worked. Carefully, and properly applied flashing,( real flashing, not tapes,and other self stick products.) and over hangs on a building. A building with out over hangs will eventually have water infiltration. My own home was built by my company over 35 years ago. It has none of the high tech water sealant products you use. It does not have a drainage space between the siding and the sheathing to allow for water drainage. What it does have on my 2,700 sq ft ranch style home is a hip roof with two ft over hangs all the way around. After 37 years there is zero water damage of any type. This is despite the 45 inches of precipitation we have in my area per year.Often wind driven. Get the point? Many modern building designs will have water infiltration no matter what products you use to prevent it because the design does not include over hangs. No one wants to accept this, I didn't either when I was younger,but one must often decide between building esthetics, and building durability. Hope this gave you and your viewers some food for thought.
omaspen This is a really good point. I’ve been on the hunt trying to find that sweet spot between modern design but practical.
Matt preaches overhangs, especially in wet climates, pretty regularly in his videos.
That being said, the sealing products he pushes have a pretty good track record in Europe...so long as you provide a good drainage/drying space for the cladding. The secondary benefit of that gap is a thermal break from the siding, especially in hot climates. Now the sun-beaten wall acts as a shade, instead of a thermal mass permeating into the interior, that needs to be removed by the HVAC system.
I've read many studies that have attested to the fact that the smaller the overhangs, the more water infiltration the building will have. Making a building without an overhang is just asking for trouble IMO. Completely agree with your post 100%.
I appreciate this information.
EXACTLY THIS.
The EIFS story is interesting. I am an architect who used a fair amount of primary barrier EIFS in the late 1980’s through the mid-1990s in medium sized contemporary commercial work. In my region we some very good commercial plaster and stucco contractors who did very good work who always told us that it required good installers who knew what they were doing and everything was detailed according to manufacturer’s requirements. Our designs were relatively simple and planar. We avoided over-articulated facades and always used top-of-the-line commercial-grade silicone sealants and proper flashing. Synergy in Rhode Island provided excellent support. ALL of these installations are still up and performing well. One is almost 40 years old. Here in New England it is almost never seen in single family residential construction. EIFS had been successfully used in Europe for low-to-moderate cost construction for decades...almost always as a finish over structural clay tile substrates...never wood.
By the late 90s you saw less and less EIFS except on buildings like CVS drug stores and other miscellaneous strip mall structures. Styles changed and budgets got better.
When EIFS hit the overheated Sun Belt residential market in the early-to-mid 1990s all hell broke loose. Misapplication and poor workmanship lead to a cascade of lawsuits that utterly transformed how it was perceived.
You are an amazing teacher Matt. I'm not a builder, just a DIY homeowner. I look forward to your videos as I always learn something from each one you post. Thank you!
I’ve become a big fan of the build show and Matt your clearly awesome. When watching I can usually keep up but sometimes your using terms I don’t know. I’ve been interested in super insulation for many years. What’s good for me as an amateur who has built 1 house and light remodels is seeing the build from a professional contractor angle causing me to up my game to build better by understanding the situation differently . In other words when you are explaining concepts remember amateurs like me are trying to take it all in. Love all your shows keep it up.
You probably covered this in other videos... cold bridges. Cold bridges tend to concentrate condensed water when below dewpoint of air. Over time, they can encourage mold and rot. Many of the examples you give in this video minimize or eliminate cold bridges. It is important. Likewise attention to the HVAC system is also important. Well insulated houses with minimal infiltration need ventilation and humidity control in most climate areas. For example, if you insulate you home but do not install double glazing or better, the moisture will often condense on the inside of the windows at night and on the outside during the day. It can be a large amount that damages your building.
Great video!
I am glad to find this video, here in UK they are using the old method you have described, lucky for me now that I know what happens I definitely don't want this done to my house. Your video is 3 years old, how come they are still stuck with the wrong way of doing this job is unbelievable.
Ive been going over your videos for months how to deal with penetrations from exterior cladding/insulation with fluid applied membranes... and here it pops up.. thank you for finally covering this!
Always enjoy your videos Matt. And learn a lot. I'm a DIY'er and only wish the contractors I hire occasionally would *ALL* watch your channel and others to keep up to date on the latest advances in building materials, practices and building science. Many thanks.
Home Inspector Here - every home inspector should be watching your videos especially new students to build their knowledge base - great work Matt!
Mat this video nailed it for me, i do construction in commercial Building as a sheet metal worker, an were going to build our first home with little knowledge of home building, were building through 'Ubuild it', but being around other trades an getting to know them an watching your videos give me confidence to go through with it, this video an the last was great, keep up the great work, never miss a video from u
I've been in the construction field since the 70's, been a licensed contractor in California going on for four decades now, so I've seen the construction industries gone through a number of evolutionary phases.
The irony I've noticed is that even though buildings were much less efficient back in the days of cheap energy up to about the early 70's, the conventional building practices and building technology up to that point were reliable tried and true methodologies that typically were free of chronic failure issues.
It was when energy conservation became an ever increasing goal beginning in the 70's that building construction practices began being plagued with ever increasing chronic system failures. And what I've also noticed to compound the problem is a growing failure of understanding the fundamental proper practices because there's and serious lack of experience and education among new architects and contractors.
An example is a low rise condo/apartment building in a local city who had the window and door fenestrations torn out and reinstalled up to three times do to poor system design and practices caused by a lack of experience and knowledge in today's building industry.
So the long story short is your efforts in correcting these problems are very refreshing! 👍
People are worried about Walls when it's the Windows that are the problem with efficiency. A YETI would be worthless if it added even a small window to see inside.
People need to look at the Total Sensible Load, example Wall 250 BTU Vs Windows 13,000 BTU.
Give me reasonable insulation with a water tight barrier and R equivalent glass to wall .. then my house is better than yours!
