Wickright’s Battle Against Wet Buildings: Venting, Smart Membranes, and Why Factory Builds Matter

Guest: Bob Kelly, CEO, Wickright & Wet Building Solutions

Water is relentless—and in cities like Chicago, masonry buildings prove it. Bob Kelly has spent a decade opening up parapets, roof-to-wall connections, and stucco-over-frame assemblies to find the same root cause again and again: trapped moisture with nowhere to go. In this Offsite Construction Series episode, Bob shares how his team developed practical, field-proven fixes—and why tighter, modern buildings demand smarter moisture strategies.

From cabinetmaker to “wet masonry” problem-solver

Starting as a repair contractor who loved historic interiors, Bob kept finding hidden water behind roof membranes at parapet connections. The common answer—“because that’s how it is”—wasn’t good enough. Through field testing, he learned that separating roof membranes from masonry’s thermal mass and creating vent paths lets vapor escape instead of accumulating.

Key move: layer vented/dimple mats behind membranes to allow upward vapor exhaust in wet masonry walls and parapets.

Why today’s tighter buildings fail differently

Modern houses are tighter: spray foam, better windows, robust WRBs. That’s great—until small air leaks, pressure imbalances, and sun-driven moisture loads combine. Bob’s crew has opened nine-year-old homes to find rotten sheathing, rim joists, and even LVLs destroyed—not by mold, but fungal growth fueled by trapped moisture. In one case, he traced bellowing housewrap to positive pressure from the HVAC system pushing interior moisture into the envelope.

Takeaway: airtightness raises the stakes. Air leaks, pressure misbalances, and incomplete sealing can drive moisture into assemblies that can’t dry.

The toolset: venting + intelligent membranes + training

• Wickright venting inside parapets/wet masonry walls to enable 3D drying paths.

  
  

• Intelligent, vapor-open membranes (fluid-applied or sheet) to keep bulk water out while letting assemblies dry (Bob highlights products he’s tested on his own house and job sites)

  
  

• Full-building protection: fluid-applied on critical surfaces, window protection, and careful detailing at balconies/capstones where water sneaks in.

  
  

• Education first: Bob spends time teaching owners and contractors how materials changed (hard mortars, foam, new WRBs) and why old “rules” no longer work.

  
  

Why offsite matters

Bob is blunt: today’s lumber, weather exposure, and site chaos make performance harder. Factory builds control moisture exposure, improve QA, and reduce the “hope-and-pray” factor in field sequencing. For durable envelopes, offsite gives teams a head start.

Where Wickright is headed

Wickright continues Chicago-area remediation and launched Wet Building Solutions to help owners prioritize fixes. The mission: deliver assemblies Bob never has to “worry about tomorrow”—and teach the industry what actually works.

Bottom line: Moisture always shows up. The winners design for drying, control pressure, and verify details—ideally in a factory-first workflow.

FAQS:

Q1: What are early signs my building has hidden moisture problems?

Peeling paint/efflorescence on masonry, musty odors, seasonal wall staining, bellowing/“ballooning” housewrap, soft sheathing at fasteners, and recurring balcony/roof-to-wall leaks—especially after wind-driven rain.

Q2: How does Wickright’s venting approach fix wet masonry/parapets?

By separating the roof membrane from the masonry with a vented layer (e.g., dimple/corrugated mat), vapor can rise and exhaust instead of trapping behind the membrane—restoring a safe drying path without rebuilding the wall.

Q3: When should I use fluid-applied, vapor-open membranes instead of housewraps?Anywhere you need continuous coverage, complex detailing (windows/balconies), or added resilience against positive HVAC pressure pushing interior moisture outward; fluid-applied products bridge nail holes and seams while still allowing assemblies to dry.