Hi all,

I had a couple of questions/concerns for you regarding an exterior foam retrofit I am gearing up to do on my house in the spring.

We live in Union county NJ (I beleive it’s climate zone 4 except marine) and we are doing a complete gut of the exterior of the house. We are removing the poorly installed windows and vinyl siding.

What I am looking to do:
1) replace the windows (still trying to figure out if we should do a new construction and build wood spacers to fit up towards the existing interior molding or doing replacements and build spacers (azek) to cover the new foam and make it a “inny” window)
2) install drainwrap/stuccowrap or tar paper over the shiplap
3) install 1 inch atlas energy shield foam
4)furring strips
5)cedar shingles

For the foam I am planning on installing them between vertical 2×2’s (attached to the original shiplap) to offer a 1/2″ vertical ventilation and nailing surface for the furring stips. So it would be a vertical 2×2 then a 2×8 vertical piece of foam then another 2×2 etc etc.

I wanted to know:
1) What do you suggest in the way of windows to install new construction or replacements? (We are not looking to remove the old window molding other then the stops)
2) What underlayment would be best to reduce the risk of moisture between the foam and shiplap?
3) Is 1″ foam with aluminum backing acceptable for my area?
4) Is the 2×2 and foam idea an acceptable one?

Thanks,
D
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