Exterior Insulation - What NOT to do! (And the Correct Way)

Today's video is sponsored by my friends at ROCKWOOL and we will be talking about how to use their Insulation on the outside of your new BUILD. I'll start by telling you a horror story of one of the first homes I built with Exterior Insulation and the massive issues that happened by not installing it with an eye towards Building Science. Next, I'll walk you through the case for Outside Insulation AND tell you assemblies and methods that work! I hope you enjoy this deep dive into Exterior Insulation! -Matt Risinger

Huge thanks to our Show sponsors Polywall, Huber, Dorken Delta, Prosoco, ROCKWOOL & Viewrail for helping to make these videos possible! These are all trusted companies that Matt has worked with for years and trusts their products in the homes he builds. We would highly encourage you to check out their websites for more info.

[jackjmaheriii]

Fantastic video! Maybe the best he’s ever done. He hits all seven steps of the instructional method (attention, motivation, overview, body, summary, re-motivation, closure). Every visual aid is clear, appropriate to the topic, and elevates the point he’s driving home, without adding clutter. In fact, there is an any clutter the entire presentation. He does a good job of using the face cam when what he saying is important, and using the slides when what he’s showing is important. An extremely tight presentation. This is how you do 27 minutes of all killer, no filler.

[omaspen]

Matt, as a long term member of the building community I enjoy your videos. They're full of great info on the newest products and trends in the industry. However, guys like you just don't get certain things when it comes to building durability. Caulk, sealants, tapes and self stick building wraps will not keep out water long term in all but the driest, warmest climates. Even then it will not totally prevent water damage, although it can greatly delay it. What works is what has always worked. Carefully, and properly applied flashing, ( real flashing, not tapes, and other self stick products.) and over hangs on a building. A building with out over hangs will eventually have water infiltration. My own home was built by my company over 35 years ago. It has none of the high tech water sealant products you use. It does not have a drainage space between the siding and the sheathing to allow for water drainage. What it does have on my 2, 700 sq ft ranch style home is a hip roof with two ft over hangs all the way around. After 37 years there is zero water damage of any type. This is despite the 45 inches of precipitation we have in my area per year.Often wind driven. Get the point? Many modern building designs will have water infiltration no matter what products you use to prevent it because the design does not include over hangs. No one wants to accept this, I didn't either when I was younger, but one must often decide between building esthetics, and building durability. Hope this gave you and your viewers some food for thought.

[markwhite]

Matt, you're doing a real service to the industry and to the nations by dealing with these knotty problems. This is important stuff. Thank you.

[larrythomas]

You are an amazing teacher Matt. I'm not a builder, just a DIY homeowner. I look forward to your videos as I always learn something from each one you post. Thank you!

[Dash]

The EIFS story is interesting. I am an architect who used a fair amount of primary barrier EIFS in the late 1980’s through the mid-1990s in medium sized contemporary commercial work. In my region we some very good commercial plaster and stucco contractors who did very good work who always told us that it required good installers who knew what they were doing and everything was detailed according to manufacturer’s requirements. Our designs were relatively simple and planar. We avoided over-articulated facades and always used top-of-the-line commercial-grade silicone sealants and proper flashing. Synergy in Rhode Island provided excellent support. ALL of these installations are still up and performing well. One is almost 40 years old. Here in New England it is almost never seen in single family residential construction. EIFS had been successfully used in Europe for low-to-moderate cost construction for decades...almost always as a finish over structural clay tile substrates...never wood.
By the late 90s you saw less and less EIFS except on buildings like CVS drug stores and other miscellaneous strip mall structures. Styles changed and budgets got better.
When EIFS hit the overheated Sun Belt residential market in the early-to-mid 1990s all hell broke loose. Misapplication and poor workmanship lead to a cascade of lawsuits that utterly transformed how it was perceived.

[hollynorris]

I’ve become a big fan of the build show and Matt your clearly awesome. When watching I can usually keep up but sometimes your using terms I don’t know. I’ve been interested in super insulation for many years. What’s good for me as an amateur who has built 1 house and light remodels is seeing the build from a professional contractor angle causing me to up my game to build better by understanding the situation differently . In other words when you are explaining concepts remember amateurs like me are trying to take it all in. Love all your shows keep it up.

[nathanarmstrong]

Home Inspector Here - every home inspector should be watching your videos especially new students to build their knowledge base - great work Matt!