Good points. I wonder how long even the best tape will last on windows and seams as on ZIP board. How long does the coating last on ZIP? I've removed siding covering Tyvek and there were bug holes in it so there goes the water proofing. There is still a lot to learn. I want LONG LIFE in my building materials!
Growing pains, for every fail tech there are tons of effecient, healthy houses being belt using these technologies.
different materials as well. OSB doesn't dry well
@@brucestewart3170
That is why Joe Lstiburek came up with the idea for his "perfect wall".
Think about how long those membranes and tapes would last if they were kept inside your house. Joe's idea is to put the water and air barrier on the sheathing and tape the seams. Then put all of the insulation on the outside of the sheathing, using a vapor permeable but water repellent insulation. That design would keep the membrane and tapes away from extreme temperatures, UV light, and insects.
Matt, this was a great follow up video. I'd love it if y ou did more of these. The current format where you show off the latest toy that excites you is great. It would be great if there was a second half to each video/follow up where you show some of the techniques for the install of that HVAC, toilet install or whatever with this level of detail would be amazing.
We always talk about the importance of a air gap to let moisture wicking away and help the drying process. And I like it.
But I keep having this vision of a double walled building with an air gap of 12-24”. This large gap could be a “conditioned” space that gets heated or cooled depending on temperature. So you have insulation on both sides of the gap and the structure on the inside never gets exposed to air temperature and moisture swings. Commercial boats are build with double layered hulls.
I wonder if such a design has ever been considered
Sort of a building in a building? Not so much structurally a double building, but maybe more like a house inside a greenhouse? A thing to look for is where things go from Cold-to-Hot, or Hot-to-Cold depending on which direction and the season . . . . where the moist warm air encounters cold dry air -- water in the warm moist air will condense. So that would need a vapor barrier -- and/or -- a way for the water to get out. Consider the gap between the Brick Veneer layer and the rest of the wall. Maybe catch some of this -- Joe L. is a bit of a Hero to Matt Risinger >>> ua-cam.com/video/rkfAcWpOYAA/v-deo.html
That is exactly my thoughts. They used to do that for brick buildings to a lesser extent if I am not mistaken. Two walls with an air gap between them.
That's how my house is built. I have an insulated metal building with traditional framed and insulated walls and ceilings inside. About a 4-6 inch air gap on the walls
My father's house is 150 plus year old double wall solid brick home with a 1/2 inch gap between the walls. Obviously it works
Matt I have been watching your channel religiously for a few years now and love your content. We are designing and building a home with metal siding and metal roofing and had hoped you would eventually cover how to effectively install insulation and water barriers in such an instalation, but haven’t come across that topic yet.
I know spray foam is generally used for insulative properties and I considered an additional layer of rockwool, but I am not sure if there should be a vapor barrier applied before the metal is applied or if there is a better solution for such an install.
I am in the hill country as well so value your building methods because they make sense and are directly related to our building conditions
Thank you and keep up the great work
Help me to understand - at 15:00 is that metal flashing staying like that? Seems to be many entry points for water as you have introduced lots of 90 degree corners for the wind to push the rain into, plus it kinda looks ugly....
just another guy totally agree on all counts
This is why I like brick siding so much. That air space between the brick and wall sheathing saves the house. I have torn down brick that has been there 60 years and zero rot in the sheathing, even without modern day water barriers on the sheathing.
Rain screens are 100% mandatory imo. Even if your siding and windows leak, it absolutely will dry out because of that air space.
Your videos are invaluable, Matt. I dont know of anywhere else we can find such detailed info right at our fingertips. Awesome stuff
I have been installing Eifs for 15 years in Ontario. The EPS foam is water vapour permeable and has channels in the back side. We do not use that inferior house wrap (tyvek) in our installs. The sheathing is covered with liquid WRB which is applied with trowel and it is thick and has fibers in it. Sheathing seams and corners gets meshed. If applied right, there would be no pin hole so no water could touch the wood from exterior. It is important to slope the window sills and make sure you use very good quality caulking around openings that will last couple years. Not the crap you get from big box stores. Rockwool is also good for exterior application but it is for exterior cladding. Also much more $$$
Also that eifs house you showed at the beginning of the video has no water/air barrier. The installer did not care about vertical channels for drainage and air movement. Also there is no overhangs. It looks like caulking around the windows failed, chances are window sill moulding had negative slope towards the wall so this wall constantly got wet and did not have any chance to dry out. So it doesn't matter what you use this house would be damaged with that much water going behind the wall. (Except concrete/block walls)
Thank you for your videos. Your enthusiasm, reviews, callouts and just plain builder homage makes me believe anything is possible in home building, and it doesn't have to cost a fortune. I so like this.
Very large overhangs are a great deterrent for water intrusion on the exterior walls and they look good also. Jmo.
I have three foot overhangs all the way around the house I am building. It makes a big difference for keeping water off of the side of the house and well worth the effort. And I agree it looks good too.
@@TheLeaversFamily, Sounds like my kinda house !
"A" frame house, only end exterior walls
Florida Building Codes are restrictive.
@@TheLeaversFamily I've watched several videos detailing the nightmare of water damage..huge overhangs would alleviate all of them, but some builders consider them to be "too expensive". yeah, I've heard that said.
This is my next home project this year: new windows, siding, and obviously waterproofing/insulation. This video encompasses all the work I need to do. Thanks! Also, you got a great shout out from Essential Craftsman on UA-cam if you didn't already know. Thanks again.
Matt,
Few follow up questions to this video please...
1) The one sealing point that I dont recall you discussing is the bottom edge of the ROCKWOOL exterior seething boards. How do you deal with an otherwise exposed bottom edge (assume typical lap siding) so that mice and rodents dont see that as an open invitation to tunnel into it and make a house high rise? How would this sealing be different if you used the vertical rain boards behind the siding?
