[Arcflasher1]

Hello,

I Installed a 1inch pvc pipe with cat5 inside from my house connecting to the garage. From the exterior of my home, i sealed the box with silicone and in the pvc pipe i had put duct seal putty inside to fill the gap of the pipe. In the inside of the house i had sealed around the 1inch pvc pipe with silicone then sealed around the pipe with foam insulation for more protection. Around the pipe is probably about 4 inches of spray foam. With the cat5 coming inside the house i had put silicone inside the 1inch pvc to stop cold air and bugs and all to come in. Then covered it back with the pink fibre glass insulation and vapour barrier.

But i had to then remove the underground pipe and cat5 as it needed to be relocated(dont really want to get into that part), but still leaving the exterior box attached.. While in the process of removing the cat5. I had noticed that it was kind of damp in the area where the foam insulation was and where the cat5 was coming in. That whole area was not spray foamed by the builder and all there was, was drywall layer and pink fibre glass insulation and vapour barrier before i drilled the hole. When i touched the drywall area it was cold from the outside. I had put a leak sensor in there as well to check the next day and it was going off saying it was wet area and all so it was definitely getting damp in that area.

My question are:

1. How do i prevent the area from getting damp? Should i spray foam the whole area? Did i fill the pvc pipe wrong? It seems the builder only spray foamed some parts and not every part of the house in the basement, seemed odd as its usually all spray foamed in other houses.

2. From the exterior box, filling the pipe with duct seal putty and from the inside the house, filling the hole with silicone so cold air doesnt get through a bad idea? Or is there a better way that everyone does?

My guesses are that its just cold and with the insulation there and all is making it damp. I might just be paranoid but it just doesnt seem right to have that area damp at all, the places i touched that didnt have spray foam also seemed damp to the touch but the fibre insulation didnt seem damp.
Thank you in advanced for your guys help.

 

[chandler48]

First, spray foam is not water proof in the sense you need it. Waterproofing should be done from the outside, not inside. Your block or the hole itself is filling with water and hydraulic pressure from the outside.

The abandoned hole should be sealed with hydraulic cement from both the outside and inside. Pictures of what you see will help us as well.

 

[Arcflasher1]

First, spray foam is not water proof in the sense you need it. Waterproofing should be done from the outside, not inside. Your block or the hole itself is filling with water and hydraulic pressure from the outside.

The abandoned hole should be sealed with hydraulic cement from both the outside and inside. Pictures of what you see will help us as well.

Im new to this so hopefully the image works, heres a link of how the inside and outside looked before i had to pull the cat5s out.

https://flic.kr/p/2iPSVpG
https://flic.kr/p/2iPVLDn

Heres how it looks now airdrying the area.

https://flic.kr/p/2iPVSxB

So i should have put silicone in the whole starting from the exterior box?

 

[Datawise]

You probably violated the vapour barrier when you drilled the hole through the insulation.

A few different things need to happen:

1. The area around the conduit needs to be sealed to keep moisture and insects out;
2. The vapour barrier needs to be sealed around the conduit so it is 100% in-tact with the rest of the envelope;
3. The conduit penetration through the house / insulation needs to be sealed from air flow (looks like you did part of that with the duct seal; and
4. Your sealing needs to be separate around each cable to prevent air flow.

As a side note, your cables are not going to last long if they are not underground rated. Moisture will eat up the insulation and corrode the wires in short order.

Cheers
John

 

[Arcflasher1]

You probably violated the vapour barrier when you drilled the hole through the insulation.

A few different things need to happen:

1. The area around the conduit needs to be sealed to keep moisture and insects out;
2. The vapour barrier needs to be sealed around the conduit so it is 100% in-tact with the rest of the envelope;
3. The conduit penetration through the house / insulation needs to be sealed from air flow (looks like you did part of that with the duct seal; and
4. Your sealing needs to be separate around each cable to prevent air flow.

As a side note, your cables are not going to last long if they are not underground rated. Moisture will eat up the insulation and corrode the wires in short order.

Cheers
John

1. The area around the conduit needs to be sealed to keep moisture and insects out;
-i siliconed around the whole where the pvc was going through the house so when i screw the box in it covers the area and i then siliconed around the box

2. The vapour barrier needs to be sealed around the conduit so it is 100% in-tact with the rest of the envelope;
- are you talking about the exterior wall where the box is?

3. The conduit penetration through the house / insulation needs to be sealed from air flow (looks like you did part of that with the duct seal; and
-i also stick the tip of the silicone in the pvc pipe and squeezed a bunch so the hole was filled with silicone with the wires in

4. Your sealing needs to be separate around each cable to prevent air flow.
- thanks for reminding me about this one, i forgot

Thanks for the advise

 

[anyacolo]

just use outdoor weatherproof gel-filled cat5 or cat6 and don't worry about it


https://www.homedepot.com/b/Electri...,1228&storeSelection=1287,1233,1234,1268,1228

 

[seharper]

All outdoor conduit should be presumed to be 100% full of water 100% of the time, and you must choose wet-service wiring. That's Code.

Knowing this will save you a whole lot of time trying to seal conduit perfectly lol.

In fact, right after you install outdoor conduit, just go ahead and fill it with water Settle the question

As far as controlling air movement in/out of conduit, terminate the conduit in a semi-sealable junction box, not a gaping hole. Exit the cable through a grommet/strain relief, the kind that has a rubber gland and you tighten it up against your cable. That should reduce airflow to essentially nil.

All the glop stuffed down the conduit is just sloppy workmanship. Get rid of that.

Also remember, you are not allowed to put AC mains power cables in the same conduit with datacomm, unless the datacomm is fiber.

 

[Datawise]

2. The vapour barrier needs to be sealed around the conduit so it is 100% in-tact with the rest of the envelope;
- are you talking about the exterior wall where the box is?

I don't know where you live, so your vapour barrier may be in a different location. The vapour barrier is the plastic between the insulation and the drywall. If you pierce that plastic, you need to make it whole again by using approved "tuck tape" and secure the plastic around the conduit (so the plastic becomes part of the seal).

If you do not do this, you will get warm moist air from inside the home that travels along the outside edge of the conduit and meet with the cool exterior air and will condensate inside the wall.

Cheers

John