[Oldhogleg]

I've been in the construction field since the 70's, been a licensed contractor in California going on for four decades now, so I've seen the construction industries gone through a number of evolutionary phases.

The irony I've noticed is that even though buildings were much less efficient back in the days of cheap energy up to about the early 70's, the conventional building practices and building technology up to that point were reliable tried and true methodologies that typically were free of chronic failure issues.

It was when energy conservation became an ever increasing goal beginning in the 70's that building construction practices began being plagued with ever increasing chronic system failures. And what I've also noticed to compound the problem is a growing failure of understanding the fundamental proper practices because there's and serious lack of experience and education among new architects and contractors.

An example is a low rise condo/apartment building in a local city who had the window and door fenestrations torn out and reinstalled up to three times do to poor system design and practices caused by a lack of experience and knowledge in today's building industry.

So the long story short is your efforts in correcting these problems are very refreshing! 👍

[BobPritchard]

Always enjoy your videos Matt. And learn a lot. I'm a DIY'er and only wish the contractors I hire occasionally would *ALL* watch your channel and others to keep up to date on the latest advances in building materials, practices and building science. Many thanks.

[jerzykolodziej]

You probably covered this in other videos... cold bridges. Cold bridges tend to concentrate condensed water when below dewpoint of air. Over time, they can encourage mold and rot. Many of the examples you give in this video minimize or eliminate cold bridges. It is important. Likewise attention to the HVAC system is also important. Well insulated houses with minimal infiltration need ventilation and humidity control in most climate areas. For example, if you insulate you home but do not install double glazing or better, the moisture will often condense on the inside of the windows at night and on the outside during the day. It can be a large amount that damages your building.

Great video!

[rafalobo]

I am glad to find this video, here in UK they are using the old method you have described, lucky for me now that I know what happens I definitely don't want this done to my house. Your video is 3 years old, how come they are still stuck with the wrong way of doing this job is unbelievable.

[jucallme]

Ive been going over your videos for months how to deal with penetrations from exterior cladding/insulation with fluid applied membranes... and here it pops up.. thank you for finally covering this!

[justanotherguy]

Help me to understand - at 15:00 is that metal flashing staying like that? Seems to be many entry points for water as you have introduced lots of 90 degree corners for the wind to push the rain into, plus it kinda looks ugly....

[greg]

Mat this video nailed it for me, i do construction in commercial Building as a sheet metal worker, an were going to build our first home with little knowledge of home building, were building through 'Ubuild it', but being around other trades an getting to know them an watching your videos give me confidence to go through with it, this video an the last was great, keep up the great work, never miss a video from u

[boedillard]

Matt, this was a great follow up video. I'd love it if y ou did more of these. The current format where you show off the latest toy that excites you is great. It would be great if there was a second half to each video/follow up where you show some of the techniques for the install of that HVAC, toilet install or whatever with this level of detail would be amazing.

[philipp]

We always talk about the importance of a air gap to let moisture wicking away and help the drying process. And I like it.

But I keep having this vision of a double walled building with an air gap of 12-24”. This large gap could be a “conditioned” space that gets heated or cooled depending on temperature. So you have insulation on both sides of the gap and the structure on the inside never gets exposed to air temperature and moisture swings. Commercial boats are build with double layered hulls.
I wonder if such a design has ever been considered

[draggingcrewcab]

Matt I have been watching your channel religiously for a few years now and love your content. We are designing and building a home with metal siding and metal roofing and had hoped you would eventually cover how to effectively install insulation and water barriers in such an instalation, but haven’t come across that topic yet.

I know spray foam is generally used for insulative properties and I considered an additional layer of rockwool, but I am not sure if there should be a vapor barrier applied before the metal is applied or if there is a better solution for such an install.

I am in the hill country as well so value your building methods because they make sense and are directly related to our building conditions

Thank you and keep up the great work

[blakehorn]

Your videos are invaluable, Matt. I dont know of anywhere else we can find such detailed info right at our fingertips. Awesome stuff

[pbombay]

If this is planed from the start, why not frame out the window and door openings with the next size up lumber. eg: if building 2x6 walls then frame the window/door openings with 2x8 and have them flush as usual?

[CAMacKenzie]

Thank you for your videos. Your enthusiasm, reviews, callouts and just plain builder homage makes me believe anything is possible in home building, and it doesn't have to cost a fortune. I so like this.