How (and Why) to Wrap a House in Continuous Insulation: Rockwool ComfortBoard DIY

To control a home's heat bleed, noise pollution, and moisture issues, making the enclosure continuously insulated helps a lot, especially with a rain screen incorporated. See the details on how Rockwool (aka Roxul) ComfortBoard 80 is installed on our home.

[jackthepiot]

Finally someone normal in this world. In my experience all the contractors I ever dealt with all they ever say that what I do is an overkill. No one cares about the quality anymore. Most contractors are not educated and looking to cut corners. I love this guy, he does exactly what I do. Think outside of the box and make things better. Good job. Absolutely love it

[AndrewHaney]

Architect in Atlanta here. We always spec continuous insulation for homes and it ALWAYS gets removed during the budgeting process. Certainly happy to find other companies putting an emphasis on building performance!

[amdguru]

You are the FIRST smart builder I've ever known and I come from a construction family!!! Cost should NEVER be the primary consideration for building/remodeling a home. Yes, mineral wool has some health concerns, but those can be mitigated. It is 100% the BEST insulation to use in a home, period! But to take it one step further and wrap the house is exacting what is needed to keep energy bills low. Unfortunately, many people will never consider doing this because of the extra cost involved never realize the money they will save over the years!!! GREAT JOB you guys!!!!

[jl]

As much as I disagree with Corbett about mechanical ventilation and air tightness I still watch almost every single one of his videos and his channel is one of the only ones I get alerts on.

I appreciate that he talks fast so I don't have to put the video on 2x speed, he is passionate about home performance and has not been bought out by the companies who will remain unmentioned, and agree or not, he is blazing a trail and really wanting to increase knowledge of what makes a house "good"

[curtswartz]

I am in the process of following this setup in Western Pennsylvania. It's significantly more expensive in labor but I'm excited to see the results come winter time.

[MrTooTechnical]

Kick ass. Those danish people are smart for inventing rock wool. Usa is just getting onboard what canada 🇨🇦 has enjoyed for over 30 years (as in we have rock wool). Very clean and precise installation. Keep it up. Remember to furr out any batttin that are not in plane. Use a string to check how planar your wall is. Kick ass

[petermccracken]

The Cost ; Yes, Going for a thicker insulated wall will cost more to do, but after the house is built, the money you will save on heating, & air conditioning, will pay for the expense ! With raising heating cost's, the thicker wall, is worth thinking about !!

[ag-omnr]

This is all nice and good, but aren't Granite Countertops the most important ?

[GOLDVIOLINbowofdeath]

Home Depot in whole SF Bay Area only has Rockwool Comfort Board at their pro store in Colma. Lowes has it

[cindianderson]

Regarding the exhaust and intake of the ERV, Zehnder recommends only 10 feet apart. They told me it was more important to not have instake near something with bad air quality such as car exhaust, grills, etc. Obviously more seems better if you have the ability though.

[genes.]

Thank you for sharing some details. Exterior insulation and 2x4 framing is the way to go. I wonder about those 1x2's though...pretty dainty, hope they don't split when the siding nails go in!

[garethbaus]

2x8 framing is pretty extreme, at some point you should just use 2x10s on 48" centers that is pretty much the maximum spacing you can use with standardized sheathing while still having more or less adaquate compression strength. You might need to add metal reinforcements to get a good shear value (since each peice of sheathing is only nailed into 2 studs) and if this became standard practice we might need to use more engineered materials.
Also why do warmer climates have lax insulation codes? Air conditioning takes a lot of energy if you don't have good insulation, and extreme heat can be almost as deadly as extreme cold if your HVAC fails at exactly the wrong time and you don't have good insulation.

[hipdogdsv]

I just stuffed Rock wool insulation in all my 16 x 40 tiny house walls last night. Still have to do ceiling. I could tell last night after all the walls were covered the sound proofing was amazing. My little shack is going to be air tight once I staple up the wrap and then add my 1/2 plywood interior walls.

[OldManAkers]

excellent project,
Radon Pipe is it really necessary when using a ERV system? seems that Rodon needs to build up to potentially be harmful. But if the air in the home is being exchanged, then would the radon ever build up? It would be interesting to do a test to see what would happen if you blocked the radon vent for some amount of time, then take a radon test to see what happens.

[mikeinak]

My wife recently found a study showing the type of screw in this assembly makes a big difference in the efficiency of the rockwool. Apparently stainless screws do a much better job. Have you seen this and was there any thought given to using stainless screws?

[rogerwhiting]

I learned to keep the intake AND the exhaust for the air to air exchanger. A decent wind will overwhelm the system with toi much outside air. I think next time I will put a plumbing trap on the ventilator to decrease both outside positve pressure AND venturi. I wish I did my house in Massachusetts 20 years ago like yours.

[carlosreyes]

This stuff is really good for soundproofing as well.

[Leonidimus]

I'm gonna insulate exactly the same way. Question about the quarter inch timber screws on the 1x2 planks: aren't they too big? Can I just use normal #10 structural screws?

[gwilliams]

Your less than a mile from my grandmothers old house on Red Wine Rd. I was there often in the 70s. House is no longer there but a few acres still in the family.

I'm designing my house now and weighing furring strips and rockwool or Zip-R 9 or 12. Indecisive at this point.

Also planning for a partial encapsulated conditioned crawlspace for the same reason you did. I don't want to chip away rock on my upper slope and a conditioned crawlspace 24" higher than my basement works for me. I'd much rather have my equipment there with plenty large rigid ducts to the main and 2nd floor loft.

Maybe I missed it, but any reason you went with Rockwool versus Zip-R or OX-IS other than possible off gasing of the polyiso.

[keithdygert]

Will your cladding face be flush with the outer most edge of your manufactured black aluminum drip edge? Or, how will you keep bugs from entering your rain screen cavities while allowing airflow and any moisture to drain out? Also, if you have any good resources to share on detailing rain screens, that would be much appreciate it. Thanks so much!