Tyvek vs Zip - Is Zip a Failure Waiting to Happen? CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO

this is an age-old question Tyvek versus zip over the years I've gotten a lot of comments in my videos what do you think about this system versus the other cuz you know been on YouTube now for 11 years I have 700 videos I actually have quite a few videos about both systems that I've used over the years but on the build show today I'm really going to be addressing a specific attack video that the Tyvek guys have been publishing and in fact they're they're using YouTube to run this ad before a lot of my videos and I've got a bunch of comments about this specific video let's watch a quick clip here when zip system coded cheating boards are installed they're fastened using power driven nails which are often over penetrated a bit this over penetration compromises the zip sheathing protective coating and creates a path for water to enter the wall system all right so this ad or video I should say seems to be independent testing and goes on to show how those nail holes in the zip sheathing are leaking whereas their house rap doesn't have any problems with those now it's interesting out and it does pose a good question that is worth delving into so we're going to take a few minutes now to actually look at this so first off what is this test this is the ASTM e 3 3 1 - 0 0 2016 it's the standard test method for water penetration of exterior windows skylights doors and curtain walls by uniformed static air pressure difference now Jordan Smith went down to the huber factory where they made plywood we published that video a while back and while he was there they set up a side-by-side test with the same spray rack of these two wall assemblies to see if they could reproduce this now I wasn't there in person but I got a chance to look there all the footage and talk to Jordan so I'm gonna talk you through it now so first off they set up the two assemblies really using the best practice methods then they put a spray rack on them to mimic 1/8 inch per hour rainstorm that's basically five gallons per hour per square foot on the wall the interesting part about this test is then they're going to depressurize the back side of the wall as if there's a pressure that would actually force any moisture into the wall cavity now behind the white house trap they put a tissue paper so then any moisture back there they can see it and in between the zip panel and the studs they also put that same tissue paper so any penetration of moisture or liquid water coming through there would be really really obvious now this test is only a failure if there's liquid water into the cavity remember that we're gonna you're gonna see that in the future now what happened on the test they ran this this test at their facility for almost an hour there was absolutely zero leaks on the Zipp side all those over driven fasteners none of them leaked on this test on the Tyvek again no leaks into the cavity but what was interesting is that when you cut away the house rap you actually saw that the cap fasteners leads now I've used cap fasteners for years and they do a great job of keeping the house trap on the house when it's windy but what I didn't realize is they're not actually great at waterproofing now if you go on to later in this video you're gonna see how they put a column of water on top of an over driven fastener on the zip and then use that same column of water over time ech and they're going to show you how that column of water just drips all the way down through that nail but what they don't show you is right here look at this if you look closely at that the cap fasteners are on the corners and the cat there's no caps or that water columnist so it's just bare Tyvek basically where that's holding out that head of water now if this was really a independent test they would put those water columns on the green part of the zip sheathing and dead center or they'd put them both on fasteners and I'll tell you what happens if you put that over a cap fastener with a head of water the same exact thing happens that a head of water is gonna fall down and it's gonna leak through there and that's exactly what we've seen on that test and I've also run kind of a backyard version of that test that I did Anna not too long ago video where it was not Tyvek it was a less good woven house trap which I would not recommend using and you saw those cat fasteners leaked at that intersection anytime you've got a mechanical penetration through there and you've got a head of water which means you're acting like a bat right or a basement waterproofing it's gonna leak through there neither one of these materials are meant for basement waterproofing they're all above grade waterproofing the house trap because those cat fasteners leaked is going to soak the face of the OSB in this test now that is not a failure in the test and they don't mention that they don't get into that because it's on the face of the earth be rather than coming into the cavity but the takeaway on this is we couldn't reproduce it I don't know what they're doing I'm not sure if they just drove the pressure up crazy high and that's how they got those nails to leak but we couldn't reproduce that ultimately though this test does not matter this test is for fenestrations for windows in not house rap testing this is not really a good test of house raps neither system is gonna see the kind of rain that you're seeing from these spray racks because you're gonna have a cladding attached on the face the cladding is gonna get soaked and not nearly as much water is gonna get back there and you're also not gonna have that kind of pressure forcing it in so really this test is not a great test it's not meant for house wraps and and it's a little bit suspect in the way that this ad that's playing before my videos is showing you how it works it's not really a good apples to apples comparison ultimately both these systems I've used in the past and I think are good systems and on a well-designed house and ultimately if they're installed correctly you're not gonna have problems with either one of these systems they're not bad systems you need to choose which one is right for you now I will tell you there are a few advantages to zip that I've found this really led me towards that as a system over the last couple years the big one for me is it acts as an air barrier as well as a water barrier that zip system tape is acrylic based and really really bomber you know I'll be honest when zip came out on the market a little over 10 years ago when I first saw it I thought that's a terrible idea duct tape is not gonna last on a house I thought you know this is not gonna happen I've seen for years peeling sticks that stuck one day the next they appealed right off the house however the peeling sticks that you and I are typically used to seeing are either butyl based or asphalt based that's super old technology the new technology with acrylic tapes that the zip system tape is based on once you roll that on and get that pressure on there man it is stuck what really changed my mind on the system was visiting the UT durability lab I made some videos about five years ago I'll link in the description on this that showed how the zip system even exposed to the Texas Sun and heat for years without a cladding on it has done incredibly well this is a really durable system on the other hand most of the house wraps after exposure to UV for that long we're not looking very good so this was the first time maybe five or six years ago that really changed my mind on zip as a system the other big advantage that zip has is this is a fully applied system that green waterproofing facer on the front is applied everywhere so if you have a fastener of penetration through it you're not gonna see that leaking behind the face like you see on a typical house wrap with a cap fastener the zips can install in one trip around the house and there's really no origami necessary that's the other thing I really like about it's a very simple install system now both systems though will have failures or problems if they're installed incorrectly remember the zip to the zip system is not foolproof you need to roll the tape that's really important you need to have a clean substrate you can't have a bunch of sawdust or dirt on there when you apply apply the tape but there's alternatives for all that number one if you have over driven fasteners you can simply tape over those ever driven fasteners the tape is fantastic zip 1.0 works really really well or you could use fluid applied check out my videos on zip 2.0 where you can flute apply it over those nail heads or you can do fluid a plot in your seams if you want to that tape is an incredible product they really have engineered it well guys thanks for joining me on this deep dive between the two systems as I've said I've made a lot of videos on both systems if they're installed correctly they're both good systems but I think there's a few things that have really separated the zip from the pack when it comes to air tightness when it comes to ease of assembly it's an excellent product and these attack ads that they're showing they're not balanced they're totally biased towards the manufacturer that paid for the videos guys if you're not currently a subscriber hit that subscribe button below we've got new content every Tuesday and every Friday otherwise false and Twitter Instagram we'll see you next time on the build show [Music] you

Channel: Matt Risinger

Views: 637,253

Keywords: tyvek, zip system, huber, house wrap, waterproofing, which waterproofing, dupont tyvek, tyvek construction, weatherization, zip vs tyvek, housewrap, choosing housewerap, zip leaks, leaky tyvek, tyvek fail, zip wall, zip sheathing, werb, wrb, weather resistive barriers

Id: p3q09-Thebs

Length: 9min 23sec (563 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 19 2019