2) Can/should you use a product like Tyvec (or similar) over the ROCKWOOL so that any water that does get past the siding or window/door edges, drains to the bottom and not have an opportunity to be absorbed by the ROCKWOOL? Does this answer change if you use the rain drain vertical boards you talk about at the end of the video?
3) You talked about laying a 2x4 flat all the way around window/door framing to help compensate for the ROCKWOOL board thickness. Would it make sense (assuming no code issues) to only do this at the corners and maybe a small blocks along long edges between corners so that the ROCKWOOL board can be under most of the window flanges to help compensate for the otherwise wood thermal short at the flanges?
Note: One aspect you didn't touch on that might be another benefit, is that the ROCKWOOL board likely does a lot for sound canceling out outside->inside noise, although I suspect that most outside->inside noise likely comes through windows and not really the walls.
#2 don't get confused between Rockwool insulation and rockwool utilized by the agriculture industry for growing plants in. The insulation product does not absorb water as you suggest; it repels water (better than those house wrap products) as shown in the video and it allows moisture laden vapour to pass through. Can you pressure wash rockwool insulation and not have any water penetrate? Probably not, but the same is true for Tyvec and needle punched house wraps. Try placing a chunk of mineral wool insulation into a pail of water; its likely to stay floating like Styrofoam, indefinitely. A selling point is that it doesn't require protection from UV rays. Now whether your building official will let you use Rockwool insulation in lieu of a traditional housewrap will depend upon how progressive they are and the jurisdictional regulations.
Good info I was a custom builder is So Cal from 1977 to 2015 . I've always sold extra insulation .
One of your best vids yet! Thanks Matt!
Matt this was a beautiful post and exactly why I started following you many years ago. Returning to this duration, explanation, and format was greatly needed. Thank you!
Excellent Matt - Absolutely sound information and its all very easy to understand and implement. All that is required is the correct mindset , follow through and attention to detail . . . Keep up the good work .
If this is planed from the start, why not frame out the window and door openings with the next size up lumber. eg: if building 2x6 walls then frame the window/door openings with 2x8 and have them flush as usual?
With wood getting SOOO expensive, 2X8's are not viable. Might as well build with 8" concrete or cinder blocks
2x8's are cheaper then a 2×6. Lol
@@theinvisibleman2070 Where I'm at a 2x8 is cheaper by about a dollar.
@@landonlandon5533 those prices are back to normal.... for now
My favorite Build Show yet! Thanks for the illustrations. I really enjoyed seeing how Mark Larson put the flashing tape at each of the batton strip locations (for self sealing the fasteners I assume).
Amazingly helpful video. One of your best. Thank you for what you’re doing, Matt!
Totally ghetto but on my house as we redo things in stages I have been converting the exterior walls where practical to a 'poor mans 2x6' by ripping 2x4's in half and screwing them to the studs and top/bottom plates to make a false wall extension of sorts. An R23 rockwool batt fits right into the added depth, massive improvement to the original R7 crapola that was in there.
Practical solution, albeit time consuming.
Exactly ... lots of benefits. Durability one of the important ones. Also: Comfort. Health. Noise protection. Some of the constructions (especially at the beginning of the video) still look a bit complicated - keep it simple!
I really like that last quote and it gives a good perspective on more things than just building houses. Yeah, things are different and harder, and more expensive than the status quo but that’s not necessarily a knock on what’s new. Often times the status quo isn’t at the standard it should be.
Awesome video! It's amazing how you have grown over the years. UA-cam is revolutionizing construction. I've never been so proud to be one those building the future.
Great video. One little thing about the foam window edging. Good product but here in rural Australia we have the peril of the cockatoo. This large parrot will chew this kind of stuff to pieces. Cause they're jerks.
Thanks!
That “exterior window jam extension” looks terrible. I would have had one custom welded up, with a slope away from the house incorporated into the bottom blade. Those corners not only look like a hack made them, but also look like the perfect channel for water to bypass your siding, rain screen, and exterior insulation.
how would you ever replace that window without demo-ing the siding... what am i missing
@@kippaboard
1) By the time it's time to replace the window, it's probably time to replace the siding
2) You can always install flangeless windows from the inside to avoid having to mess with the exterior
Love ya.
This is were we old school remodeling folks like to talk about the “breathable” space.
Science and old school craft is not so apart.
The reductive conversation about breath ability is really about new and unique construction. Remodeling uses artistic and history to make a job simpler.
Always remember, “breathing” is done by the central air system, not the walls. If power fails, you can always open a window. I trust my lungs to give me fresh air because punching holes into it seems counter productive
Are there fire code issues with the air gap/rain screen system? If for any reason fire were to start behind the cladding it would be able to spread unencumbered up the entire wall before anything was noticed on the outside.
Good point
How would the fire start between the cladding? That's not even an ignition point. It would either start in the wall, within the insulation, or outside of the building envelope. Also, since he used rockwool insulation batts, the worst that would happen would be the burning of the exterior past the rainscreen. So the facade would burn off but the rest of the house may very well be spared.
@@imzjustplayin It's common for a flames to blow out a window and spread via a rainscreen system, as happened in the Grenfell tower disaster and many smaller fires in vinyl sided houses, especially when there are soffit vents waiting at the top. In this case, the fact that the only combustible pieces in the cavity are the wood battens would probably make it a minor problem.
At 12:40, why isn't the tie installed upside down instead? Wouldn't that help preventing water from dripping and follow the tie into the wall?
Didn't even know videos like this exist! "Building science" luv it!!!
Are they comparing 2x6 walls also in these studies? Most everywhere should require 2x6 walls already but they don’t. I’m in KS and don’t understand why.
Anything climate zone 3 or higher requires R20 Batts if you aren't using exterior insulation. R20 batts is 2x6 framing.
@@thebigmacd, Unless you go with closed cell foam which can achieve R-20 in a 3.5'' space ?
