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We hired a contractor to re-side our house. We live in the Midwest in a suburb of Chicago. I'm not familiar with the materials, but I believe they first wrapped the house with a 1/2" foam board, covered that with a "paper" wrap, and then put the vinyl siding on top of that. The contractor did a great job, except for one little detail... they put the wrong siding up.

Thankfully, they owned the mistake, and plan to tear off the wrong siding and put up the right one. However, I'm not sure if they plan to re-wrap the house too. So I'm wondering, as a paying customer, should I expect that?

Obviously, the new wrap they put up the first time will now have nail holes and tears throughout from the tear-off process. Is it just as good/functional to nail up new siding over the holey wrap, or should they really be tearing off the wrap too and putting up new/clean wrap? My main concern is if there are any leaks in the vinyl siding in bad storms, holes in the wrap will let water into the walls. I'm also not sure if those holes will compromise the insulating ability of the wrap in any noticeable way.

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When repairing a small section of siding, it's a best practice to tape the holes and rips in the weather wrap (which you refer to as "paper") with the appropriate tape. But for a larger area, it's faster to simply replace the entire section of weather wrap and I would insist on it. Nail holes and tears compromise the effectiveness of the material, so I wouldn't recommend leaving it on when residing the house.

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  • Thank you. Is the "weather wrap" you mention just the "paper" wrap over the foam, or do you mean the foam as well?
    – Nick Petrie
    Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 20:33
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    Weather wrap is what you're calling "paper" but it's more than that. It allows moisture vapor to escape from your home without allowing wind or condensed water in. Siding is there for decoration, physical protection of the layers below, and to shed much of the rain, but it's not water proof and relies on the weather wrap below to keep the rain out.
    – BMitch
    Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 20:53

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