New to the industry within the last couple years is a product called Zip System by Huber Engineered Woods. It’s an exterior wall sheathing that includes a water-resistant membrane and air barrier as the exterior side to the wall sheathing panel. Compared to the building convention of plywood walls with house-wrap exterior, I feel like it’s leaps and bounds better. First off, because it’s made by Huber (also the makers of Advantech) the wall sheathing is extremely high quality. The polymers used in the product to join the wood fibers are extremely resistive to water and hold up through just about anything. Compared to OSB it’s a no-brainer. Second, the water resistive and air-barrier layer is fantastic.

I’ve put them on my personal house and love the tightness achieved (proven by my blower door test). With every sheet housing the air & water barriers, it’s as simple as taping the exterior sheets together to achieve a tight finished product. Much more fool-proof than nailing and taping house-wrap.

Lastly, Huber offers the panel with a rigid foam layer, options ranging from an R-3 to an R-12. A simple and efficient method to adding much-needed insulation to your home. Not only that, but a continuous foam layer helps combat thermal bridging. Thermal bridging is the effect of temperature change moving at different speeds through different materials, in homes a wood or steel stud transfers heat much faster than the in-wall insulation. A continuous foam layer lessens the effect, saving you money down the road in energy bills.

For more info on Zip System: http://www.huberwood.com/zipsystem/home-zip-system