Hello,

I am looking to re-side my split level house located near Philadelphia PA in the next few years and am looking for advice on how to improve the wall assembly performance. Window replacement could also be undertaken at the same time as a max of 8 windows are affected by this.

The current setup is in the attached image:

– 2×4 studs in red. Most of the walls have 1957 1 1/2 inch fiberglass batts inside that don’t really do much.
– 3/4 (25/32) john mansville weathertite sheathing from 1957 in green. Most likely contains asbestos but have not tested yet.
– tar paper
– 1 1/4 inch bevel siding in orange. The white paint contains lead.
– aluminum siding

Most neighbors (80%+) who have re-sided, have had foam fanboard and/or house wrap installed over the old wood siding then new siding. Basically the aluminum siding got swapped for vinyl. I do not want to go this route. I definitely want to get rid of the wood bevel siding.

The other 20% of neighbors had the the aluminum siding and wood bevel siding removed and replaced with house wrap and vinyl siding. A better route but does not add any insulation.

I am a long time reader of GBA so I am aware of exterior insulation, rain screens, etc. I got some ideas on how to make this assembly better but would like anyone else’s ideas with more experience first. If doing continuous exterior insulation, I would prefer rockwool comfortboard over foam but am not 100% opposed to rigid foam. I would be hiring this out.

Images are from when I replaced a door.

Any help appreciated. Thanks!