Weather-resistant barrier between panel and lath battens...

[bygges]

Replacing the panel on half a house from the late 70s. Noticing that the insulation looks fine, and the wind barrier is also in good condition. The strange thing is that the wind barrier is placed outside of the furring strips, meaning the wind barrier is between the panel and the furring strips, and the air gap ends up against the insulation. The panel has never been replaced, so this is original.

It will take a lot of work to remove all the wind barrier and furring strips to place furring strips between the panel and the wind barrier for a proper air gap against the panel.

How would you do it? Should it be left as it is, as it seems to have worked relatively well for a couple of decades?

 

[Pumabjörnen]

Replacing the panel on half a house from the late 70s. Noticing that the insulation looks fine, the wind barrier is also in good condition. The strange thing is that the wind barrier is placed outside the battens, so it's wind barrier between the panel and battens, and the air gap ends up against the insulation. The panel has never been replaced, so this is original.

It will be quite a bit of work to remove all the wind barrier and battens to place battens between the panel and wind barrier for a proper air gap against the panel.

What would you do? Should one leave it as it is, as it seems to have worked relatively well for a couple of decades?

Sounds like someone made a mistake during construction and tried to "correct" it afterwards? Even if it has worked up until now, I would definitely tear it down and do it according to practice as the placement of the wind barrier is definitely not optimal.

 

[bygges]

Sounds like someone made a mistake during construction and tried to "fix" it afterwards? Even though it has worked so far, I would definitely tear it down and follow standard practice, as the placement of the wind barrier is definitely not optimal.

My mistake, it turned out to be transverse battens that the panel is nailed to. That means there are no nail battens. This is a row house, so many houses are built this way.

The wind barrier doesn't resemble anything I see in the market today; it has a plastic layer on the outside with a texture, see the picture, which seems to make it lie less against the panel than, for example, a wind barrier would without nail battens.

Leaning towards keeping it as it is since nail battens would extend the panel away from the windows and the barrier seems to be in okay condition.

 

[tergo]

Leaning towards keeping it as it is since nail battens would extend the panel from the window and the felt seems to be in okay condition.

you're right, if it has worked for over 40 years there's no reason to change it

 

[Pumabjörnen]

My mistake, it turned out to be transverse battens the panel is nailed to. In other words, there is no nail battens. This is a row house, so there are many houses constructed this way.

The wind barrier resembles nothing I've seen on the market today; it has a plastic layer on the outside with a texture, see picture, which seems to make it less flush against the panel than, for example, wind fabric would do without nail battens.

I'm leaning towards keeping it as it is since nail battens would push the panel out from the windows and the barrier seems to be in okay condition.

Then I interpret it as there's no ventilation behind the fabric, meaning the fabric is directly against the framework as it should be. If it had been as you initially described, with ventilation occurring behind the fabric, it could have led to strange moisture movement. But now that you describe the fabric being in the right place, it's not a problem.

The fabric reminds me, in appearance, a bit of the reinforced variant of vapor brake or diffusion barrier that is installed during the spraying of loose fill.

In this case, I would do as you mention and leave it be unless there are any signs of damage caused by moisture on the old panel.

 

[bygges]

Then I interpret it as there is no ventilation behind the fabric, that is, the fabric is directly against the frame as it should be. If it had been as you initially described and ventilation occurred behind the fabric, this could have caused unusual moisture migration, but when you now describe that the fabric is in the right place, it is not a problem.

The fabric resembles, in my opinion, a bit like the reinforced version of vapor barrier or diffusion barrier mounted in connection with the spraying of loose-fill insulation.

In this case, I would do as you mention and leave it as it is unless there are signs of damage caused by moisture on the old panel.

Yes, exactly, it is against the frame, but outside there is no nailing batten, and the panel is directly against this wind barrier. Yes, it will be left as it is built.