House Wrap & Flashing

The layer that decides whether the siding lasts.

5 articles

• A Drainage Gap Behind the Siding — Cheap While the Wall Is Open

  The siding will let some water through. Whether that water drains away or sits against the sheathing is decided by a three-quarter-inch gap.

• House Wrap — The Siding Is Not the Water Barrier

  Re-siding is the one chance in a house's life to get the layer behind the siding right, and it costs very little while the wall is open.

• Rot Behind the Siding — What to Expect and How It Gets Priced

  Every re-side on an older house finds something. The question is not whether, but whether the price for it was agreed in advance.

• Where a Roof Meets a Wall — The Junction That Rots Houses

  One small bent piece of metal at the bottom of a roof-wall junction decides whether decades of runoff goes into the gutter or into the wall.

• Do You Need House Wrap Under Vinyl Siding? — Yes, and Here Is Why

  Vinyl siding leaks by design — it has to breathe and drain. The wrap behind it is what keeps the wall dry, and how it is lapped decides whether it works.