@@augustreil yes that works too, but the codes are still based on batt insulation as a default
@@thebigmacd, Gotcha. Understand 100 %
@@augustreil put yourselve in plastic bag and try not to sink in your ovn vapors :v yes its shortcut but precise i think :P
I fought back tears during this entire video because I'm just that moved by the number of simple building science details today's homes lack (on average).
That is a fact. There are 3 things that always drove me a bit nuts about I think are just DUMB about the way the typical house is built that make no sense to me whatsoever, at least in the Michigan Midwest area that I live in;
1) 12" overhangs - 24-30" make so much more sense especially on a single story ranch. This would 80% eliminate typical rain penetration past siding of various types because the majority of that water would not directly impact the siding other than occasional high wind storms. Also apply more shade to the house for energy saving. Most trusses come with a tail that needs to be partly cut off anyway for a straight fascia run and the extra in shingles probably isnt much different that the scraps that is thrown away at the end of a project. So little cost difference and so much benefit
2) what now passes for a 2 car garage. I recently owned a condo that would of been physically impossible to park 2 cars in unless you only drive the roller skate cars, even then it would of been difficult to open doors to get in/out of them. It was a 20' square. One of the cheapest parts of building any house per sq foot, and we shoot ourselves in the foot by trying to pinch penny's in this area that just then is an anti feng shui perpetual source of stress to deal with. nuts...
3) 8' interior walls. 9' should be the minimum and 10' should be the slight indulgence. any room size is so much larger feeling with a wall height increase, but the real key is that when the tops of windows raise with the wall height increase, the quality of light in the room is so much better. Yes this is likely a significant cost increase compared to the other items i list, but its still a form of self torture to not do it. Next time you are in a 8' wall room, look very carefully on how the light coming through a window lands on the room. the brightest part is about belly height and below. if your raise the wall height and the top window edge with it, the room is equally lit up all the way up to eye level, so you need to use your ceiling lights much less.
And we keep doing this culturally just because this is the way building has been done for 100 years.
I'm building my own home in Arizona and turn to your channel for knowledge and inspiration. The problem is, the more I watch you the more my build costs go up, lol. I'm building a house that is a combination of shipping containers and stick. Videos on my channel. My biggest concern is condensation. I learn a lot from you and appreciate the videos. Thank you
Question, why use a low grade 1x4 as the rain screen, when it's something totally susceptible to rot and damage esp. when its structural to the siding/exterior? Would a durarock or hardieboard style product or a vinyl plank/board/stud work better? Also, since this rockwool gets compressed from improper install, how much sheer strength does it have? I.E. how well does it hold the weight of a heavy exterior siding like stucco, rock or traditional wood siding? I live in earth quake prone CA and have seen exterior foam mounted underneath stucco "tear" away from even minor earthquakes and small impacts(cars or small vehicles hitting side of homes; Once even from a back yard BBQ devolving into a WWF brawl and had one individual thrown into a wall that crushed and tore the foam backing away, and took a 4' section of stucco with it.). Is that why the photo from the school showed those 2 part mounting clips being used to effectively bypass the rockwool and mount straight to sheeting? Seems labor intensive. Any other options for rigidity? Ty man. love your channel.
Great one Matt! I have two things to say about your demo's. People demonstrate similar burn results for cellulose. and In the vapor demo, there's no apparent vapor coming through-- i do believe it vapor permeable though.
Rain screen or air gap furring strips' orientation
The Rain screen or air gap furring strips' orientation must be vertical to allow for unobstructed continuous water, air, and moisture flow.
If your siding needs to attach to horizontal furring strips, they must be attached as battens over the required unobstructed vertical furring strips.
Source: Hammer & Hand / Horizontal Rain Screen Furring for Vertical Siding
What I'm wondering any time I see insulation applied, is how the metal fasteners act like thermal bridges. So you have a metal plate on the outside of the insulation that warms or cools to the outside temperature, acts like a plate to transfer the outside temperature to the screw which penetrates the building and inside the screw is a little bridge which will transfer the outside temperature to inside, right? Since metal is an excellent conductor of heat energy, shouldn't you aim for a layer of insulation that is not penetrated or bridged anywhere in the layer by a conducting material?
yes, but you also have to consider the extremely small cross section.
Using this calculator -www.engineeringtoolbox.com/conductive-heat-transfer-d_428.html -
I got 2 btu per hour, per 6" #8 wood screw with a 35C temperature difference (Zone 4). Of course this is whats being transferred to the wood studs, which will slow that transfer down a bit as is disperses to the walls. If you calculate the energy of one square inch of stud surrounding the screw, you are down around .1 BTU per hour.
A 50'x50' house with 10' walls has 2000 sqft of exterior wall and 2500 Sqft of floor space
Each panel used 8 screws. thats 8 screws for every 32/sqft.
thats 60-70 screws.
7 Btu per hour of heat transmitted through screws.
2500 sqft home in zone 4 should have 125000BTU a heating system.
So, in conclusion 0.0056% of heat is lost through screws.
Should we worry about this?
@@nathanshaffer3749 First, your math is wrong -- 2000 sf of walls divided by 32sf panels is 60-70 panels, multiplied by 8 screws per panels means 500+ screws. Second, did you watch the video to see how many long cap screws they were using ? It was not 8 screws per panel, it was more like 25-30 per panel and more for the furring or dimple mat. Thousands of screws all total. Third, water is going to funnel down all those screws and wet wood does not have the same insulating value as dry wood. It is really inexcusable to have fasteners penetrating the water and vapor barrier covering the sheathing. There is no need or benefit to putting thousands of holes in what was a perfectly fine membrane.
@@kirkellis4329 @Kw Ellis I definitely missed the screws on the dimple mat. But I counted what they were using on the shots of the panels. It was 8 that I saw. I also had a typo, it should have read, 60/70 panels not screws. Which comes to 500 screws. So let's go up by a factor of 10. That's still a .0006 heat loss through screws.
Also, I thought the dimple mat was specifically to mitigate water ingress and allow for drying. Is it not good at doing that?
