Every year wildfires burn millions of acres of forests and brushlands. The fire that consumed the Oakland Hills area of northern California in October of 1991, considered to be the second-worst fire disaster in U.S. history, destroyed thousands of homes on hillsides overgrown with flammable native vegetation. Many of these homes were roofed with western red cedar shakes and shingles, a premium roof covering that offers good looks, excellent thermal insulation, durability, and wind and hail resistance. Unfortunately, cedar roofing is often criticized for its potential flammability in connection with massive wildland fires. In fact, fire officials and the press have tried to place blame squarely on the shoulders of cedar roofing, claiming that wood roofing contributes significantly to the spread of suburban fires. There is an element of truth in these claims: Once ignited, untreated wood roofing will burn, producing embers that can be carried aloft and land hundreds of feet away. The resulting spot fires play havoc with fire fighters trying to control the spread of the larger wildfire.

What is usually not explained, however, is that wildfires are so severe that it is almost impossible to keep a home from being consumed, regardless of the type of construction used. A wildfire may begin like any other fire, but the conditions of its spread depend on factors other than the materials used to build the houses in its path. While no roofing will save a house in the path of a fire storm, fire-retardant-treated wood shingles protect against flying embers.

ASHI Home Inspector - Austin Texas

by Dennis McCoy

As a contractor specializing in remediation and repairs, I’ve been concentrating for years on fixing failed applications of EIFS and traditional stucco. I’ve learned from experience that most stucco failures result from improper flashing and drainage details behind the stucco. Typically, houses that end up with rotten sheathing and framing under the stucco don’t have properly installed building papers and flashings. In recent years, I’ve been finding more and more cases of leaking and rot behind another material that is very similar to stucco: cementitious manufactured-stone veneer, or “cast stone,” as it is sometimes called. The problems we are finding with cast stone are just like the problems we’ve seen with incorrectly applied stucco. But the weather detailing flaws we identify in artificial-stone jobs often cause even greater problems than the errors made with stucco. With cast-stone veneer, leaks and rot often show up sooner, progress more quickly, and cause more severe damage inside the wall.

Where stucco and cast stone have been installed on the same home, the author frequently finds more severe moisture and rot damage under the cast-stone portions of the exterior. One reason is that the stucco terminates at the bottom with a weep screed, while the cast stone sits in a bed of mortar and grout, directly on a foundation ledge, with no weeps or flashings. After investigating and repairing at least a hundred examples, I’ve concluded that the problems with cast stone go back to a misunderstanding of the material. Installers as well as building inspectors have gotten used to thinking of cast stone as a masonry material, and they expect walls to get the kind of weather detailing behind the stone that is traditional with brick: a single layer of paper, lapped a couple of inches at the horizontal joints. But, unlike brick, cast stone is not installed with an air space between the cladding and the framed wall. Cast-stone veneers are cementitiously adhered to a stuccolike base coat that is applied directly to the wall. Like stucco, cast stone gets saturated with water in a rainstorm and holds that water right up against the framed wall. The papers and flashings under the veneer have to fend off that moisture load without the benefit of any drainage or drying space. One layer of paper isn’t going to do the job — two layers, as specified under stucco, are necessary.

If anything, cast stone should in fact be backed up by even tougher details than stucco. That’s because it has some characteristics that may help create a more stressful moisture load for walls during wet weather. For one thing, manufactured stone is a cement-based product that absorbs and holds water like stucco, but cast stone is thicker than stucco and can thus store more moisture. Also, most of the cast-stone brands now have “ledgestone” versions of the product, which have a long, horizontal shape; the long, flat, shelflike ledges are often sloped toward the framing when installed, which provides a place for rain water to puddle up and soak into the wall. Long, flat “ledgestone” pieces like this create many horizontal shelves where water can stand and soak into grout joints. The greater thickness of cast stone also complicates the task of fabricating and installing practical flashing components. The kickout or diverter flashing required where a roofline butts into a wall is a good example.

