Opinions on sheathing a house

F350tony

First off Hello, I am a member on a few different forums mainly for my hobbies and have learned a lot from them so I am hoping to learn some more about housing.

My wife and are planning to start a new house this spring and are looking for some advice. Currently we live in our pole shed on the property and love how well I insulted it, we use about 40% less wood in our boiler than most people thought we would.

We are hoping to continue our trend. Anyways it is in western Wi typical 2X6 framing with fibergalss insulation. We priced out spray and it was to much money at a dollar a board foot. So we were talking to some insulation guys and they talked about wrapping the house in rigid insulation, still sheathing the house in osb just adding the insulation in addition. This way you gain the seal of spray foam plus have no thermal bridging from the studs.

I watched some videos on youtube and some companies are doing this, from the videos they showed putting either 1x's or 2x's around the window openings depending on if you go 3/4'' foam or 1.5''. Then you will have to use longer nails to hang the siding. Also some people were using this as there tyvek, they will tape all the seams and caulk the top and bottom peices.

I understand doing this we will need to have a quality air exchanger in the hvac system. Most of the labor we be myself, wife (believe it or not she was a big help in the pole shed) family and friends. So the cost will only be materials.

We really liked the idea of having no thermal bridging. We had a friend out who has a thermal camera and when he shot are exterior wall we couldn't pick out any studs, with an interior temp of about 72degrees and outside about 10. However when we shot the wall separating the living space from the shop we could pick out every stud, the house being 72 and the shop is somewhere around 58-60. I am mainly wondering if I am going to be causing any major problems to the house, especially mold. What else do I need to consider?

Sorry about the long post just wanted to give as much info as I could. Thanks for all the replies.

RenoStruct

What are your thoughts on double stud walls? Eliminates bridging without all the weird exterior details and barrier concerns. Will make siding much easier as well.

That said, your plan is a good one, I'm just throwing out another idea.

ben's plumbing

we always sheet house or additions with 7/16 osb wrap, siding...always get a nice job...

F350tony

Thanks for the reply the thought crossed my mind but I wasn't sure about it. I didn't think it would seal the outside quit e as well as being wrapped in foam and then I also wasn't sure about how you go about insulating the inside. R-19 batts or one R-13 batt from each side. Thanks fro taking the time to read it all.

I am guessing you are a stucco guy going from your name. If we choose to go this route what would your thoughts be on running the basement foam up all the way to the sill plate flashing and putting eface (not sure how to spell it but have seen it on many commercial buildings) on the exposed part above grade below the siding?

RenoStruct

You can use two batts, but a lot of guys go with blowing cellulose or fiberglass. You just do your interior vapor barrier and blow it right in, works like a champ AS LONG AS it's correctly done to avoid settling. I like

As a *bonus* you may get some discounts from the mechanical contractors for making their runs easier. Have the electrical guys use air-tight boxes (or just foam the wire penetrations).

I'm not a stucco guy, the name comes from Reno-vation and Con-Struct-ion, RenoStruct.

If you're planning on stucco though, the exterior foam is the way to go for sure.