New Home Build
Greetings,
I’m a long time reader. I’ve learned a great deal from reading these forums. We’re building a new home real soon. Hopefully, we will be in this home a long time, and energy efficiency is important to me. I’m sure I’ll have many more questions, but I’d appreciate any advice on the following to start.
Our home is 2,500 sf. It’s basically a rectangular, two-story, shape. We are zone 4a.
The home is a fairly contemporary look. My architect, who has not let me down thus far, wants to spec metal cladding. The walls will be 2×4, likely 16 o.c., with either batt or blown cellulose, and Zip sheathing and 1.5″ exterior insulation (the Zip is a sheathing/insulation combo). Wall R should be about a 19 not including cladding. I believe I recall the architect planning on specifying a rain screen / air gap. So how will the metal cladding effect the energy efficiency?
Thanks
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Replies
C. Maglio,
Q. "So how will the metal cladding effect the energy efficiency?"
A. It won't. If you do a good job building your walls -- yours are OK, but they could be better -- the walls will include enough insulation to make the choice of cladding irrelevant to the thermal performance of the walls.