Siding replacement
Siding replacement
Read more
Siding in Frederick & Central MD
House wrap and flashing
Nobody ever admired a house for its flashing. It is also the only part of a wall assembly that has no second chance — once the cladding is on, what is behind it is what you have for forty years.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
What does house wrap and flashing cost on a re-side?
House wrap is $0.55 to $1.20 per square foot installed and taped, and window flashing — a sill pan plus head flashing — is $95 to $210 per opening. A kick-out flashing where a roof meets a wall is $145 to $340. On a typical Frederick County re-side the whole layer is a low single-digit percentage of the job. It is also the only part that cannot be revisited afterwards, which is why we quote it as named lines rather than folding it into a square-foot rate.
The work
What wrap and flashing actually involves.
Siding is not waterproof and is not meant to be. It is a rain screen that takes the bulk of the weather, and the assembly behind it — a weather-resistive barrier, properly lapped, with metal flashing at every opening and penetration — is what actually keeps water out of the structure. On a re-side that layer is invisible by the end of the week, which is exactly why it is the part of the job most often rushed.
The rules are simple and routinely broken. Wrap goes on shingle-fashion: every upper course laps over the one below, so water running down the surface runs over the joint instead of into it. Reverse-lapped wrap funnels water behind itself, and tape does not fix it. Flashing is integrated with the wrap, not caulked to it — the head flashing above a window tucks under the wrap above and over the trim below, and a sill pan beneath the window catches what gets past the glazing and drains it back out to the face.
We see the consequences of getting this wrong on almost every older house we open up. Houses built in Frederick County in the eighties and nineties frequently have no head flashing at all, relying on a bead of sealant that failed fifteen years ago, and the window sills and band boards below tell the story. Putting it right costs a small fraction of the re-side it is part of, and it is the reason the wall behind your new siding will be dry when somebody opens it again in 2060.
Lapped shingle-fashion, upper over lower
Head flashing and sill pan at every opening
Flashing integrated with the wrap, not caulked
What wrap and flashing costs in Maryland
Almost always done as part of a re-side, where the labour is already on the wall. These are the line-item prices we use so you can see what the layer actually costs.
- House wrap, installed and taped
- $0.55 – $1.20 per sq ft
- Sill pan and head flashing, per opening
- $95 – $210
- Kick-out flashing at a roof-wall joint
- $145 – $340
- Self-adhered membrane at a problem wall
- $1.40 – $2.80 per sq ft
- Sheathing replacement, per sheet
- $70 – $140
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull wrap and flashing cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
House wrap and flashing
What’s included
Everything the wrap and flashing scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
The sheathing seen and sound first
01No barrier goes over wet or soft sheathing. Every elevation gets probed bare, and soft sheets are replaced before the wrap goes on rather than wrapped over.
Weather-resistive barrier lapped correctly
02Horizontal seams lapped upper course over lower by the manufacturer minimum, vertical seams lapped and taped, and the barrier carried into the openings rather than cut flush at them.
Sill pans under every window
03A formed or flexible-membrane pan across the rough sill with end dams and a slope out to the face, so anything that gets past the window drains onto the cladding instead of into the framing.
Head flashing above openings
04Metal head flashing over every window, door and trim band, tucked under the wrap above and lapped over the trim below. This is the single detail most often missing on houses of a certain age.
Kick-out flashing at roof-wall joints
05Where a roof edge meets a wall, a kick-out at the bottom of the step flashing to throw water into the gutter rather than down behind the siding. Its absence is one of the most reliable causes of a rotted wall corner.
Penetrations sealed in the right order
06Hose bibs, lights, vents, meter bases and cable entries flashed and blocked so the barrier remains continuous. Sealant is the last line here, never the first.
On the job
Siding work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Wrap and flashing questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
No, and conflating them causes real damage. A weather-resistive barrier like house wrap is meant to stop liquid water from outside while letting water vapour pass through, so the wall can dry outward. A vapour barrier does the opposite — it stops vapour — and it belongs on the warm side of the insulation in this climate, if anywhere. Putting a true vapour barrier on the outside of a Maryland wall traps moisture inside the assembly.
It is extremely common on houses built here in the eighties and nineties, and yes, it is a problem that compounds. Without head flashing, water running down the wall above a window reaches the top of the trim and relies on a bead of sealant, which lasts perhaps ten years. After that it goes behind the trim and into the rough opening. If you are already replacing siding, adding flashing at every opening is the cheapest structural improvement available on the whole job.
At one or two problem openings, sometimes — on vinyl we can unzip the courses above a window, work the flashing in and relock them, which is a half-day per opening. On fibre cement it means removing and replacing courses and repainting. For anything more than a couple of openings the honest arithmetic says do it as part of a re-side, because by then most of the labour is removal and reinstallation of cladding you are paying to keep.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the siding work.
Most siding jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
Maryland Home Improvement Commission
Check any Maryland contractor's licence before you sign. Ours is on file with the Commission.
OpenFrederick County permits and inspections
The county office that decides whether your job needs a permit. Routine gutter work does not; structural and roof work usually does.
OpenNational Association of Home Builders
Where the residential-construction standards and material research behind these decisions are published.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
