Closing in the is process of getting all the holes closed--doors and windows--ans wrapping the house in a moisture barrier. This is essentially a raincoat made of Tyvek. We looked at the less expensive version available at Lowes and other hardware stores. This is like a "plastic burlap"-type woven material. But we went with the more expensive Tyvek because it seemed stronger, and because it's a true moisture barrier. There are no pores, because it's a sheet; it's not like a woven fabric. (This would really matter later, since it has taken us a lot longer than we expected to get siding on the house.) This stuff comes in rolls of 5', 8' and 10' widths. Our first floor is 10' high, the second 8', and of course you need an overlap. (Overlaps on any part of the outside of the house should be fashioned to shed water, like shingles.) So we went with 10'. You can see in the previous blog that the roofers took some sheets of this and applied it to the gables--this really saved us some effort later, since those gables are up to 26' off the ground!
We lost some shots from my phone, but here's the finished job. If I seem exaltant it's because I am! This was December. Working at heights of up to 20' on ladders while trying to steady a 40 pound roll of Tyvek, in the cold, while stretching it as tightly as possible...well, let's just say we don't want to do this again. We thank Jeb and Pat Baxter for their help with this. Sometimes it took up to 4 people to get this done. Start by striking level chalklines at the base and squaring the roll's edge on a corner, then just work...well, here, counterclockwise, as you can see by the upside-down logos.
The windows came around Thanksgiving. We're trying to save money wherever we can, but we wanted really good windows. These are Pella Pro-Lines, which have an aluminum exterior frame, and pine interior frames. They look great, and every professional that's been over to the house has said "Hmm, you got good windows!"
Here we are in early January. Notice on the left we've installed a 2nd floor window, but the larger rough opening for the big master bedroom window is to the right. This would end up being one of the last windows we installed, just because of the weight and height above ground.
And here, you can see the size of the living room window. Both the patio door and living room window here took 4 people to set and install.
I'd show more detail about installation, but the manufacturer's instructions are very clear if you decide to tackle this on your own. The most important thing is getting the frame square. Having really square rough openings cut by the SIP manufacturer really helped here.