Also, I would personally use a fluid applied vapor barrier over the nail caps to seal it of. We can't assume they did, since it wasn't shown.
The question I was responding to was thermal bridging. If the nails cause excessive water ingress, then that's a different problem. But if mitigated, the nails alone won't cause any perceivable loss.
@@nathanshaffer3749 If something is going on top of the insulation, it only needs enough screws to hold it in place until the next layer is attached, that is why it looks like so few screws. But if you look at 11:08 you will see that the green dimple mat has a screw at least every square foot and the grey at least every 2 square foot. So the total number of screws on a 2000 sf exterior wall is going to be at least 2000 including both layers. Plus the screws to actually attach siding if there are no furring strips, and another 1000 if there are strips, although at least the furring strips will definitely attach to studs. Notice that the screws on the green dimple mat cannot be going into studs because they are too close together. So they are going through the OSB or plywood sheathing and sticking out in thin air inside the stud bays. So your adjustment of the BTU number doesn't work -- those are not buried in wood studs. All together, at 2 BTU per screw, the thermal bridging could amount to 5000+ BTU loss on the screws. And while 125000 BTU furnace may be common for a poorly insulated house, the whole point of this exterior insulation and tight air sealing is to reduce energy use. Another of Matt's videos shows a Passivehous in Canada that uses 1500 watts to heat a 5000sf house -- that's only 25000 BTU figuring the heat pump has a COP of 5 ! So a 5000 BTU loss would be a big percentage, even on a house that was not super-insulated like a Passivhouse.
Damp wood conducts heat much better than dry wood. So water ingress results in thermal bridging and the screws are the problem. The dimple mat is supposed to prevent bulk water, but only if (or as long as) it self-heals around penetrations. No plastic is going to do that for very long as the house settles due to wood shrinkage and wind and earthquakes pushing it around. But even while it does stop bulk water, vapor will not be stopped. Wood and cement/stone siding absorb rain and when the sun comes out, the vapor gets pushed away from the heat source and towards the relatively cooler house wall -- right through those penetrations and through the vapor open Rockwool to condense on the shafts of those screws and run into the wood that has shrunk away from the screw threads. Screws through exterior insulation are supposed to be driven at a slight upward angle so most condensation would run away from the house that way, but it sure doesn't look like they are doing that.
All these penetrations just seem so unnecessary. Unless there is some compelling reason to have a thin wall, it would be so much cheaper and safer to build a second stud wall that was attached only to its own foundation stem wall and to the rafter tails. Insulate between it and the house wall with something like Rockwool that doesn't hold or wick water, and lets vapor escape. Attach the siding without all these layers of short-lived plastic and adhesive products and using inexpensive short nails and screws that don't come anywhere near the actual living envelope. The whole exterior insulated space becomes a rain screen that drys easily and has no way for water to reach the house except around doors and windows -- a few dozen places to worry about flashing and sealing instead of thousands of screws that will be hidden by drywall as they start to leak.
@@kirkellis4329 All very good points. Insulating the outside like this only makes sense if you can keep the insulation from getting wet. I have always been dubious about the current methods I see involving stucco walls. Seems destined for moisture issues.
3:41 I wouldn't try to defend putting up EIFS the way they installed it in the 1990s, but it seems that most of the water that got into those houses came in around the windows and doors. I suspect that if those vinyl windows had come with protruding ledges at the top as well as sills at the bottom and both were angled to carry the water away from the window, instead of into it, that house would have fared better. There were good reasons windows had those details in the past, for protection against both water and fire (ledges were mandated after the London fire of 1666); I've never understood the compulsion in recent years to make all windows look like something you'd put on a conversion van.
Large amounts of moisture is brought into all newly built homes with both the drywall mud and texture , as well as the water based primers and paints . That moisture inevitably makes its way into the walls, floors and ceilings . In cold climates , when that moisture meets the exterior sheathing , it will create frost . When frost melts , well you get the picture . You can NEVER eliminate moisture in the air , breathable products are a MUST for the northern climates .
Love this channel. Can you speak sometime about insulating a brick home properly in a Northern climate?
Super good video Matt , I'm using all your knowledge on the process of building my home in the next few months. Great work
Ed with eagle home services in Houston Tx
Matt, I value your shows, and share your want to help. I don't want to hi-jack your channel by linking, but I put out a video where I torch my closed cell insulation and put my hand on it immediately with out getting burned. Love your show. (sometimes this repeats, sorry in advance if it does)
Closed cell is the best !
don't be put off by the fact that this is a sponsored video. this is great content.
I like that Matt has hands on experience
That thermo-buck on top of the window is going to allow water to leak not only behind the rock wool but right into the interior jam. There needs to be a flashing over the top of that buck and that flashing needs to be overlapped by the wrap or liquid flash the top. Also that insulated attic gable end will allow any water that gets behind the siding to land on top of that rock wool. Since that rock wool is gonna have that water bead up, it’s going to be a mold problem. Particularly if this is on the shaded side of the house. You need to assume the caulking will NOT be holding up as the house ages and that the homeowner will NOT repair aging caulk he/she cannot see so that water as the house ages is going to run behind the siding at the window corners. Just because everything is vapor permeable today does not mean it will be as years of pollen in that weeping water will clog all the pores up and there will be mold and rot. These “systems” are only as good as the “tradesman” who is installing. These new insulation codes are making it more complex.
Those window bucks, wouldn’t you want to put that zip stretch tape over it before installing window and insulation?
There are so many facets that can change how a house us build. I really appreciate you explaining the science and showing solutions. I would think most builders have to compete on pricing to the bottom because everyone wants it cheap. Totally agree with Steve’s quote. Unless building code requires it, we will continue to see poorly build homes.
My own building project will be in cold northern Maine. I want it super insulated because it’s very cold in the winter. But considering climate change and how local weather will be affected, I might as well also consider summers with 110°F and high humidity becoming a norm.