On job after job, my company gets paid good money to go in after the fact, tear cast-stone veneer off a wall, and retrofit a larger kickout flashing to the wall because the original roofer’s kickout flashing was too small to push water out beyond the plane of the cladding. If the diverter flashing is too small, it may as well not be there: All the water flowing and blowing against that spot will just get dumped into the wall system below. Of course, all the other typical vulnerable spots in a stucco application are just as problematic, if not more so, in a cast-stone application. Window pan flashings, for instance, are a good idea in a manufactured-stone job. However, we are more likely to see a reverse-lap flashing error, with building paper run to the window edge in such a way that the window flange directs water beneath the paper instead of on top of it. And, as with stucco, brick, or any other cladding, a cast-stone veneer should be equipped with weeps of some kind at any bottom termination, whether at the foundation sill or above a window or abutting roof. Otherwise, water will pool longest at the lowest points, and those areas may stay continuously wet.
Undersized or omitted diverter — or kickout — flashings allow water to flow beneath the cast-stone facade. Window flanges that lap under instead of over building paper can bring rain water into direct contact with the sheathing. We also see problems when cast stone is paired with another material on the same wall. It’s very common, for instance, for a single house to have stucco or EIFS as well as cast stone; if the joint where the two meet is detailed wrong, water can get to the wood-framed wall and cause trouble.

Investigating Problems
When my company is called to look at a building, the owners or the builder often have no conception of the severity of the problem they may be facing. Poly vapor barriers under the home’s drywall often conceal wall framing that is sopping wet; on the exterior, the cementitious stone or stucco does not decay, so it never betrays the secret underneath. Homeowners may complain of just a few small leaks, or be worried about a moldy smell.

From experience, we know where trouble is likely to be found, and how bad it can be. By spraying a wall with water while we create negative pressure inside the house, we can find out how water is getting in, and by removing a few small sections of the cladding, we can get an idea of the extent of the resultant damage.

Repairing the Failures
On many occasions, our company has found a shocking amount of water damage and rot under the cast-stone cladding of homes less than two years old, or in some cases less than one year old. The amount of water that can be taken in and held by cultured stone is significant — enough to support robust growth of wood-destroying funguses. If rot organisms have water and they have wood, they will thrive until the wood is gone. Often, what we find under cast stone looks more like the ashes of a fire than like lumber. If it’s caught soon enough, the damage can be repaired. But this is far more costly than doing the job right the first time. Although I make my living from this kind of work, I wish that every builder and contractor who installs this material, as well as the building officials who inspect the jobs, could see some of the failures I have seen and learn how to avoid them. Too often, I’ve seen problems like these ruin a family’s finances when they lead to the uninsured loss of much of a home’s value.

Code provisions for cast stone can be confusing and murky. The product isn’t mentioned in the body of the building code, and the evaluation reports and manufacturer instructions required for code acceptance can be contradictory or incomplete. But the basic methods required to succeed with the material are not that complicated. In essence, cast stone has to be treated as if it were stucco. Before you apply lath to the wall, you need to be sure you have a weather-resistant paper barrier on that wall — and it needs to include two layers of paper, not just one. Wherever there are penetrations, or intersections between assemblies such as walls and roofs, or joints between cast stone and other materials like brick or stucco, there must be properly lapped flashings that keep kicking water away from the building. And at the bottom of the wall, there has to be a way for water to drain out. If all those precautions are observed, there is no reason cast stone should cause moisture problems. When you’re choosing your building paper, be careful. Type D paper gets a “minute rating,” based on the time the paper can be placed in direct contact with water before it soaks through. You can get 15-minute, 30-minute, or 60-minute rated paper, and the more severe the climate, the higher the rating you should choose.

In dry and mild parts of Southern California or Arizona, for instance, two layers of 15-minute paper ought to be fine. In the valley-floor areas near Salt Lake City, we use two layers of 30-minute paper. But if we work up near the ski areas, where there is lots of wind and rain, we use 60-minute paper. Sixty-minute paper is very rugged stuff — it is more than twice as thick as 30-minute paper. In Houston, we use either 60-minute paper or sometimes a layer or two of asphalt felt paper applied over the top of a housewrap such as Tyvek. But no paper is intended to be absolutely waterproof for an indefinite period. That’s why the flashings and weeps are so important. If you don’t have them, water can pool at low points and stand against the wall for hours, days, or weeks. And if that happens, no paper, be it housewrap, asphalt felt, or Type D kraft, is going to save your wall from rot. So if you’re applying cast stone, be smart: Use the papers, install the flashings, and provide the weeps. It will cost a little more, but it is a lot cheaper than hiring me and my crew to come back and fix the wall when the studs are decaying underneath the cast stone.

