How important is house wrap

[JackOfDiamonds]

I'm thinking about buying a 10x16 tuff shed, to build a home office in half of it. I would need to do insulation and drywall or paneling inside.

If you spec out a tuff shed from scratch, they have an option to add house wrap for like $200. But I'm looking at a floor model that doesn't have and wrap. Does that mean I can't insulate it? I live in a very dry climate FWIW. What's the worst that could happen?

 

[readhead]

Make sure you ask them about roof snow load. Most shed companies don’t use house wrap. You can insulate without house wrap.

 

[Bolson32]

I would add the house wrap, at the end of the day it probably wouldn't matter. But if you're insulating it, you'll want to keep that dry. If there's no weather barrier there's nothing to keep the elements at bay other than the siding, which is not waterproof. If you're not closing those stud cavities, no big deal at all because it can dry out. If you insulate it, and it gets wet, you could have a mold situation.

Edit: I see you live in a dry climate. I'm not sure that changes my answer though. Probably LESS of a concern, but I think it's still something I wouldn't skip.

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[toyotadriver]

I would go with the house wrap.

 

[Kaizen]

Imo we are far beyond house wrap. House wrap allows breathing but zip panels stop air movement. Zip r adds insulation. I won’t do an exterior wall with anything less. Even great insulation is horrible if air can move freely


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[bored350]

Determine what percentage of the building cost the $200 is for house wrap and it will be even less of a concern when you see how low the number is. On the other hand, what brand of house wrap also matters significantly. Only one or two companies offer a house wrap comparable to Tyvek brand. Be sure to check the perm rating of the brand they use vs. Tyvek.

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[The Cobbler]

I wouldn't worry about the house wrap . many many buildings don't have it and are fine without it.
not that I am opposed to it, I think it's a great product, but not worth fretting over if it's not there .

 

[Bolson32]

Imo we are far beyond house wrap. House wrap allows breathing but zip panels stop air movement. Zip r adds insulation. I won’t do an exterior wall with anything less. Even great insulation is horrible if air can move freely


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He's buying a tuff shed, I doubt they offer a zip sheathing option [emoji849]

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[JackOfDiamonds]

I definitely think house wrap is worth the $200. If you actually read the question, it's that I'm looking at buying a pre-existing shed that doesn't have it. There's no way to add it later is there? Does it make any sense to put it on the inside of the studs?

 

[readhead]

Most shed builders, including Tuff Shed, use LP Smart Side which is very water resistant. My builder caulks the laps. The siding is the WRB. I would not hesitate to insulate and finish the inside.

 

[readhead]

If you are considering buying a shed off the lot does it have the metal or PT floor joints? We don’t move TS buildings when people call because they don’t have skids under them. With the wood joists it might hold together but the metal joist will fold up and collapse.

Are there any other shed builders in your area? Having been a TS dealer I can assure you that you can buy a better shed for less money.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

The tuffshed I was looking at has the steel studs underneath. I thought that was a good thing. I see they have an option for pressure treated skid but I didn't think that would be better.

I'm not dead set on a Tuff shed brand, but I saw it was built with 2x4 16-on-center, which seems pretty decent for a shed, I have seen a lot worse, like shed kits that seem like they are made of just OSB with a few 2x4s to hold it together. It was $5000 for a 10x16 barn-type with 7 foot walls and a half loft and shelf. The idea was to close in a 10x10 space under the loft and make it a climate controlled office/lab, and leave a 6 foot unconditioned space plus loft for regular storage.

I can definitely handle building a kit or even designing and building a shed. But with current lumber prices, I don't even know if I could beat $5000 and that's delivered and installed. Any links on better deals? I'm in Boise.

 

[Kaizen]

He's buying a tuff shed, I doubt they offer a zip sheathing option [emoji849]

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Which is why he should buy a different or build himself. If it was just a shed for a tractor I’d say fine. But as a home office for 40 hours a week I’d strive for better. It would be money well spent


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[betito]

I would go with the house wrap.

I totally support your point. I would prefer adding a house wrap before adding insulation as it will strengthen my shed's insulation potential.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

Ok, I looked at some other sheds including ones built on 4x4 skids. Not sure prices yet though.

