Patent ID: 8596004

Claim:
An exterior wall of a building, comprising: an inner sheathing member; a series of partially overlapping courses of vapor-permeable, water-resistive sheet material secured to said inner sheathing member and covering said inner sheathing member to provide a vapor permeable barrier layer, each of said courses having an inner face confronting the inner sheathing member, an opposite outer face facing away from the inner sheathing member, an upper longitudinally-extending edge, a lower longitudinally-extending edge, and a longitudinally-extending central section, and said barrier layer including an alternating array of overlapping sections of said courses and non-overlapping sections of said courses with said longitudinally-extending central section of each of said courses forming said non-overlapping sections of said barrier layer; adhesive provided integrally on at least one of said inner and outer faces of each of said courses in a form of a narrow strip of adhesive extending longitudinally and continuously adjacent one of said upper and lower longitudinally-extending edges of each of said courses, said adhesive covering less than 10% of a surface area of said at least one of said inner and outer faces of each of said courses and not extending on said longitudinally-extending central section on said inner and outer faces of each of said courses so that said strips of adhesive extend entirely within said overlapping sections of said courses for forming an air-tight seal within each of said overlapping sections of said barrier layer and so that vapor permeability through said non-overlapping sections of said barrier layer is maximized; and an exterior covering over said barrier layer.