Also, not a fan of the stucco look, any recommendations for the protective layer over the basement foam? I heard of a product by NUDO and also another by PROTECTO WRAP
any recommendations or experiences with these?

ideally the face of your wall foam should line up with the foundation foam

I have another question with regards to water managment. The wall stack up is as follows:

2x6 stud wall 16 o.c.
ECOSEAL in all wood to wood contact points/ picture framing stud cavities, top plates, and sill plates
Rockwool R-23 batts in stud voids
7/16 sheathing with caulk on studs when installed
tyvek
1.5 inch felt faced poly iso
1x4 furring strips
vinyl siding

My question is....how do i prevent the foam and or the furring strips from getting wet? Vinyl siding lets water in behind it...happens all the time. Should I put the tyvek outside the foam since I am not using the foam as a water barrier? It's FLET faced not FOIL faced so I am concerned about it getting wet if not protected.

Also, I read in another post from a guy in chicago that he was doing the same wall stack up but using XPS and he was concerned about an interio air barrier...some kind of active barrier that allows some moisture to pass through? I am very concerned that my stack up is not that great?

Posted By easyrider470 on 31 Mar 2014 10:38 PM
As always thanks Bob and DANA for your insight.

Question: So hanging the sill plate 1" off the wall would allow for the foams to be even and the furring and siding to be PROUD to the foam. I like the sound of that and I assume I can just utilize the screen that I see folks using to allow airflow up underneath the siding but no bugs or animals. However, is there some concern with the non pressure treated lumber for the furring strips being exposed to that much airflow since they will be proud to the foam? I was thinking the best case scenario would be for JUST the siding to be proud so there was not even the smallest gap for air infiltration? Which is best??

The furring will get wet from wind-driven rain no matter how well you sealed the top & bottom. What you're counting on is have MORE air flow so that the furring always dries quickly. It need not be pressure treated- it's effectively being constantly air-dried under the vinyl siding between bulk water incursion events.

It's not much different than than un-treated un-painted framing behind a board & batten sided barn, which seems to be good for a century or ten looking at the condition of millenium-old stave buildings in Norway.  This sucker was built in 1150:




As long as it dries quickly wood is pretty tolerant of intermittent wetting. It's only when you trap the moisture in that it gets to be a problem.

Between the furring it's common to use 3/4" Cor-A-Vent &/or the spun polyolefin roll mesh commonly used under ridge shingles for ridge venting as critter-control, while still providing relatively unfettered ventilation.

Don't sweat the felt facer issue- it's almost always an asphalted felt, but even the treated paper-faced polyiso is sufficiently water tolerant under ventilated siding.

And don't sweat foam-R/fiber-R ratio either- you're in a warmer climate than Chicago, and even derated for the cold you have sufficient R at 1.5" of polyiso for 2x6 framing with up to R23 of cavity fill.  If you wanted to install an interior-side varible-permeance "smart" vapor retarder you could, but in a climate zone 4 location (even the cold edge) I wouldn't bother if you have 1.5" of iso on the exterior.  Even in MARINE zone 4 (wetter than your location) you'd have huge margin with 1.5" of iso.  The IRC says R3.75 is good enough for 2x6 framing for marine 4, R7.5 for 2x6 framing in zone.  Derated for your winter temp averages you'd still get better than R7.5 performance out of it

Thanks DANA. Makes me a little more easy about the foam and the wall stack up.