Lstiburek says in Building Science Primer 063, Water Managed Walls that:

"Comparing housewraps. In general, itÂs no use comparing one housewrap to another, at least in terms of water holdout characteristics. ItÂs how you use them that counts.

The housewrap marketing people love to compare performance. But they do it based on a totally meaningless test. The standard test method is to fasten the housewrap over the bottom of a glass cylinder and see how high a column of water you can pour into the cylinder before the water comes through the wrap (every inch of water is equivalent to 250 pascals of wind pressure). The lab comes up with some figure, and then the marketing people go out and brag about it

ThatÂs great, but in the real world we donÂt build houses with little glass cylinders. We staple the housewrap to the wall and nail siding over it. We put thousands of holes in it. That means the real performance of the system is about the holes  and whatever the ads say about housewrap perfor mance, when you put nail holes in them, theyÂre all the same."

The key, as he explains, is that if you use a drainage plane, any housewrap will do.

Nevertheless, if your builder is not using a drainage plane, I'd stick with the results of the tests, I referenced elsewhere, that show Tyvek and Typar are the premium products and that perforated wraps such as EasyGuard are useless.

Tyvek ICC Report.

Here is a link that might be useful: EasyGuard ICC evaluation

Here is the Evaluation Report for EasyGard (not spelled with a "u"), also known as G & E Houseguard. The company web site is included.

It is listed as a weather/water-resistive barrier rather than as an air barrier.

This material differs from DuPont's Tyvek HomeWrap in that it is a woven fabric with a coating (and probably micro-perforations) rather than non-woven (spun-bonded) without perforations.

It is not difficult to meet the code requirements for water-resistance/weather barrier so the Evaluation Report doesn't tell you much about the performance of the material. If you put both materials over a bucket and poured water on them, one would probably eventually leak and the other would not.

Here is a link that might be useful: ICC-ES evaluation Report

are you planning on righting the wrong?
I gather from your other thread that this is going
on @ your condo. will you be taking action to
see that your building is done properly?
good info you are getting here btw...
Best of luck.

worthy, macy and energy...Thank you, thank you thank you!!
Yes, I have to turn in the info to the board.
Of course the Easy Gard(I saw my error in the spelling when I went to the store and looked at the logo)- costs almost 50% less than Tyvek. With a cost to the owners of 1.3 million dollars that will make a big difference in what he bid, then actually bought. The bid said 'Tyvek or comparable material'. Not.
I noticed that they are using staple on the barrier- when I looked at a constuction book today, it said to never do this, as it isn't a good hold and will tear- that nails with caps should be used. Also only 2-3 inch overlap in many places. I can't get up high enough right now to see if they are 'shingling' it correctly- the top to be overlapping the bottom...

I wish I knew what else to look for as far as the materials/work- if you have any ideas feel free to speak up- feel very free!
The minimum assessment was $7,000 to each owner- the higher assessments were $12,000. This is ON TOP of our monthly condo fees! These are not high end condos- more like lower end. Many people on Social Security/disabled, not wealthy, mind you.
Not a good management group/board or contractor in our opinions...
Thanks

Sorry to duplicate Worthy's link, didn't see it.

You can also use cap staples.

To be fair, lots of "experts" still use conventional staples. Take Bob Vila and his construction consultant.

And remember Dr. Lstiburek concludes that as long as there is an air space--and best yet vented top and bottom--the type of membrane shouldn't matter much.

However, proper overlapping--both direction and amount--remains important.

I believe you said there was an architect involved so that is where I would start in terms of assigning responsibility. The owners can claim ignorance but the architect can't.

The specification would be sloppy unless DuPont Tyvek HomeWrap was named instead of just "Tyvek" and the term "equivalent" is usually followed by a list of acceptable materials but in any case a substitution of the original specified material should have been required to be approved in writing by the architect and the installation method should have been specified and monitored in the field. I would also look for any specification requirement regarding the submission of materials to be used on the project. Some kind of contract procedure should have been used in the selection of EasyGard; it should never be left up to the contractor.

If the owners did not include such quality control and assurance responsibilities in the architect's contract then they would be responsible for providing that service during the construction phase.

If you want to nail the architect hire another architect as a consultant; apparently they'll do anything for money.

Our great, wonderful, involved (NOT) Board of Directors for the condo association and the management company (also totally useless) are the ones who ok'd eberything. As owners, we weren't even informed that a there was a choice or what was going on with the whole thing. A useless bunch of people. If the repairs continue as they are being done now, the buildings will again be ruined in short order...