Zip System wall sheathing advice

[EddieWalker]

I've been thinking about trying Zip System Sheathing on my house. I'm going to be adding on to my house and redoing my exterior siding with Hardi Lap Siding.

I want to do the siding one wall at a time because I don't want to get too into it and not be able to finish in a timely manner. Work is crazy and time to work on my place is getting harder and harder to find.

I've seen some commercial buildings using Zip System, but haven't seen it in any houses. That just means I havent seen it and that it's not used around here. I don't have any experince with it. Does anybody have anything good or bad to say about it? At $15 for a 4x9 sheet, it's quite a bit more then OSB and house wrap. That's not even including the special tape that is required.

ZIP System Sheathing, Roof & Wall Sheathing From Huber Engineered Woods

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[jeffah]

I just put hardiplank on my house and although harder to work with than vinyl it looks great and I think it is worth it.

I don't have any experience with their zip panels - but Huber's advantech subfloor is well worth its premium price. It is likely that the exterior panels are well engineered too.

I have seen some residential builders use it - I usually see it on townhouse buildings that take a lot of time to get fully dried in.

If you are going to have the sheathing exposed to the weather for any extended periods, as you do small sections at a time, you may see the benefits of its water resistance. You really don't want any swelling of seams of your sheathing under hardiplank siding because it is fastened tightly unlike vinyl and will show any irregularities in your framing.

You may be able to do some research and see if you can use tape other than the proprietary brand - although all housewrap and flashing tapes are expensive anyway.

 

[tommu56]

Ive noticed alot of it going up around here but no personnel experience no my part.

tom

 

[framer]

I have used it good product very dense sharper edges and a little harder to
cut than osb.Holds nails well very good if you leave exposed along time.
We don't use it much cost is the only reason. Roofs and walls get covered
quickly around here.

 

[forgeblast]

How thick is this product. I am in the planning stages to put hardi board over our t111, i would love to have it sealed up first but i worry that the groves in the t111 will make that impossible and i will have to tear it off.

 

[EddieWalker]

From what the website says, the wall product is 7/16" just like OSB. It's the green color. The red color is the roof product and is called 5/8" for a true half inch thickness. It's also tonge and groove so with enough strength that you don't use H clips. I'm wanting it for my walls and will probably order some next week.

Eddie

 

[CurlyDave]

I am really interested to see how this works out.

I think I have a new shop coming up sometime soon in Oregon, and maybe I will give it a try.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've looked on the website about how to attach it, but all they say is to nail it every six inches on the edge and twelve inches in the middle. They don't say what size nails to use, which isn't a big deal, but what I'm really wondering is how do you seal the nail heads? or do you?

I'm assuming that the water barrier on the panels will seal a nail that goes through it just like tar paper and house wrap does. But the nail head is still exposed, and if any moisture gets behind the siding, will it rust or lead to failure?

Eddie

 

[radioman]

Just looked at the website. It looks promising product. I would love to use that on the roof since it has better traction and doent need the weak h clips. I hate the clips in reroofs as they tend to bend and next thing you know you are walking on spring boards!

Eddie- if you are concerned about exposed nail heads, why cant you use the same tape that zip system use to cover seams with over nail heads? I don't see anything wrong with that. If anything, it just a extra few rolls of tape on the project.

Only thing I dont like is the MSDS states too many times about dust hazards, but then its nothing new right?

 

[Carl_NH]

My neighbor used the Zip red sheathing with 8d coated nails and taped the seams. He has 7000SF roof with valleys where they installed Bithuthane membrane in the valleys as an added measure. The sheathing was exposed for about a month before shingles and no leaks.

They used normal sheathing 1/2 CDX on the walls covered with tyvek then cedar shakes and siding combo. Then insulated the whole place with 5" closed cell sprayed insulation in the walls and 8-9" in the roof area. There are no roof vents.. He has a very tight 4K SF house..

 

[dmccarty]

Eddie, take a look at the forums on The Journal Of Light Construction. Here is a discussion I found about the Zip System. Seems like one has to pay attention to the seem taping but it is doable, ZIP SYSTEM (problems) - JLC-Online Forums

I found this Q&A about the product on the JLC website. JLC Online - Article View - Q&A

Years ago I built a temporary shed outbuilding. I used Hardi sheathing as the siding. Since I only had to put up a few 4x8 sheets of the stuff I cut it by hand. What a pain. One day I will be building some more permanent buildings and will using Hardiplank. Cutting the stuff with a saw did not seem like a good thing to do for me or the tools so I did some research and figured I would buy this these two tools if I had to do the work today, Amazon.com: PacTool International SS404 SteelHead Fiber Cement Cutting Shear: Home Improvement and Amazon.com: PacTool International SA903 2-Piece Gecko Gauge Hardi Board Siding Gauges: Home Improvement

By the way Amazon seems to have a lot of Dewalt cordless tools on sale the last couple of days. They look like good prices but I have given up on cordless so I have not kept up with the retail prices. Having said that the job I have to do in the attic this week would be easier with a cordless set of tools. But dragging a power cord up there is still cheaper.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

The February 2011 edition of JLC, The Journal of Light Construction has an article on using the Zip System Sheathing.

There is quite a bit of information in the article on using the material. Things that stood out to me.
- Roof material is some what skid resistant.
- The material on the exterior side of the sheet eats up blades.
- Depending on the inspector/code you do not have to use a house wrap.
- Because house warp is not needed, and the walls can be finished before standing up, using the wall sheathing is cheaper and faster than using OSB and house wrap.
- The builder is not sure that using the Zip Roof sheathing is cost effective in his area but it could be in other locals.
- Since the system keeps out water, the builder was not spending time and money running heaters and dehumidifiers to dry out the house.
- The tape was a big expense.
- Roof panels are 1/2 and 5/8 of an inch thick.
- Wall panels are 7/16 and 1/2 inch thick.
- The panels have a self spacer along the long edges.

Later,
Dan

 

[dwost]

I'm GC'ing a house for my in-laws now and we used the entire zip system on the walls and also roof. Also used Huber (mfg. of zip) Advantech floor sheeting. The stuff just flat out rocks. No need for house wrap or roof felt. Superior weather resistance, impregnated material, etc... Highly recommend it. They also had a rebate program and i got back $1,800 using the stuff. Overall cost was almost a wash using traditional methods. I'll post up some pics of it.

 

[Kays Supply]

I am a plumber not a contractor. However, one of my best contractors has gone to this material. So far he is very happy with it. The speed and water proof property is what he likes. Also, no felt to blow off while waiting for shingles. I like it because once the roof is taped it is pretty much waterproof. We don't have to work on wet, dangerous floors. They are giving a good rebate here also.

 

[scgargoyle]

Another good feature of the ZIP sheathing is that if you tape it, you go a long way towards sealing up your walls, an important factor in building an energy-efficient home. Using the numbers in the JLC article, it will cost me about $450 more to use it on the walls of the small house I'm going to build. Figuring the house will cost at least $100K, that's not much money.

 

[EddieWalker]

I went with the Zip System and really liked how it simplified being able to do one wall of my house at a time. I'm already weather tite, but I'm redoing my siding one wall at a time. The Zip System worked great.

Eddie