Performing stucco moisture intrusion inspections along with home inspections has been one of my side jobs for several years. If stucco is not installed correctly it will leak. As it leaks it absorbs, as it absorbs it expands, then cracking takes place it looks like earthquake damage. Read the article below to know more about “Wet Stucco”.

Lessons From Florida’s Hurricanes: Why Stucco Walls Got Wet
Designs, methods, codes, and workmanship all played a role in Florida’s soggy storm experience. by Joe Lstiburek

The four hurricanes that struck Florida last summer proved the effectiveness of the tough building codes passed by the state after Hurricane Andrew’s strike in 1992. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne killed dozens of people, but not one of those deaths was caused by failure of any structure built to the new codes.
Unfortunately, though, many stucco-clad homes in the state experienced a problem we would not be discussing if they had simply fallen down or blown away: They got wet. After 20-plus inches of windblown rain soaked the whole region, there were hundreds of reports of water intrusion through stucco walls of otherwise undamaged homes. The Florida Home Builders Association hired my company, Building Science Corporation, to investigate the situation, identify causes, and propose solutions. We applied a wide range of investigative techniques: We inspected homes soaked by the storms as well as new homes built after the storms; we tested and experimented with new buildings and mocked-up assemblies; and we did bench-top testing of materials and components, including felt paper, plastic housewraps, and windows. We also reviewed relevant codes and standards, and interviewed builders, contractors, materials suppliers, manufacturers, and code officials.

In this article, I will explain what we learned. Anyone who wants to keep rain out of a building might benefit from the lessons of Florida’s wet walls. After all, whether you build in Florida or somewhere else, water is water, wind is wind, and the laws of physics are the same.

Why Stucco Leaks
We were asked to focus on stucco-clad homes. Actually, there are two kinds of stucco used in central Florida: traditional “hard coat” or “three-coat” stucco, and the modern “cementitious decorative finishes,” popularly called “thin-coat stucco.” Both types of cladding let water into homes during the storms.

Our testing of Florida homes confirmed what we already knew about stucco: It always cracks, and the cracks always leak. In homes we tested, stucco that was cracked leaked at the cracks; and where the stucco was not cracked, it did not leak. But there’s a little more to the story than that.

Traditional stucco and thin-coat stucco aren’t fundamentally different. Both are surface treatments applied to a substrate, and they behave in a generally similar fashion. Most important, neither can be considered waterproof or leakproof. On the contrary, when you use either, you can be sure it’ll leak. But with both decorative thin stucco and traditional three-coat stucco, there are ways to decrease the frequency of cracking.

Traditional stucco.
This centuries-old coating is supposed to go on in three coats. The first is the scratch coat. It’s applied about 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick and allowed to cure. Because it’s cement, it shrinks as it cures, and as it shrinks, it cracks. Then, two or three weeks later, when it is done shrinking, you go back and apply the brown coat, which serves to fill in the shrinkage cracks in the scratch coat. After that cures, you go back yet again and apply the finish coat (the color coat), and you’re done. With each coat you apply, you change the mix of cement, lime, sand, and water slightly, so that each coat is a little weaker, more permeable, and more flexible than the one it covers. Thus the softer, outer coats have relatively more lime and sand — and less cement — than the hard inner coat. But modern-day stucco applicators, in Florida as well as in other places, typically don’t wait several weeks for the first coat to cure; they go back and apply the second coat the same day. That means, of course, that both coats shrink and crack at once — one reason the stucco in Florida leaked as much as it did.

Thin-coat stucco is applied in just one coat, so it’s going to crack no matter what. However, with both thin-coat stucco and two- and three-coat applications that are not given time to cure between coats, it’s possible to reduce the amount of cracking by using fiber mesh in the mix, and by adding polymers to make the coats more flexible. So why not change codes to require either a mandatory curing period between coats or the use of additives in the mix? That wouldn’t really be a practical solution. Neither technique will prevent shrinkage cracks altogether. Nothing will. More to the point, there’s another cause of cracking that we also can’t prevent: settlement. Virtually all buildings move and shift enough in the first few years after construction to cause some cracking of the stucco — and no stucco, whether traditional or polymer-modified, is immune to that.

