ThermoPly......

FireballBrick

What's everyone's views on Thermo-ply??? Here (Destin, Ft. Walton Beach), new homes are using it with no house wrap or anything.... I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I can't see how pressed cardboard can last, especially without a wrap. Can anyone edumacate me on requirement? I like using the blue tongue and groove styrofoam and then taping that when we do wood/vinyl siding to brick conversions.... For some reason, ThermoPly screams cheap and crappy to me.... anyone got input on this general topic???

Adrienne

K2

First time i used it was back in 1978 on the top of Beech Mt. NC. I went to visit there a couple of weeks ago and the building is still standing and everyone seemed happy and warm inside. I never liked it much myself and havn't seen much of it around here in the past 5 years. I guess the price of osb could change things.

PipeGuy

There weren't two house built around here in the 80's that didn't use the stuff. That means that now'days it's part of many an $800K re-sale house.
The thing that's always struck me about it is that siding, thermoply and drywall doesn't make for a very secure home. You can pretty much kick through the wall section.

FireballBrick

Pipe, talking about kicking thru the wall, there is a juvenile hall here that is a stucco building. They have escapes all the time by kids just digging thru the wall.... Thermoply rates right up there with stucco for me!
Adrienne

BuildJack

I was interested in using this stuff so I ran some searches and came across this blog. Interesting discussion, I'm inclined to think about the guy who said he saw the house that was built in 1978 and it's still standing. One of my HBA fellow members swears by the stuff. He claims that it may seem thin but that you can't simply knock a hole in it. I guess hte best way to find out is to use it and see for myself...

cssconstruct

We used it on the last house we built and as long as osb stays under $20 a sheet I will never use it again. You are only supposed to use it when you are bricking the whole exterior. It is rated structural but the inspectors here still require t-bracing. Also it is not as thick(obviously) as osb so all doors need to spaced out accordingly, windows can be dealt with in the jamb. The only thing good about it is the price, but with the price of osb being as low as it is right now, do not waste your time. Also they recommend that you do not use wrap with this product, and you have to(at least here in knoxville)tape all seams.

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eeCurtis

I remember this stuff. The silly thing is that the insulated board gives about 1.3 R-Value/inch and regular OSB gives 0.6/inch. Considering both the above values assume 1/2 inch material, it's a very small thermal difference.

Taping the joints is what makes the real difference...but then again house wrap is also ment reduce air movement.