My second goal is to build hurricane and tornado proof.
The cost can be steep. I will be building with ICF. To make it affordable, I will go down in size, 1200-1500 sqf. Monopoly style. It’s going to be another 6 months before I’ll have an architect draw up the plans. It’s exciting.
@7:39 you say "if we add cavity Insulation" and I think you meant to say "if we add external insulation"
Thanks for another great informative video, Matt!
wth is that gapped top flashing at 14:25? I understand there's more layers to come, but shouldn't EVERT layer be constructed to be water shedding to the outside, instead of that terrible top corner gap? shouldn't all the elements in the vertical treatments be layered akin to shingles, so moisture is always guide down and OUT?
Rockwool is an amazing product; however, it will absorb water in a flood situation, just had it happen this year. It sucks up water like a straw and will never dry.
Matt, I think you are saying that moisture will always find a way inside the wall. From rainwater leaks to high humidity & condensation the material inside the wall must NEVER EVER hold water in the liquid state. Please consider this...The steam you demonstrated on the rock wool shows it to be a wide open path for humidity. Did you know that humidity inside insulation acts as a thermal bridge to conduct the cold from outdoors into the inner walls of the house? Insulation must be dry to get the full R-value. Without a true vapor-barrier humidity will move through a porous substance by molecular pressure (No Air Movement). It moves through concrete! What you are advocating is to allow this moisture to condense in the insulation but have enough air circulation inside the wall to evaporate the condensation before it can do damage to the wood. This humidity load can be 30% of the energy consumption if we want a controlled Rh indoors.
I think you are missing the point. Look at the perfect wall concept. There is only one point in the wall where you place your air/water/vapor barrier. Moisture on each side of the barrier needs a path to allow it to dry! (Note: There really isn't a perfect wall when trades people are allowed to use fasteners made of metal.)
On the outside rockwool provides that path to the air. Matt showed several methods to provide the air flow behind the cladding to allow drying. Drying is key given that one cannot build a perfect cladding that is water tight for ever. (As he showed in the early side.)
Insulation outboard of the air/water/vapor barrier is to reduce thermal bridging effects, increase overall thermal efficiency and if designed properly allow the wall to pass/manage water vapor in hot and cold seasons. Yes it can get wet in the summer, in the winter it provides the R value to allow the water vapor to stay a vapor inboard air/water/vapor boundary layer so it can dry i.e. not condense inside the wall. Note: That is why Matt can get away with only 2 inches where northern climates with colder winters require 4 or more inches external. We are lucky..... we don't get driving rain storms when it's sub zero outside. We call that a blizzard!
Dew point.. moving the Dew point out as far as you can
... if you have ever closed a cooler with a bit of moisture in it.. it molds.. it stinks..its nasty everything needs to breathe..
It would be nice to see insulation reviews start to show and include just how effective cork can be. Also, cork has many benefits to the environment. Is renewable, carbon sink, water resistant, vapor permeable, is almost perfect as insulation.
Why do you need an air gap for the rock wool if it's vapor and air permeable? Wouldn't it be able to dry without the air gap?
@MattRisinger any chance you will cover other exterior options?
I'm in west tennessee, mixed humidity 7A climate zone and I'm looking at doing ICF with a basement in heavy red clay soil.
I'm interested in exterior insulation to explore the possibility of exploiting the thermal mass of the concrete walls.
Your ICF already comes with 2” of exterior insulation. Some ICF manufacturers like Quad Block offer higher thickness for outside insulation going all the way to R59.
Your ICF home is already air and vapor proof. If you want more insulation still, you could add interior framing, wood or metal and fill that cavity with Rockwool, fiber mats or spray foam or a combo of those.
The real question is, what R-value are you shooting for in the roof?
So why wouldn't I use a perfectly acceptable ZIP Systems R-Sheathing (R9, 2" thick) with their fluid applied liquid flash seam and nail sealer? Add brick veneer (perhaps with a rain screen) and I'm golden. If I use insulated T-Studs (2x6 sized) as my exterior wall structure and normal cavity insulation (R19 or better) with standard sheetrock on the interior wall surface, I should have a pretty good wall section. Am I missing something?
I don’t think you are missing anything. Sounds like a perfectly good wall to me
So I wonder how many wonder materials today will be coming back a decade later seeing its faults, like the video shows like the one used in 2001. It was the best new thing back then wasnt it?
Mineral wool insulation has been used for over 100 years, if that's what you're referring to.
@@thebigmacd No that was not it! He is talking about the sealing out of the water hard to do and sometimes it still gets in. That's what I took away from it.
@@mikeorjimmy2885 what happens when you jump on the latest and greatest new product
EPS is a great material and is still used widely. Maybe not in America, but it should not be used to insulate wooden sheds anyway.
When I installed Rockwool in the 90s on commercial elevators and such I literally used a 10ft forked pole to stay away from the stuff as I pressed it into cavities. It was hard and dry sheding a dust as it was handled causing red bumps on the underside of your arms irritating for days. I would not want that stuff making its way into a home. In flawed batches it would have the equivalent of black lightbulb glass shards in it. It's was the worst floating in the air sticking to your tender parts. I imagine this "comfort" style is the same stuff with finer shorter strands that causes less obvious irritation. I'd not like looking at the sparklies in a ray of light and knowing its the hellspawn that is Rockwool.
If you get bored sometime can you do a cutaway of the ideal framing/insulation technique for each zone and do a video on each one?
I’m getting confused, vapor barrier(in, out, none), what type of insulation and where to use it etc etc etc.
Thanks!!!