What, then, do we do? The answer is that you have to assume there will be cracks and that water will be able to get through them. Accordingly, you have to design wall systems that tolerate those leaks, and accept that some maintenance and crack repair by the occupants will be necessary over the years after the home is finished and occupied.

Two Kinds of Walls
The picture in Florida is complicated by the fact that builders there typically use two types of exterior walls on the same house. It’s common to lay a concrete-block wall for the first story and then stick-frame second-story walls and gable ends; stucco is applied to both stories. Both types of walls leaked in the Florida storms, for somewhat different reasons. Building paper and housewrap. Upper-story stick-frame walls, in principle, should function as “drained assemblies.” The stucco is applied over a “weather-resistive barrier” (you can use housewrap, asphalt felt, or Grade D asphalt-saturated kraft paper). Any water that penetrates to the weather-resistive barrier is supposed to drain down it until encountering a flashing that directs the moisture out to the exterior. One reason Florida walls leaked was that the housewraps or papers installed beneath the stucco did not function effectively as a drainage plane.

Stucco tends to bond to housewrap and building paper, eliminating the air space in which water is supposed to drain. Also, the housewrap or building paper itself loses water repellency when stucco adheres to it, or when it comes in contact with surfactants (soaplike chemicals that reduce the surface tension of water). In Florida, water that reached the housewrap or building-paper layer in the walls often bled through into the frame assemblies. Reverse flashing. However, even if the housewrap or building paper had worked as intended, there still would have been problems caused by incorrect flashing. At the base of the frame walls, where the upper-story cladding meets the lower-story cladding, builders typically install a metal expansion-joint component over the building paper and run the building paper down into the top edge of the lower-story stucco coat.

Lower-story mass walls.
Masonry-block walls with stucco cladding aren’t intended to function as drained assemblies. They are “mass assemblies.” Water that penetrates the stucco through cracks is supposed to be absorbed by the masonry mass, which it doesn’t damage, and then dry slowly to both the exterior and the interior during periods of dry weather. Central Florida’s masonry walls, for the most part, were able to manage moderate amounts of rain but were simply overwhelmed by the huge water onslaught from three consecutive hurricanes. Rather than suggest a modification of the stucco materials or installations, I’ve suggested a few small design changes that would enhance the ability of these systems to absorb and dissipate water without allowing it to enter living space or damage finishes. But even improved masonry mass walls shouldn’t be expected to handle rainwater that leaks in from windows, service penetrations, or other holes in the wall assembly — and it turns out that leaks at windows and other openings were a major source of water intrusion during Florida’s storms.

Windows and Other Penetrations
The industry standards and building-code rules for windows don’t require them to be leakproof when facing the kind of wind and rain that central Florida saw in 2004. Windows installed in Florida homes are rated for water holdout at 15 percent of the design wind load, or no lower than 140 pascals of pressure (approximately the pressure of a 35-mph wind). Clearly, these limits were exceeded during August and September of 2004. In a hurricane, the codes expect windows to stay in the wall, but not necessarily to hold out all the rain. On the other hand, our testing of windows and window assemblies indicates that many of them leaked under conditions well below their listed, rated value. In fact, many tested windows leak under a simple water spray with no wind pressure at all.

Factory testing of windows seems to be missing a widespread incidence of leakage at the window-assembly corners. Also, windows are tested as single units, but are often sold as preassembled “mulled” units, with two or more windows combined in a composite arrangement. Every preassembled mulled unit we tested leaked at zero wind pressure. From our visual inspections of windows in the field, and from a closer look at some randomly selected windows that we took apart, it seems clear that there is a widespread problem with the connections between the windowsill and the window jamb: Windows delivered to the site are likely to be leak-prone before installation.

Window installation is also an ongoing concern. The methods used in Florida, as elsewhere, often don’t ensure reliable water management. In particular, precast concrete windowsill components sold into the Florida market are shaped in a way that directs some leakage into — rather than out of — the building. It would be good if windows delivered to the job could be made to hold water out more effectively. But in the meantime, builders have to be aware of the limited water resistance of window units, and design walls that are tolerant of window leakage.

