House Wrap Old Garage Before Vinyl Siding?

[John in OH]

Looking for your advice ....

I've got an old detached garage built about 1925. Northeast Ohio. Very simple structure with new steel roof (vented ridge with 1/4" foam on underside of steel), open ceiling, wood siding, and exposed studs on the interior. Concrete floor with no underside vapor barrier. Currently unheated but may insulate and heat someday in the future.

Since I'm getting tired of painting the exterior every few years, I decided to have vinyl siding, fascia, and soffits installed. The contractor asked if I wanted the building house-wrapped before installing the new vinyl siding. I said "sure", but then I thought I'd better check with you all for your opinions.

 

[The Cobbler]

sure, it's a good idea . how much more is he charging ?

 

[RocketScott]

From Certainteed’s installation instructions:

Vinyl siding is an exterior cladding; it is not a complete weather resistant barrier. Before applying siding, make certain the substrate is watertight.

 

[dfiler2]

Every vinyl manufacturer I've seen requires it. IMO, a good quality house wrap like Tyvek will pay for itself if you ever heat it.

 

[stm317]

Absolutely do the Housewrap.

 

[zcar751]

Definitely! Especially if you might want to insulate later on.

 

[John in OH]

sure, it's a good idea . how much more is he charging ?

I'm still waiting for his quote. He seemed to also think it was a good idea to do the wrap, but was willing to do whatever I wanted.

 

[ckucia]

I have to do some work on my garage, prior to winter hopefully. Some vinyl siding was never installed and the rest installed on osb without any barrier.

My three choices seem to be Tyvek wrap, Lowe's version which is woven, or tar paper.

Is one better or worse than the others?

 

[CNGsaves]

+1 with other GJer's to definitely install housewrap before exterior siding.

Housewrap is superior to tar paper as it let's interior moisture "breathe" out but prevent moisture penetrating from exterior.

FACT: My personal experience with shoddy new home builder in 80's . . . my 1st house had ONLY 1/2" sheetrock for exterior cladding before 12" Masonite siding. Yep . . . no seams taped on sheetrock and absolutely no housewrap or tarpaper . . . TOTAL **** as some rotten Masonite siding pieces let water get all the way through to interior sheetrock. Yes, insulation soaked with water where that penetration happened, then all the way to interior sheetrock getting wet.

So . . . . . YES, yes, YES for housewrap. Only use tarpaper if really low budget, or never intend to heat detached garage, etc.

 

[850xpeps]

Get Tyvek or typar or whoever has similar water barrier product. Most people don’t even know what’s code. Your contractor shouldn’t ask if you want it. A good one would say it’s part of his price and his work. If you don’t want to pay for it hire someone else.

 

[Dragfluid]

Yes, wrap it!

 

[n20junkie]

I tyvek and use taped seam perforated fan fold over that.

Water intrusion prevention is all about layers in my opinion. Plus the fold keeps the siding movement noise to a minimum on windy days.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

If insulating and conditioning the space is a very remote possibility- no. There's no reason use wrap. The wrap is a moisture barrier- but since the interior side of the wall is exposed, you wouldn't be trapping any moisture "within the wall".

 

[homeschool]

+1 that says wrap it.

When I did my siding years ago a contractor buddy convinced me to do fanfold foam only. Regretted it every cold and windy day since. To the point I've considered taking the siding down to wrap it.Very drafty, especially around outlets. I'd stick with tyvek or the Lowe's wrap, simply because tar paper is smaller and will have more seams.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[theoldwizard1]

Un-finished interior with no insulation ? Waste of money.

Most vinyl siding installers put 1/2"-1" foam board down just to give themselves a flat surface to put the siding hanger on. Good enough. Maybe upgrade to the 1"

 

[rjn2649]

If I was doing this I would wrap it, as the OP states, MIGHT insulate and heat in the future, I'm sure it ain't that much more to wrap. Maybe the OP could wrap it himself to save a few bucks? If money is tight.

 

[gahrajmahal]

In southeast Ohio the weather goes from one extreme to the other. The cost of wrapping it is minimal for the protection you get. I replaced T-11 siding on the south side of the house last year. It had gotten soaked and rotted in big patches. The studs were spongy in a few places that I replaced.