Ron came up with a brilliant idea for the required rainscreen airspace behind our shingles (well, he saw it somewhere else, but taught it to us). Normally, cedar strips would be placed vertically to nail siding on a house, but shingles are nailed horizontally. If we put the strips horizontally, they would block the flow of any water caught behind the shingles. We would have to nail the verticals on, then the horizontals, adding nearly an inch of depth to the finish. Vaproshield does make 1/2″ deep strips for this purpose, but that adds substantially to the cost of the building envelope.
Ron’s idea is to cut the dimple board used for foundation waterproofing into 2″ strips, then staple them onto the sheathing 5.5″ apart. We nail the shingles on through this material, and any water that somehow manages to get in there has a free run down to the ground, in between the dimples.
Good, eh?
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Below is a link to the most affordable and best rain screen option on the market today. Strong 22 gauge G-90 galvanized strips that comes in 8, 9, 10 and 12 foot lengths.
For cedar shake installations we offer small 4 inch sections of the Furring-Master strip that are placed vertically every 16 inches, then the Furring-Master is placed horizontally for the attached of the cedar shake. Very simple and less expensive then even doing what this guy came up with.
This system is far superior to other rain screen products because it will not crush like expensive mesh screens and cause wavy walls and open gaps at the laps for moisture and insect infiltration, It cannot crack like plastic battens in cold weather, it will not expand and contract like plastic materials and wood strips, the steel strips straighten out the walls because the strips are straight and strong and can easily be shimmed for imperfections in a wall before any siding goes up , attachment strength is increased because of fastener going through the steel strip, hollow back construction allows full wall air flow and ventilation, will not burn, rot, twist, bow, absorb moisture or trap moisture.
It also makes it very easy to align with studs and only builds the wall out 1/4″ which saves money on building out of opening’s.
Overall this system gives you the most features for the best price. The steel strips only run about $35 per square verses many of these other types of rain screen products that can range in cost of $55-$80 per square. Why would you pay more for these other rain screen products and get less? In this economy people are looking for the best value. Furring-Master gives you just that in a rain screen system.
http://www.sidingmaster.com/Furring-Master.htm
402-686-4257
I’ve checked the link out, and maybe I’m stupid, or missing something, but how would you put shingles onto these furring strips? I use air staples to put shingles on, but they won’t go through even metal flashing, so I can’t see how they’d go through this product.
Well, Greg, good for you for promoting your product and monitoring relevant web sites. While your metal furring looks straight, and appears to have a way of varying the application width, I don’t know how you can claim it’s either cheaper or easier to apply than either cedar furring strips or our dimple board solution, which costs less than a dollar for a 10′ strip, or CDN$21 per square in a heritage shingle application (5.5″ reveal.)
The little video shows us a photo of the product, but not how it is to be applied to the wall nor how the siding is applied onto it. The video could be much more instructional, rather than just having the narrator (you?) standing there with his hands on the product.
Staples are never a good option. I would use nails. Staples can come loose over time. Ring shank nails is what I would recommend. An air gun will easily go through the steel strip. I think that it is great that people are finally starting to promote the 4 D’s. As far as this installation goes we sell a small 4 inch section of Furring-Master that runs vertically behind the horizontal strip every 16 inches for a shake installation. With this design you will get much more air flow then what you are using now. Water can still get held up I am sure with the dimpled product. See the link below.
Cedar strips are very expensive and run about 4-5 dollars for a 1 x3 strip. Ours is much less than that. New testing in BC has been done in the last 3 years and furring strips test the best for drainage.
See the link below and see for yourself. Mesh and dimpled products like the ones you are using were effective but still held moisture. Gail, it is a furring strip. You would install the Furring Master just like you install any other Furring Strip and nail just like any other siding. Hope this answers all of your questions.
http://sidingmaster.com/documents/NewReportaboutsidingtrappingmoisture.pdf
With all due respect, I’ve had to remove a few shingles after STAPLING them on, and it’s a bloody hard pull to get them off. No wind or other force of nature is going to blow those things off.