Paints and Coatings
When we first went to Florida, some people had the idea that we would focus on paints and coatings. Many observers had noticed that homes only a year or two old had shown more leakage than homes that had been around for five or 10 years, and they thought perhaps this was because successive repaintings had sealed all the microcracks in the stucco. If we required a high-build elastomeric paint on new homes in the first place, the reasoning went, maybe we could prevent the whole problem. That idea makes sense, but it doesn’t hold up completely. For one thing, all those older buildings were repainted (and the cracks patched using other means as well) only after they had been through the process of shifting and had settled down to some kind of equilibrium. There are very few paints and coatings around that can span the shrinkage cracks in a new building and also stay intact as the building shifts and cracks over its first few years. So while patching and painting a stucco wall is a good idea — in fact, it’s necessary maintenance — and it has to be done continuously over the life of a building, it is particularly important during the first two or three years. Also, high-build paints and elastomeric coatings span microcracks most effectively when the surface is smooth. On rough-surfaced stucco, which is a very common finish in the industry, coatings are much less effective at sealing surfaces. And to gain flexibility and crack-spanning ability in a coating, you often have to give up vapor permeability, so that the coating may tend to trap moisture within the stucco as well as keep bulk water out. That trapped moisture can cause coatings to blister. Modified stucco mixes may even re-emulsify and turn to goo when you trap moisture in them with a low-permeability coating.

That said, specialty elastomeric coatings hold great promise. The “holy grail” of coatings research has always been to develop a highly elastic coating that also breathes. We’re not sure how much it needs to breathe, but generally I think the perm rating should be 10 or higher. And, for the present, specialty coatings should be applied to stucco only by knowledgeable installers. “High build” acrylic paints that get you 5 to 6 mils of thickness at permeabilities of greater than 10 perms are pretty much the optimum performance limit with conventional coating systems.

Improving Masonry Mass Walls
Clearly, masonry-block walls — as commonly built in Florida and other places — have a limited capacity to hold and drain water. When cracks and crevices in the wall assembly are full, water trickles onto interior floors at the base of walls. Saturation of walls also leads to humid conditions on interior wall faces, sometimes allowing mold or mildew to grow. Two proven methods would improve the performance of these walls. First, the foundation slab or footing should be built with a stepped-down seat or shelf where the first course of masonry block is set. This will direct water that reaches the base of the wall outward to the outdoors, rather than inward, where it can damage floors or cause humidity problems. The interior-wall face will perform better if covered with a continuous layer of semipermeable rigid insulation, such as commonly available extruded polystyrene. This will reduce vapor migration into the home as well as condensation, preventing moisture from accumulating in the home’s drywall.

Refining Drained Frame Walls
Wood-frame stucco-clad walls should have a bond break layer installed between the stucco rendering and the drainage plane. In practice, this means applying two layers of building paper, or one layer of building paper over a layer of plastic housewrap, before applying stucco. At the joint between drained upper-story assemblies and mass-wall lower-story assemblies, a weep-screed flashing should be installed.

Window and Flashing Recommendations
There is a problem in Florida and other states where high-wind codes are taking effect that is caused by the contradictions that arise between two imperatives: the obligation to ensure structural integrity and the need to keep out water. In many cases, building officials are enforcing fastening schedules and structural connections at the expense of proper flashing and drainage details.

To fix this problem, all of us — including builders, code officials, and manufacturers — need to think through what we’re doing when we attach a window or other component to a wall assembly. Here are a few things to consider: First of all, whether it’s a window, a dryer vent, or a hose bibb, when you install something through a wall, you have to flash the opening. Second, drainage assemblies for windows have to extend all the way to the back of the window, because windows can leak at any point. And, finally, flashings above windows and other penetrations have to catch water from all the way to the back of the cladding system, and have to direct it all the way to the exterior of the building.

Maintenance and Crack Repair
Stucco cracks have to be addressed with ongoing homeowner maintenance. The best practice is to allow stucco walls a reasonable “breaking-in” period, from one to two years. By then, most if not all of the cracks that are going to appear will already be evident. At that point, cracks should be individually sealed with caulking or a brush-in cementitious crack-repair formula, and then the walls can be repainted. Inspecting walls every few years, and repairing them in this fashion as needed, should be enough to keep a stucco wall performing well for many decades.

Have you ever considered investing more into your house & lowering your utility bills at the same time? Look into storm windows which create an air gap between the existing window & storm window. The result is the R value increases, noise decreases & you enjoy the benefit of both. Home inspectors are frequently asked how the buyer can save money in utility cost. I have just told you. Read the following article on storm windows.