Matt I just love the idea of Rockwool for an exterior. I have used the Roadenhouse washers too. However, in particular with a stucco exterior, you did not mention how the foot of the Rockwool board is handled. In other words, if I take a mirror and look up the houses’s “skirt,” what will I see? Will I see exposed sheeting and Rockwool? Or will I see a weep screed that is especially designed for 2 inch Rockwool board? Does the Rockwool overlap the junction between the slab foundation and the sheeting? What about if you used Hardiplank instead? Is StuccoWrap enough of an air gap over Comfortboard when applying stucco? Do you recommend something else? Is there an R-4 Comfortboard too? (ie. 1 inch thick) Thanks for cutting edge ideas, but trying to sell them to local inspectors is sometimes tough.
Tons of info in video but these are Great questions. Installing hardie soon and wondering how they will deal with bottom trim board. I’ve seen a 4 to 6” trim board convering seam between wood wall and cement with seal tape from house wrap over the board(and rigid board sitting in it), also a thick L flashing that starts at the sheathing layer extending away from the house and (at least 4”) covering the wood to cement Seam with silicone sealing it. Also seen L flashing fastened to the rain screen furring strips. What is best ?
I have an old stucco home in Florida stucco in and out how should I insulate it should I use comfort or safe and sound insulation inside the walls I was planning on breaking the inside stucco putting one of those insulations then putting drywall
You mentioned a builder - Marko Larsen (sp?) and I was hoping for a link? Thanks so much for all the great info every episode!
If building a passive house or any house for that matter let's say a window gets broken. Should the external insulation and siding around openings be redesigned so that future window and door replacements or upgrades don't require deconstruction of an entire wall system? Someone is going to need to get to the external membrane to get that opening back up to passive house air tightness. It would be nice if only a foot or two of siding and insulation needed to be removed around an opening.
Most broken windows on homes should be able to be fixed without removing the whole frame. There are stops built in that can be removed and just the glass can be taken out and replaced. That way you don't have to remove any siding.
@@TheLeaversFamily It's pretty expensive to get windows replaced this way, which has to include injecting dry argon and installing new gaskets between the panes.
Matt have you ever looked into exterior paint that has a thermal/fireproof coating built into it to help even more.
At 18:30, I would think you would tape around the window rough-out, with the tape coming to the inside of the rough-out before framing. I'm not a builder, just an ol' dyi'er, but don't understand why you wouldn't cover bare window wood before installing the window. Or is that overkill? And Matt, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!
Can I use Tyvek on the sheathing and 2 inch rigid insulation over that with a rain screen then siding? I'm climate zone 6A. I just did all new osb 5/8 sheathing and sealed all the seams. I already have the 2 inch R-10 Kingspan Greenguard stacked up in the driveway ready to go. I already have the tyvek on, taped and sealed. Should I install a membrane over the tyvek, before I install the Rigid insulation? Should I tear the tyvek off and replace with a membrane or am I good as it is?
Could you do a comparison between ICF walls vs Exterior insulated framed walls for energy performance and long term cost benefits?
John Powell yes a comparison video would be great. I’ve often wondered what the cost comparison would be , as well the efficiency . Even better would be to include those T studs (insulated 2x6). A pro and cons list would be a nice add on.
I guess an ICF is a type of exterior insulated wall, no? Additionally ICF has thermal mass and is air tight, right? Does ICF need a vapor barrier outside? I’m getting confused with all the different systems.
@@paulreimer372 Yes Paul those T studs are a step in wall evolution. I got interested in insulated rim boards as my floors are cold near the walls and that led me to S.I.P.s structural insulated panels as a replacement for concrete and 2x4 walls and the things I've found since are many and Matt and his 'Build show' have been another great source of information on most aspects of buildings and building technologies. Seems to be a never ending journey of learning.
@@user-tv5dt3nm9y Hi Lew there is no need for the vapour barrier as the wall is solid concrete in the middle. ICF is like a hollow polystyrene block...not sure about the polystyrene...that is filled with concrete and the foam acts as a thermal break for highly efficient wall. Takes time to absorb it all but take your time and do what I do...rewind and reread and it sinks in.
@@user-tv5dt3nm9y Depends on the system and implementation. ICF walls with 3 inches of foam on each side aren't really exterior insulated, especially if the floors are concrete slabs connected to the concrete in the walls. Those with, say, 9 inches on the outside and 3 inches on the inside behave more like exterior insulated walls.
Episode 74 of the Modern Craftsman Podcast, Nick said foam/rockwool is the insulation in a Yeti cooler and AeroBarrier is the gasket. Individually they are ok but together they will keep your ice from melting for days.
I'm 23 and just became a gc and I would pay just to come work with your crew for a few weeks. I love the building science.
Nice Bosch driver. I just got the same one. I haven't used it much, but I do like it.
Have you ever made a video about tools you've had good or bad experiences with?
Are 2x8 walls an option? The complexity of flashing door and window bucks has a huge impact on cost and moisture intrusion.
Definitely a good option.
Yes or the T-stud Matt covered in a previous video. No thermal bridging, stronger, 2' spacing, and available in larger widths.
Talking about thick walls, the house my Dad was raised in had three foot thick walls. It was a sod house on the prairies. The roof was sod as well, supported on wooden poles. Grass grew all over it.
@@michaelplewman Just keep in mind, the fact that it's best to go with insulation outside. Good idea.
what about if your house is already built and poly extruded styrene known as Dow Guard (blue) or Dow Pink was used and is located in Dallas area. I made sure mortar was washed out and removed behind brick all the way around the house. Should I be concerned regarding mold building up ?
Climate zone 5/6...do we need the vapour permeable membrane if we have zip sheathing behind the exterior rockwool?
I am having a concrete block house built in the southern Philippines. No one in the town I am building in knows anything about exterior insulation. I feel it is absolutely essential. There are not even styro panels r Rockwool bats known about. Keeping the heat out is essential in my books. Are there any significant problems with just following the basic exterior methods as explained for temperate climates? Simple materials only. I will probably need to source insulation itself from Manila.
