In early May I wrote about our wall mockups. Our wall assembly cross-section is designed to keep the house comfortable and dry by providing four important barriers: thermal barrier (keep the home comfortable), water barrier (keep rainwater out), air barrier (keep wind out), and moisture barrier (let water vapor leave the house without condensing in the walls). Our foam insulation on the outside is part of our thermal barrier (the rest will be inside the wall cavities), and now the crew is covering that with our Henry Blueskin VP100 membrane. This serves as the air, water, and vapor barriers, and sticks tight over the insulation boards to wrap the house in a full envelope. The principal is similar to the “GORE-TEX” clothing you buy for outdoor activites: it keeps the rain and wind off you, but your perspiration can diffuse through the fabric instead of being trapped and making you cold and wet.
These photos show the Blueskin going up on the house. After the windows are installed and taped, a layer of the yellow Benjamin Obdyke Classic Slickerwill get attached so that any water that gets through the clapboards can drain down the front of the wall instead of getting trapped and working its way into the house.
