vapor barrier

I'm remodeling a 40 year old cabin in East Texas (Zone 8) that previously didn't have any insulation in the walls nor was it conditioned. The exterior is board and baton siding with Roofing felt as a WRB. No external sheathing is present under the WRB. I'm filling the stud bays with Rockwool...

I have an old house basement that is half crawl-space and the other half is an unfinished basement with stone walls. I have the furnace in the basement, so that actually it never gets cold in there during the winter I want to replace the existing 'ceiling' insulation that was poorly installed...

Hi, I need to replace vapor barrier and Mold ( clean, disinfect, protect) the wood) remediation. Q1) Which one should I do first? Q2) Should I Pin the barrier down or tape it? Some folks are very picky and say the holes around the nail would pass the gas and vapor through it. Q3) does the...

Had a home in Michigan inspected earlier this week. Mostly minor issues, but one thing worries me. I attach three pictures from the crawlspace. The block walls look to be in bad shape, and you can see that there is water under the vapor barrier. It's been very dry here for the past few weeks...

Hi. We just moved into a home that has sheet vinyl directly on top of a concrete slab on a porch. Moisture is coming up thru the slab and to the vinyl. I really do not want to have to waste this new flooring. Can i put down 6mil plastic visqueen under the sheet vinyl? if i do, how will the vinyl...

I have a house with a converted garage into a living room. It is sunken living room with a 2 steps which is around 13 inches below the rest of the house. I want to raise this up as its a safety hazard with young children. The room currently has carpet right over top of the concrete and the steps...

A friend of mine is redoing her garage into a hot glass studio. She wants to put up corrugated metal panels as the interior walls for fire purposes. She wants in insulate the walls-I am unsure on this. There will be kilns and a glory hole inside. These reach internal temperatures of...

We are remodeling our kitchen and ended up removing insulation on about 14 feet of exterior wall and of course need an insulation inspection. The inspector was not sure if we needed a vapor barrier....which leads me to all kinds of question! House was built in 1981, we live in the Denver area...

Hey guys, I hate to even post this as it's been discussed a million times all over the internet, but the answer still remains open, with lots of different arguments and ideas as to why it should be done a certain way, and no clear cut answer that I could find. I'm remodeling my bathroom, and...

Hi, I live in Massachusetts, doing a basement finishing. 80% below grade poured cement exterior walls are covered by 2in rigid foam and taped sealed. After putting in insulation, do I still need to put a vapor barrier? Thanks

Greetings all, Long time lurker first time poster. I have this dilemma. We have screen room addition in the back that we are trying to convert into usable living space. The Addition sits on a very solid, stable concrete pad that has 4 feet of footing around it, and i can image is only...

Hi. Have French drains but had water in our finished basement this weekend. The drains and sump were dry as a bone. We don't have a vapor barrier on the wall into the drains and I think the water ran down the insulation onto the floor. Would the recommendation be to install a wall vapor barrier...

What are some standard materials to use for the ceiling of a crawlspace? The only thing I have heard so far is that it must be vapour permeable. And, I would like to add, that I am concerned about rodent ingress. I want to use loose-fill/blown-in insulation. And the crawl space is open, so...

I am about to demo and redo an existing bathroom. Two of the walls are concrete block covered with furring strips and green board. The question is does there need to be a vapor barrier behind the green board ? And should I use some type of insulation paneling or something behind the green...

Hi, we just replaced 1972 home central HVAC systems we live in California and the contractor is supposed to seal and insulate our attic return line I noticed that they started the job but they were using Johns Manville 90006271 Microlite Standard Fiber Glass Duct Wrap Insulation with an R-value...

Hey guys, I'm installing some "outside of the shower" tile. Meaning this tile is for the step out of the vinyl one piece shower kit and about 3 feet up the wall on the outside as well. None of the tile will be in constant direct contact with water at all times. The only time any of it will...

Hello Everyone - I'm adding a basement bar and have decided to use Knotty pine on the walls that surround it. One of the walls is an exterior wall and there are furring strips attached to it - I'm debating on whether to put a vapor barrier between the furring strips and the knotty pine...

I’m looking to finish the basement of my split level house which is in a cold climate. I have 3.5 foot high block walls in the basement that have some moisture on the walls after it rains (but never any standing water) and met with a basement contractor who recommends digging a trench out...

I am working on repairing/updating the roof on my guest house (though only partially due to limited funds). I am a novice so, the term vapor barrier is only coming into my vocabulary as of today and, since we've opened it up I wonder do we need it, what kind, how much, etc? And, what other...

Hey everybody, this is my first post and first time being on this site. I recently bought my first home in Northern Ontario, Canada. It was a late 50's bungalow with a crawl space that now has a half storey addition. I've found some rebates through my gas company for insulating the crawl space...