Commonly found on homes across Vancouver Island, rain screen involves creating an air gap between the siding material of your home and the waterproof weather barrier placed along your structural walls. This air gap is created by applying ½ inch to 3/4 inch pressure-treated plywood strips in a vertical fashion between the siding and waterproof weather barrier.
The resulting air gap dramatically improves ventilation between your siding and the structural walls of your home. This improved ventilation helps prevent moisture from being trapped in-between and allows the wall circulate airflow. Thanks to these benefits, rain screen is a popular choice for many Vancouver Island homeowners.
Many experts recommend installing rain screen in your home if you live in an area that experiences more than 20 inches of rainfall a year. Since almost all of Vancouver Island receives more rainfall than this each year, rain screen is an important part of your homes defences against excess moisture.
In addition to improving ventilation and reducing moisture build-up, rain screen can also help minimize the need for maintenance on your exterior walls and lengthens the lifespan of your home siding.
With our wet and damp winters here on Vancouver Island, moisture penetration through your siding at some level is almost impossible to prevent. Although modern siding materials are excellent at minimizing water seepage, it’s almost inevitable that some moisture will make its way past your exterior siding. By improving ventilation through installing rain screen, you can reduce the negative impacts of water seepage and provide moisture with a way to escape harmlessly.
Although the most obvious advantages of rain screen are concentrated in the wetter winter months, rain screen provides plenty of benefits all year-round. Rain screen offers an extra barrier to help insulate your home, meaning it stays warmer in winter and cooler in the summer. This makes it an ideal choice for homes here on Vancouver Island that can experience wildly different weather across the seasons each year.
One of the biggest concerns for Vancouver Island homeowners is mold and mildew. Both thrive here on the Island thanks to our mild and damp climate, and both can cost homeowners upwards of tens of thousands if not addressed early on.
One of the most important parts in preventing mold and mildew growth is keeping your home dry and well-ventilated. Installing rain screen helps do both, and it can be an important line of defence in keeping mold and mildew out of your home.
Let Phoenix Siding make the exterior of your home beautiful! We have been installing Cedar siding, Hardie Plank, Vinyl siding and much more since 1990. Our team has industry-leading knowledge and expertise across all aspects of siding installations. From large-scale new commercial builds to small residential projects and renovations, our team can help you choose the best materials and get the job done for any kind of project.
Call us at 250-758-3818 or email us blake@phoenixsiding.ca today to find out more about our services and how we can help you!
