ZIP System Sheathing Review
I’ve written several posts about the new ZIP System sheathing products from Huber Engineered Woods. This exciting new product combines the benefits of Advantech sheathing with a built in vapor and moisture barrier. We have been using the ZIP System roof sheathing and the ZIP System wall sheathing for this new ranch style home.
As you can see in the photo the two ZIP System sheathing products have different colors to differentiate them. The roof sheathing is a brownish orange color while the wall sheathing is a nice green color. The wall panels are a 7/16″ OSB structural panel and the roof is a 5/8″ thick tongue and groove structural panel.
Once all the panels are installed you simply tape all the joints with a special tape from ZIP. Then you use a special roller to put pressure on the tape to make it adhere correctly. Once all the tape is finished you’ve created a “dried-in” building to work in. This product totally eliminates the need for a building wrap such as Tyvek and also a roof paper such as Roof Guard.
The ZIP System has worked very well. After 
the roof was taped it rained quite a bit. We only had a couple of drips inside and that was due to poor installation of the tape. Once we went back up on the roof and fixed the tape the water leaks stopped. Now we can just install the shingles directly on top of the ZIP System roof sheathing.
All and all I think the ZIP System is great. First of all I’m a huge fan of the Advantech floor sheathing products, especially how well it performs in a wet environment. The crew has loved working with this new product and it saves quite a bit of time not having to wrap the house with house wrap. I also think this product will drastically improve air infiltration performance for this new Energy Star home.
Check out other posts about the ZIP System:
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How do you properly flash a window using Zip Wall? Also is 2-3 perms enough for the wall to breath?
@ Steve – You flash the wall just as you normally would with self adhering flashing. They actually recommend you use the same tape that is used to seal the panels. Not really sure breathing is all that necessary with this product. It’s the same type of material as the AdvanTech sheathing that is very good in wet conditions.
Do you think this is a good product if the outside application is traditional stucco? Thanks Kate
@ Kate Fife – I’m not exactly sure. I think it would work fine.
[...] like this feature for a couple of reasons. We’ve started using a new product called the ZIP system sheathing. The manufacturers of the ZIP System require that the sheathing nails be set flush to the [...]