High-Performance Housing: What Minnesota Homeowners Should Know

Minnesota weather isn’t easy on a house. Winters here are cold, summers are hot and humid, and the temperature swings in between put stress on a home all year long. The layers behind your siding, the wall assembly, is what’s managing all of that: keeping water and air where they belong, no matter what the seasons bring.

When that layer fails, the damage isn’t usually obvious right away. Water and air infiltration tend to cause slow, expensive problems, hidden behind drywall, showing up years later as rot, mold, or a home that’s harder and more costly to heat and cool.

OA Owner and Principal, Michael Anschel, was recently featured in Qualified Remodeler, discussing a shift in the industry that addresses this: interest in high-performance housing and weather-resistant barrier technology is growing fast, and the simple single-layer wrap that used to be the default has growing competition.

Slow adoption, despite the payoff

Even though better wall systems cost relatively little more than standard approaches, and the long-term value is significant, adoption across the industry has been slow.

Michael believes that better wall systems aren’t reserved for elite builders or premium budgets. Any contractor willing to understand the materials and put in the effort can build to a higher standard.

He’s also candid that not everyone in the industry is on board yet. As he put it in the piece, high-performance building still exists in something of a bubble, and the resistance from the rest of the building world remains real.

Technology is changing rapidly

New products in this space are arriving quickly. Manufacturers are building more sophisticated systems, not just single-purpose wraps, but complete assemblies meant to manage moisture, air, and drying all at once. That’s part of why we introduced our own Awesome Wall system years ago: a wall assembly designed to hit a high bar for performance without requiring perfect execution on every square foot.

Michael gets asked to weigh in on where this is all headed because he’s spent years at the front of it, tracking which products and processes keep a home dry and sealed, and the science behind efficacy and necessity. The tools available today are only getting easier to install and more effective, which is slowly pulling more of the industry toward better standard practice.

What matters more than any single product

For all the new technology, Michael’s guidance is simple and enduring: understand the specific wall you’re working with, choose the system that fits it, and follow the installation instructions carefully. No product solves for a wall it wasn’t matched to, and no wall performs well if it’s installed carelessly.

What this means for your project

Ask questions before you hire. A contractor who can explain what’s behind your walls, and why, is one who’s thinking about performance, not just appearance or short-term price.

Watch for the warning signs. Drafty rooms, musty smells, uneven temperatures between rooms: these could be signs of an unhealthy home, even without visible damage.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. A re-side, a window replacement, or a single addition is still a chance to improve how your entire house performs.

If you’re curious what this looks like in practice, check out our work.

Read Michael’s full feature in Qualified Remodeler: “Product Trends: Behind the Cladding.”