Located on the Bay of Fundy, the remote island of Grand Manan in New Brunswick, Canada, is at once beautiful and unforgiving. For builder and remodeler Aron Jones, owner of Big Dog Construction, that means balancing designs that capture views with performance to ensure long-term durability.
His latest remodel, a bungalow located near the water and one of the island’s fisherman’s wharfs, is no exception. Originally a Sears kit home in the 1960s, the house was added onto in the 1970s, then had its deteriorating frame rebuilt. A much-needed renovation by Jones in 2023 modernized the home’s design aesthetic, replaced worn exterior finishes, and enhanced the envelope’s resilience.
Reimagining the home’s exterior began by removing the vinyl siding and the existing pine clapboard hidden underneath.
Jones installed Japanese burnt wood siding across most of the exterior. On one side, he created a long accent wall using random-width cedar cladding in an open-joint format. The cedar wraps around one corner and is picture-framed with more burnt-wood siding.
Popular with architects, open-joint cladding offers a modern look, with deep shadow lines perfect for the rustic setting. But this installation style also exposes the building envelope to more rain and wind, which means the home needs a wall system that can stand up to the weather.
“When you’re doing open-joint cladding, the list of weather resistive barriers that you can put behind it that is going to last is really short,” Jones notes. “When I found out there is an option ideal for these applications, I had to try it.”
That option was InvisiWrap SA from Benjamin Obdyke, a black housewrap specifically designed for open-joint cladding. The housewrap’s increased UV protection accommodates the greater exposure, while its black, non-printed facer ensures a solid aesthetic between the siding gaps and creates deeper shadow lines. In addition, and ideal for Jones’ project in particular, InvisiWrap SA has a continuous, 100% acrylic adhesive that seals around cladding fasteners to protect the integrity of the air barrier while acting as a moisture control layer.
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“Any time you can stay away from mechanically fastened housewrap, particularly in my environment, it’s a win,” Jones says. “One, you don’t have to deal with fasteners; two, it’s fully adhered so you don’t have to worry about bagging … or the effects of positive or negative pressure on the envelope.”
A polyester non-woven housewrap with a polyester coating, InvisiWrap SA is tougher than standard housewraps and will stand up to the elements with superior tear strength and water holdout. Jones used InvisiWrap SA in conjunction with Benjamin Obdyke’s Batten UV polypropylene furring strips to create a rainscreen for bulk water drainage. Batten UV is UV stable, well-suited to open-joint cladding, and the strips are compression-resistant as well as durable and flexible.
Follow along with Jones’ new builds and remodels on his Instagram page.
