HydroGap Drainable Housewrap Doubles as Air Barrier

By Peter YostHydroGap, manufactured by Benjamin Obdyke, is an innovative new weather-resistive barrier (WRB), drainage space, and air barrier all rolled into one. This polypropylene-based, nonwoven housewrap has thermoplastic olefin (TPO) spacers that create a 1 mm (1⁄32") free-draining air space between cladding and sheathing. Because the space is so small, HydroGap permits standard detailing after installation, making it more fool-proof and less expensive than typical rainscreen products, which create gaps of 6 mm (1⁄4") or more and require special detailing.

“We filed for a patent back in 2006,” says George Caruso, Benjamin Obdyke’s product development manager. “We recognized that our rainscreen product [Home Slicker], while successful, was not reaching the full audience of builders interested in building better and managing moisture." (See “How Rainscreens Work,”