WRB: Peel & stick or liquid applied to compete with zip?
tdbaugha
| Posted in General Questions on
Pricing out options for my upcoming build. Zip panel plus tape carries roughly a $0.50/sqft premium over commodity OSB. Are there any peel and stick or liquid applied WRBs that are in that price range these days? I priced it out 3 years ago and zip was by far the least expensive option, is that still the case?
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Blueskin VP100 is the least expensive product I'm aware of and cheapest I see it is about $0.75/ft^2, and that ignores how much harder it is to install than just taping Zip.
I've never priced liquid WRBs because no one in my area does that except for large commercial projects.
I thought Mento was cheaper than 0.50. They have a peel and stick option, and they seem to be a pretty high quality product.
Adhero is Pro Clima's self adhered option, and it's over $1/ft^2.
Wow, I didn't realize it was that much more expensive than the baseline Mento 1000.
Those products are out for me. Zip back in the lead!
tdbaugha,
Those aren't the only options. You can still tape (or not depending on where your primary air-barrier is) either OSB or plywood, and use a regular sheet WRB like Tyvek.
+1
Tyvek 10 cents a square foot.
+2 CDX + Tape+ house wrap is less cost and you get a better wall at the end of the day. A bit more labor though.
Thanks guys. I am considering that as well. With 2.5-3” exterior EPS or Rockwool plus a rain screen, is Zip just a waste of money?
Zip buys you time and simplifies getting the place dried in. How important that is depends a lot on the scope of your project.
I've had very good luck with 3m8067 taping CDX.
I like to fully build a wall (ie tapes seams, install rigid, install WRB and strapping) before standing up the wall, so ZIP doesn't buy me much.
Any specific tape that you would recommend?
Henry blueskin sa clearl;y the least expensive selfadhering product, and delta/dorken s family of SA WRB the best /most robust. But you get what you pay for. A very good compromise in physical and adhesive attributes is the Vaproshield family. There are knock offs of Huber zip by GP and LP are are virtually indistinguishable, but I wonder if the modest price difference is worth sacrificing the integration of the large family of Huber products, the support, and the Hubers reputation and experience in these type of products. Obviously a meticulous zip job will exceed any poor delta application. And if you want the very best most sure fire way, use a Tremco or Prosecco,liquid product. But always Assess the guys applying any of these products carefully-good attentive labor is so hard to get. With the liquid products it’s effortless to inspect ‘see, easy to remedy any gaps. Really hard to apply metuculously these full membranes, but when you do they are the most robust . If doing zip, tell the crew ahead of time you will be inspecting EVeRY foot of tape and make them replace at their cost every bit that is wrinkled or not pressed with the embossed z roller. Give them a free zip roller.AND insist they use it, and get your kids friends with a drone to go up and inspect every taped seam of orange zip,on the roof. As for tapes zips is as good and inexpensive of any of the others, though Siga fentrim is unsurpassed in sheathing to concrete joints and Proclimas new is the cats meow for plastic into plastic joints (subslab membranes etc)etc) …for old schoolers you can’t knock some of the robust butyl products -they have had such Great success as long as it’s clean dry surface, not too cold, they aren’t prepared to save a few dollars with some of thin more modern acrylic tapes for flashing windows etc. please note zip liquid flashing is rebranded prosocco; you can save a bit of you buy the later and don’t care if colors clash before nailing finishing in your wall, but why jeopardized the zip warranty? by the way, LP product warranty is slightly better, larger max payout. Same duration and terms…
Check out Rothoblaas; your local lumberyard might be able to get it. It's relatively new to the US market but we used it on a recent project for interior and exterior membranes and tapes and it was affordable and high-quality.
Called Rothoblaas. Seems like a great company, and good prices for what you're getting. Northern Italy company, products made in Europe and shipped to their warehouse in PA.
Their vapor open 260 gsm peel and stick runs about ~$0.90/sqft. Vapor open 200 gsm loose WRB ~$0.50/sqft.
Side bar, they have a ton of handy looking tapes, gaskets, seals, etc for other areas as well.
They also make beautiful hardware. I accused the sales rep of giving me a custom-milled timber screw because it glistened like polished silver.
And they make double threaded screws up to 20” long specifically for attaching rain screen battens over exterior insulation.
That’s very interesting. I’m seeing zip prices about .75 usd more per sf than cdx, when you add in zip tape, theb260nSA Rothoblaas looks very competitive price wise AND way more vapor open….
Out of curiosity, is there advantage to peel and stick over a loose WRB? Or is it more just preference of the installer?
Tim_O,
The big advantage I can see is on existing houses where the sheathing has been compromised or where boards were used. The adhered WRB allows you to use it as an effective air-barrier.
Would a taped loose WRB such as Mento or similar quality not serve as a good air barrier as well?
Tim_O,
From this blog by Fernando Pages Ruiz:
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/working-with-self-adhering-wrbs
"Dan Kolbert... is a regular user of self-adhering WRBs, which he mentions in the comments section of his GBA article, “A Case for Double-Stud Walls.” Although he used a self-stick material on the house featured in the article, Dan generally uses these special membranes for renovation projects. Being thicker than conventional house wraps (Tyvek Homewrap is about 7-mil. thick vs. SIGA’s Majavest, which is 20-mil. thick) they have the advantage of bridging larger gaps. He says self-adhesive WRBs offer “a relatively easy way to get a decent air-seal on an existing house, especially an old one with board sheathing.” While Dan has installed SIGA, Benjamin Obdyke, and Henry, he prefers SIGA for its “excellent quality, good adhesion, and high perms.”
Thanks, Malcolm, appreciate the info!