I'm trying to develop a wall section after doing lots of research and even talking to a few reps and technical experts.
You can comment on any part of the single family wood frame wall assembly you like, but at this moment I'm just struggling on finding an vapor permeable air barrier on the outside face of the exterior sheathing (
one step application and self-sealing of holes).
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Going from outside to inside:4" face brick veneer with metal ties slightly less that the 4-1/2" max allowed by code (well vented T&B - almost rainscreen style)
2" air-space
2" mineral wood board mechanical attached (
assume sinker nails with big washers) R-8
Air infiltration barrier - vapor permeable;
can be peel & stick or roll/spray1/2" CDX plywood (
fearful of OSB even that Zip stuff)
Polyurethane caulk on all ext. face framing members (
studs, plates, headers, rims boards, joints and intersections) - can this be done from the inside?
2x4 wood studs at 16" o.c. (
several reasons for shying away from 24" o.c. - long story)
Mineral wool batts at 3-1/2" deep R-15
Vapor Barrier on inside (warm wall side - northern climate) by CertainTeed "MemBrain" (
not sure how to seal electrical boxes yet)
1/2" drywall (gypsum board) - open to suggestions on alternates here too.
Paint (
nothing special planned yet)
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As you have guessed this wall assembly allows water vapor to escape to the outside to the cold dry air, not to the inside where there is warm humidified air.
I've looked into a little bit into Henry's Blueskin VP-160 peel & stick as a
vapor permeable air-infiltration barrier, but don't like the priming the seams aspect and possibly priming the whole building. Makes more sense to use a liquid applied system if I had to get the rollers and brushes out.
Also what I don't like about many of the systems I've looked at is what to do all about the nail and brick tie penetrations/holes. Tapes and caulk-like sealants are not to my liking, are there any
self-sealing vapor permeable air-infiltration barriers designed to go over wood sheathing?
Anything like this coming on the market soon?
The intent of this wall section was a brick veneer wall kept to 12-inches depth, first started with 2x6's in Zone-5 but location very close to Zone-6 so I'm trying to comply with both zones. Looked at ICF and SIP's, in the end the KISS Method won out, trying to keep it simple stupid.
