Housewrap behind flashing
We have a fairly new home, vinyl siding and Synthetic Stone cladding on the exterior. It has come to my attention, on the walls where the vinyl siding transitions to the stone, the installation appears to be incorrect, regarding the housewrap.
ZIP system sheathing, and a 2nd layer of housewrap was installed the entire length of the wall. The section where the vinyl siding meets the stone, there is kickout flashing. The 2nd layer of housewrap, however, stays uniformly consistent, with no break, behind this flashing at the wall transition.
From the drawings I have seen and researched, the 2nd layer of housewrap should terminate over top of the flashing at this transition.
Any recommendations or tips how to correct this? Remove bottom piece of vinyl, and fix?
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Replies
Birdie L,
What kind of synthetic stone? Cultured stone that uses mortar for installation, should have additional water management details. There are some synthetic stone products that are simply nailed on like siding. These products have an area behind that allows drainage. If a correction needs to be made, the good thing is you have vinyl siding, which can be easily "in-zipped" to remove the lower pieces. I would remove the flashing, cut the house wrap so that it ends up in front of the flashing. I always tape this joint. Best thing to do is get the installation instructions from the stone manufacturer.
ZIP-System sheathing has a weather resistant barrier (eg housewrap) impregnated into the panels themselves. It is designed and priced to be installed w/out housewrap so technically without the additional layer of housewrap your flashing detail would be the same because it would be tapped directly onto the ZIP-Sheathing itself. Being that vinyl siding inherently back vents, I wouldn't worry about it. As Randy said you could pull it off and lap the housewrap over the bottom flashing of the vinyl siding if it makes you feel better.
Btw..Houserwap itself is only warrantied for about half that of the ZIP-Sheathing anyways.
I would check ZIP-System website as well with regards to installing cultured stone.
Birdie, this is one of the most-often repeated mistakes in construction. Coupled with the lack of a kickout flashing at the bottom, almost every house has moisture intrusion and damage at the wall below this area.
If you have a full ZIP system, including the roof sheathing and tape at the wall/roof connection, it's not ideal to have the top of the step flashing un-flashed, but it's pretty safe. If you want it to be better just use a high-performance tape to seal the step flashing to the wall. 3M 8067, ZIP tape, Pro Clima Vana, and Siga Fentrim or Wigluv are all good options. Even better would be to cut the WRB to lap over the step flashing, then tape the connection.