As I'm looking beyond my impulse-purchase of an un-wrapped tuffshed, and I'm sure this question has been asked before, but how much would it cost for me to buy the materials to build such a shed myself? With current lumber prices, I wouldn't want to assume anything. But if I just build it myself I can build it however I want, wrap or not, wires, etc.

 

[Bolson32]

Ok, I looked at some other sheds including ones built on 4x4 skids. Not sure prices yet though.

As I'm looking beyond my impulse-purchase of an un-wrapped tuffshed, and I'm sure this question has been asked before, but how much would it cost for me to buy the materials to build such a shed myself? With current lumber prices, I wouldn't want to assume anything. But if I just build it myself I can build it however I want, wrap or not, wires, etc.

Not sure if you have a menards by you. But they have a shed/garage builder on their website.

It'll give you a pretty damn good idea even if you have to source it somewhere else.

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[JackOfDiamonds]

Ok I just checked the Menards configurator.

There are a few things you can't change. You either have to choose their EZ-build gambrel trusses to get a barn roof, or you can do an a-frame roof but even those use trusses, which strikes me as overbuilt for a shed and rules out a loft. But anyway for their 10-foot gambrel shed, 16 feet long, it's looking like $4500+ just for materials, and their EZ-Build gambrel frames have rather short sidewalls too, not like the 7-foot sidewalls on the TuffShed I looked at.

I would strongly consider building my own but if it's going to be $6000 to buy and $4500 to build, I'm going to buy.

 

[Bolson32]

Yea, their configurator is fairly limited. When you order you can change things in store.

But again, it gave you a good idea. I didn't think you'd save much now. Buy all day at those prices.

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[bored350]

Have you considered a SIP building that you assemble yourself? For as small of a building as you are looking at and given your climate, you could be in a super tight and insulated building for around $3000 -$3500 and have squat utility bills with likely a larger footprint if you wanted. It would only take about 3 days with the help of a buddy to have the building assembled roofed and sided. Extreme Panel is about 3 hours from you and probably has a package designed already that would cover your needs.

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[yeldogt]

Help me out here .... what is the siding .... do they use sheathing ?

 

[theoldwizard1]

Help me out here .... what is the siding .... do they use sheathing ?

The ones I have seen just use T1-11 for both !

If you are planning on insulating and heating, I would want house wrap. Also get a case of spray foam and make sure all of the eaves are filled.

As someone mentioned, their floors and what is underneath them **** !

 

[readhead]

The siding is LP Smartside which I mentioned before. Don’t lose sight of the fact that we are talking about a shed used for any number of use. I’ve sold close to two thousand sheds that are used for cabins, garages, stores, storage, offices, scale offices, airport security office and on and on. It is easy to get in the weeds and treat this like a building science project. It really is as simple as wire, insulate and wall covering. No house wrap required. The siding will act as the WRB. The structure will be durable and safe. No need to make it more complicated.

 

[James-W]

I am just wondering if you might be better off building a small office from scratch instead of buying a pre-built structure and trying to adapt it in order to meet your current needs. Not trying to say buying a pre-built shed is a bad idea, just offering an option that perhaps you had not thought of.

My thinking is, since it will be an office space, or at least part of it will be office space, I would assume you will need electrical wiring installed as well as having to run cable for Internet access, or you could have wireless access instead. I am sure all this can be done with a pre-built shed, but I think it may be a better setup if you plan for all this ahead of time and then build the structure with these things in mind. Besides that, if you build the structure yourself you can have it exactly the way you want it and in my opinion that would be a huge plus.

 

[readhead]

Quite often the benefit of a prebuilt structure is fast turn around, portability and less cost. A lot of times no building permit is required. A building I supplied last summer for a home office was recently moved because the owner sold his house and moved. The building was moved to the new home, electric run to the breaker panel on the building and reorganized. We moved it on Friday and he was working on Monday morning. Wiring one of our sheds for an office usually takes one guy half a day to rough in and a couple of hours later to trim and install fixtures. We can frame interior walls if that is something the customer wants.

 

[karoc]

Buy what you want, like old wizard said insulate it with spray foam kits. You can buy drums off amazon and I thing the big box stores sells them for about 600. So you get your house wrap and insulation both in couple drums, from what I have read about spray foam it keep all noise out plus all the other benefits. Dang Idaho, I think you may also need little heat, so spray foam will help.