Handling rainy season construction challenges

I want to be up front on these very difficult topics; it is extremely important to keep our materials dry before they are installed in the home, and that is very difficult to do. There are many who suggest that the moisture content of the wood should be below 16% before a house is sealed up with insulation and drywall. I completely agree. What I don’t know is how to ensure this is accomplished at every building site and in every climate zone. 

I’m a builder in Colorado and I am confident I can deliver a dry, mold-free home to my buyers as long as I: 

• Frame as much as possible between storms 
• Perform my sheathing inspections quickly upon completion
• Have my roofer ready to apply synthetic roofing paper, WRB, etc., on time. 

I can seal a house quickly and it will dry out fast due to Colorado’s very dry climate. However, this is not as easy to achieve when building from the Midwest all the way to the Atlantic. If you live there, you know why. Lots of rain, snow, and generally high humidity. When these conditions exist, there is very little ability for wood to dry out. 

Can we avoid this challenge by using a different material? Yes, you can use steel, rather than wood studs for your walls. The cost increase is roughly $5 to $8 per stud. This is a big difference, but steel will not show up on site already containing mold, and they can’t grow mold in the future. 

If your choice is Plywood or OSB, then I suggest CDX plywood, which doesn’t contain harmful formaldehyde, though it is roughly 2 ½ times the cost of regular OSB. However, as I’ve mentioned extensively, I do suggest the Zip System when using OSB, and it is about the same cost as the CDX if you don’t use choose the polyiso adhered Zip System.