Do You Need Tyvek Under Siding

Use tyvek over building felt under siding.

Do you need tyvek under siding.

We re in the middle of having vinyl siding installed on our 1950s house. Our house was built about seven years ago. During a recent repair to our siding we found that the house had no building wrap tyvek under the siding. Tyvek is designed for new homes only.

This explains why the house does not retain heat. In the end the decision to install house wrap under your siding is a personal one that you should make after discussing it with your contractor. I want to replace the tar paper but i can t find it at homedepot or lowes. I have read mixed things on tyvek that its needed its not its only for new houses it should go over foam under foam over or under based on climate it doesn t.

Builder omits house wrap under siding. Faq s acronym s terminology to tyvek or not to tyvek that is the question. The contractors had installed foam board on most of the house before i asked why they hadn t installed the tyvek we asked for and have in the contract. Its mostly just bad flashing but if the flashing fails the tyvek is supposed to be a back up right.

Tyvek is not designed as a product for older homes. I saw a new house with felt paper under the siding rather than tyvek. One would be to remove the siding wrap the house and then reside it. Vinyl siding is one of if not the most popular exterior cladding for residential homes.

Why do homes need house wrap. That said adding 1 2 to 1 of foam insulation board over sheathing and under siding will do much much. However if you re interested a residing project offers the perfect time to examine your home s weather barrier and exterior insulation and improve it if need be. My personal recommendation assuming you are in a locale with winters where the practice is to put a full vapor barrier under the interior drywall is to use a closed cell foam board rated for use under siding if additional insulation is needed covered with drainwrap or better yet foamboard then vertical treated or cedar standoff strip.

In fact many builders disagree on the effectiveness of house wraps altogether and while some builders will only install 15 pound asphalt saturated felt paper underneath exterior siding others swear by plastic fabric house wraps such as typar or tyvek. Its possible the damage could have been even worse with tyvek.