U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

A Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - Storm Windows

If you have old windows in your home, the best way to improve your home’s energy efficiency is to replace them with new, energy-efficient windows. However, if you’re on a tight budget, a less expensive option is to use storm windows. Some types of storm windows are also a good option for those living in apartments. Even though storm windows add little to the insulating performance of single-glazed windows (that are in good condition,) field studies have found that they can help to reduce air movement into and out of existing windows. Therefore, they help reduce heating and cooling costs.

Types of Storm Windows
Storm windows are available for most types of windows. They can be installed on the interior or exterior of the primary window. They range from the inexpensive plastic sheets or films designed for one heating season, to triple-track glass units with low-emissivity coatings that offer many years of use. Mid-priced storm windows may use glass, plastic panels, or special plastic sheets that have specific optical qualities. Those made of polycarbonate plastic or laminated glass also offer a high degree of resistance to breaking during storms and/or from intruders. For the most part, interior storm windows offer greater convenience than exterior storm windows. They’re easier to install and remove; they require less maintenance because they’re not exposed to the elements; and, because they seal tightly to the primary window, they’re more effective at reducing air infiltration.

Interior storm windows also are often the best choice for apartments and houses with more than one floor. If you can afford exterior storm windows, you can probably afford some newer, more energy-efficient windows, which will be a better investment. Glass pane types offer better visibility and longer life than plastic pane types, but glass is heavy and fragile. In general, plastics are most economical for people with small budgets or who live in apartments. However, while inexpensive and relatively easy to install, they are easy to damage. Plastic panels, such as Plexiglas and acrylics are tougher and lighter than glass, but may scratch easily. Some may turn yellow over time as well. Some plastic films may significantly reduce visibility and degrade over time when exposed to sunlight.

Wood, aluminum, and vinyl are the most common storm window frame materials. There are advantages and disadvantages to all types of frame materials. Although very strong, light, and almost maintenance free, aluminum frames conduct heat very rapidly. Because of this, aluminum makes a very poor insulating material. Wood frames insulate well, but they weather with age. They also expand and contract according to weather conditions. Wood-frame storm windows installed during the winter may not close easily during the summer, and those installed during the summer may fit loosely in the winter. They can also be quite heavy and thicker than metal frames. This can make storage difficult, reduce the view out the window, and reduce the amount of natural light in the room. Wood frames also require the most maintenance. There are, however, aluminum- or vinyl-clad wood frames that reduce maintenance requirements. Vinyl frames are usually made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with ultraviolet light (UV) stabilizers to keep sunlight from breaking down the material. They, however, may expand and warp at high temperatures, and crack in extremely low temperatures. Also, if sunlight hits the material for many hours a day, colors other than white will tend to fade over time.

As a home inspector I get to see the quality & lack of it in every home I go into. Can you make your home more energy efficient & retard the sounds of the exterior? New technology in the building industry is using block wall with 2″ rigid insulation board which gives structural integrity, sound barrier & a vapor barrier. This article below gives question & answer to what you may need.

Block Walls, Vapor Barriers, and Solar Vapor Drive

With a cavity wall assembly consisting of load-bearing 8-inch CMUs (concrete masonry units), 2 inches of rigid foam, a 2-inch air space, and 4-inch concrete bricks covered with cementitous stucco and an acrylic color coat, how important is damp proofing? It seems to me that any liquid water that penetrates the stucco would be stopped by the layer of rigid foam. I am also concerned that the acrylic color coat on the exterior may act as a vapor barrier on the wrong side of the wall, trapping moisture within the wall.

William Rose, a research architect with the Building Research Council at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author of Water in Buildings: An Architect’s Guide to Moisture and Mold, responds: If there’s a cavity in the wall, it should always be designed to manage rainwater. That’s because a CMU veneer — such as brick — allows some rainwater to enter the wall, travel along mortar droppings, and create local wetting of the block. But saying the block wall should be “damp proofed” only begins to address the serious task of detailing the cavity water-management layer; coordinating it with insulation, ties, flashing, openings, and protrusions; and possibly having it serve as the air-barrier layer. Moreover, the sequence of the damp proofing application needs to be scheduled so that any water collected in the block during construction has a sufficient chance to dry out.