Residing...

[mrcaptainbob]

The plan for this summer is to reside part of this old house. Vinyl will be used. Existing is cedar board and battens. There is minimal overhang at the gable end and no windows or other openings to deal with. I plan to remove all the cedar and replace it with the vinyl. However, beneath the cedar is the old style homosote sheeting. Would it be best to remove that and replace with half inch sheet foam with taped joints? It may give me an opportunity to check the quality of insulation and maybe even provide for some electrical rework. Any suggestions? Would the sheet foam be better than the homosote stuff?

[pushkins]

Replacing Homosote purely on insulation values is debatable Homosote is approx. 1.5 R value foam board having and R value of 3.5-4 R / inch thickness so for a 1/2" sheet of foam board your about the same R value. Sealing the joints is a must nowadays anyway you go.
You could leave the Homosote seal the joints with tape and wrap the areas to be sided in Tyvek, that will stop almost all transmission of air inwards and any moisture that might migrate, under your siding you will still most likely have to install fanfold that will give you another 1 R value.

[mrcaptainbob]

Residing....

Good points. I just read the note from a guy ( I believe it's Mark from Vancouver) in another posting here about spray foam. It's of a company called Vancouver and they have a short film on You Tube. I'll look into that. That spray foam is always so dang pricey, though. Maybe if I do the initial investment, the chemicals may be cheaper with all that I need done. Will check this week and report back.