November 16, 2008. The house is all one story except for this little dug-out portion. The final finish on the walls will be stucco. The blue house wrap was used because the foundation underneath is waterproofed down below ground level and up a couple of feet above that (check out the black stuff). If water were to somehow get underneath the stucco into the Durisol wall it could seep it's way down and be trapped inside the waterproofed portion with no place to go. That would not hurt the Durisol, but it would not make for a good situation to have water in there. The house wrap, which repels water but still breaths, provides an "apron" overlapping the waterproofed portion of the Durasol Blocks enabling any water that did happen to get inside the final stucco exterior to run down outside the wrap and the waterproofing. It just provides extra insurance against trapped water. Black tar paper and metal lath will go on next and the stucco will be applied after that.