I lost the reason for vapor permeable exterior under the exterior insulation. Was that the condensation issue? I don’t understand how you get condensation outside opposite an interior, insulated wall. So then, where does the air tight wall and house come in to play?
Look at building science corp online papers, in particular RR-0410 Vapor Barriers. Here is an interesting segment from it "Building assemblies can be designed to dry to either the outside or the inside or to both sides. The rules to accomplish this depend on the climate zone. In general, assemblies should be designed to dry to the outside in cold climates, to the inside in hot-humid climates and to both sides in mixed-dry climates and hot-dry climates. In mixed-humid climates it is preferable to design assemblies to dry to the inside and to control exterior sheathing temperatures during heating periods using insulating sheathing." In this case the exterior blanket of rock board fills this need. The water vapor stays above the dew point and does not condense inside the wall. This allows for drying back into the house. This paper also touches on why and where vapor permeability is used. Note: It is this type of research that is now more available is the reason why horror stories that Matt started with should be less likely in the future. That is if builders read and understand the research.
Thanks, Walter. I will read up. A shlup like me has a lot to learn. I really appreciate what y’all share here.
I am having to put foam board on the walk out back area of my house. I'm pouring a patio and the city wants foam to the top of slab so they want me to pour my cement patio up against that foam. I'm not sure if this is okay or what to use on that foam to protect it?
Rain sceen batten, do you leave the bootom open? How do you finish the bottom off?
It seems for the thermal bucks, you'd have to take them into consideration prior to framing windows. youd need to add 1" or so to the rough opening. Am i right?
Hey Matt come inspect My Double Wide Trailer see if you can find anything they did right when building this place
Matt needs to do this! Stop with the million dollar homes and be a man of the people.
I can save him the trip. they didn't.
I'm pretty sure my place was built by Ray Charles
@@sams.3209 Matt is on the cutting edge of construction practices. People with the budget for million dollar homes are more willing and more able to take the risks of being so.
How would you do it if you was putting metal I got a pole barn metal or insulation around windows
The thermal buck looks good. That metal flashing would be terrible a thermal bridge next to a window frame in cold climates.
2001? Wow! Here in South - Central Wisconsin I started noticing this exterior insulation going on in about 2015. I’d say we are a little behind here in Wisconsin.
So over the Rockwool board, if you want traditional stucco, do you use Stuccowrap and secure the wire lath with Rosenhouse washers? Or do you need more air gap than that? I live in the California central valley. Where do you get such wide drip screeds?
You're so good at presenting I feel like this could be a Ted talk or paid college course. Its amazing this is all given away for free
I’m in a cold climate (Buffalo, NY) and remodeling a kitchen in a 1964 brick ranch. I learned quickly that the brick wall has a one inch air gap and the exterior wall sheathing is a fiber board impregnated with asphalt I think (Buffalo Board, etc.) The insulation in the stud cavities was about 1/2 inch fiber glass, foiled on the inside and paper on the outside.
I know I’m stuck with the exterior as is with the design of the house, but is there anything I can do to get these exterior walls as close to modern codes as possible? All I’ve come up with is using spray foam in header and framing gaps, and R-13 3.5” fiberglass insulation with vapor retarded backing in the stud cavities.
i would LOVE to see you do a video going around exterior eletrical conduit (Service entry conduit) and the panel or whats done for that area, this is my wall im starting with and its ugh
Matt, how can I put Rockwool outside a SIP envelope? I want 4 inches of Rockwool, then battens to give a rain screen air gap, then T&G siding. I cannot imaging attaching all that mass with only 7/16 inch for the screws to grab on the outside of the SIP. Any suggestions?
Matt hate to be down on things but I have a great friend that has done remodels for years like 30 plus. He just tore into a super sealed house with zip sheeting inside and out mold and rote. The insurance company stated in there findings that the house breathability was lacking and dented the clam. My proplem is I know you are sponsored by thees products but have you really done your home work just asking. I think people need to do there home work and check with quality contractor's to see what they have used and what works. Just my opinion
With using the batten system on the exterior, how do you deal off the bottom to prevent pest intrusion into the cavity?
Wealth of knowledge. Australia is miles behind the US in insulation . And one thing that we struggle with is .
How do you secure your battens for cladding over the comfort board? with out them flopping all over the shop?
One of the photos showed long screws going through the battens and comfort board into the sheathing, and a string line to check for straightness.
I'm currently building homes in Ontario Canada with just 1 inch foam board then siding on exterior. No ply or osb. What yall think?
could you look at multi layered systems, such as 2 - 2" sheets? It gets more difficult when trying to do 4" of insulation.
@@phironosurvivors2069 Generally speaking, house condensation comes from and is an issue on the inside of the house - humans breathing, climate control, materials off gassing, etc - which creates heat/moisture/vapor. If the house is sealed up tight from the outside, that vapor cannot escape and often times ends up in your wall cavities as condensation creating rot. In the example of your ice cooler as our house, imagine hot food placed inside it (simulating human activity) rather than ice and you will have plenty of condensation dripping down the inside walls because it can not escape THROUGH the walls of the cooler. This is why condensation is a larger issue in colder climates where lots of heating is going on inside the home and cold temperatures outside turn the traveling vapor back in to water inside the walls.
I have a question about exterior insulation on an existing brick home. I live in the Chicago area in a brick house which was built in 1951. Typically, when these houses were built, there is a concrete slab foundation (or basement in my case) with brick on top of that. There are actually 2 layers of bricks on the exterior with a gap of 2-4 inches between the 2 layers of bricks. It was believed at the time these houses were built, that, that gap would actually help insulate the house, obviously that has been long ago proven to be wrong. I have seen a system where small holes are drilled into the mortar joints near the top of the house, and an expanding closed cell foam is injected. When the space between the 2 layers of brick is completely filled, the mortar joint is patched and resealed. I have heard plenty of good about this process including insulation improvements, water and bug/critter prevention. What if any experience have you had with this procedure and what are your thoughts on it??