The Building Envelope

One of the most important elements in building or remodeling a house is the building envelope. The building envelope is the physical barrier that separates the interior from the exterior of the building. It’s incredibly important because it protects the building’s interior from all of the elements, including air, moisture, light, heat, and even noise. Ring’s End carries everything you need to fully protect your structure, from flashing tape to housewrap. At the end of the day, you want to have a healthy, solid, and energy-efficient structure.

There are so many different components to a good building envelope, and our experts at Ring’s End can help guide you in making the best choices for any given project. By having partnerships with the industry leaders in building envelopes, such as Dupont, Benjamin Obdyke, Henry, and Huber, Rings End is able to provide the right system and expertise for your project. Huber Engineered Woods is a leading force in the building enclosure industry and has years of research, development, and building science expertise behind their products. Their revolutionary ZIP System is an industry favorite, as it streamlines weatherization and is easy to install. Huber’s ZIP System includes different types of roof and wall sheathing as well as sealing tapes and liquid flash.

In the northeast, and especially along the coastline, preventing exterior elements from coming into a home or building is a big job. It’s important to understand what products you are using and to ensure you use systems that are compatible to achieve your goals. Managing both air and water with the correct building envelope system can help maintain the comfort and health of your home.  What we see on the outside is only a small part of enjoying our homes; sometimes the things we don’t see make the biggest difference. Colin Campbell, Director of Lumber & Building Materials Sales & Operations at Ring’s End stresses the significance of breathability when enveloping a house. "Moisture will inevitably get in, but you don’t want to make something too tight, for example, and not have a place for that moisture to get out,” he says. It’s only when moisture becomes trapped that a rot problem can occur. In order to prevent this, you need to provide an air or vapor barrier.

Kody Blake and Eric Goodman of K Blake and Company had a lot to consider as they were building The Standard in Mystic, right on the water. They had to protect their structure from harsher environmental elements along the coastline. Ring’s End worked with them to figure out the correct underlayment for their building envelope; they decided to go with a unique multi-layered approach using Zipboard with built-in insulation and a double envelope (cedar with hydrogap housewrap and zip tape system) under that. This provided a double layer of protection, which is important to achieve energy efficiency.

Another important part of the process is paint and choosing the correct coating system to protect the wood. Scott Herling, Director of Paint Operations and Marketing for Ring’s End, equates a good coating system to bark on a tree; “Ultimately when you put wood siding on a house, it’s missing something – it’s missing the bark from when it was a tree. And that’s what paint’s supposed to do – it’s supposed to protect it like bark.” Scott recommends starting with Benjamin Moore’s Fresh Start C085 All Purpose Oil Primer, which is an oil primer for exterior wood siding and trim. Benjamin Moore’s Fresh Start is a premium quality alkyd primer with excellent adhesion and stain blocking capabilities. He then recommends Arborcoat Exterior Solid Deck and Siding Stain for siding and Aura Exterior Semi Gloss for your trim. Both can be used over the Fresh Start primer, and both also have antimicrobial properties, helping to mitigate mold and mildew growth.

Let Ring’s End help you make the best choices when it comes to protecting your build from the elements. Our experts and vendor partners will guide you through the process and make sure that you’re installing the correct products for your environment and needs, from start to finish!