Do I Need Felt Paper Under Siding

That s because i believe that under certain circumstances felt outperforms housewrap.

Do i need felt paper under siding. Before delving into why you should have house wrap under your vinyl it is essential to understand what exactly house wrap is. I have seen literally hundreds of houses stripped of asbestos siding that had 15 felt under it. But because the vinyl siding covers the felt paper it is shielded from the sun and never gets hotter than the temperature of the siding from solar gain. Many builders use standard 15 pound roofing felt.

Felt or building paper must be applied to walls properly to be effective. Tar paper does not offer this. I ll stick with tried and true felt paper. The old practice of running felt strips under siding casing joints may actually be creating an environment more prone to rot by concentrating more moisture.

Should any water get past the siding properly installed felt paper. I ve opened up houses built less than 5 years previous and the tyvek was shreaded like old newspaper. Siding applied directly over tar paper creates a sandwich effect and can trap water between the siding material and the tar paper. Felt labeled astm 15 meets specific standards and is the norm in many areas.

The short answer is that felt paper is fine as a weather resistant barrier behind vinyl siding and will not cause a problem if the siding is installed correctly. Install pieces in the correct order and make cuts carefully so any moisture can travel downward at all points without slipping under the wrap. Over the years house wrap materials have advanced providing far more protection. Decades ago the original form of house wrap used was asphalt coated felt paper.

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. The paper requirement is typically omitted for other types of siding when they re installed over rated structural sheathing. This is a time intensive process and requires all sorts of skill. They were built in the 1950s and 60s the felt was in perfect condition.