[Alumifab]

Ok, I need some help/advice.

I'm up in my attic trying to airseal some areas and I came across this.

This is where my outside brick wall/porch meets the inside bedroom wall.

There is a gap between the attic floorboards, but this gap is only across 2 joists. There is a board cover the gap over the other joists. Does this need to be sealed? If so, what's the right way.

Should there be this kinda gap between the brick wall and interior wall construction??

As a new homeowner I am not sure if this is constructed correctly.

I assume the floorboards need to be sealed, to stop airflow from getting into the bedroom.
I think the air is starting in the attic, going in the crack traveling all the way down my wall and coming into the bedroom from the bottom part/rug.

Please see the album for pictures as I realize this is hard to explain.

http://www.diychatroom.com/members/alumifab-58934/albums/attic/

 

[Mingledtrash]

There is a gap between the attic floorboards, but this gap is only across 2 joists. There is a board cover the gap over the other joists. Does this need to be sealed? If so, what's the right way.

This looks like a draft stop for a column or coffer it probably needs some fire rated foam. Typically there is a small gap behind the brick between brick and ply wood. it looks like they did not put house wrap or felt/tarpaper behind the brick. The gap in the draft stop is pretty common in track housing because of the speed they do them many little thing like this are either over looked or they turn a blind eye to it to get the house done fast and cheap.

Maybe they just didnt go all the way up but Getting the proper moisture barrier behind the brick should be high on your priority list because the brick holds moisture against the wood and it will rot out in a couple years time.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GREAT-STUFF-16-oz-Fireblock-Insulating-Foam-Sealant-345372/202023037
the caulking is better but wont work if the gap is to big
http://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-10-1-fl-oz-Fire-Barrier-Sealant-Caulk-CP-25WB/100166701

here is a similar situation they just did not do the sealant for some reason.

 

[Alumifab]

So how can i tell if there is house wrap at least on this side of the home? Should I rip up a board in the attic to get a better look? of maybe rent a camera to lower in the gap to see?
Would the wrap be against the bricks or the plywood side?
I am assuming you are talking about some kind of tyvek home wrap?
and the million dollar question, how in the world do you apply it, after the fact? through the attic?
I assume the whole has doesn't have it..... ugh

 

[Mingledtrash]

So how can i tell if there is house wrap at least on this side of the home? Should I rip up a board in the attic to get a better look? of maybe rent a camera to lower in the gap to see?
Would the wrap be against the bricks or the plywood side?
I am assuming you are talking about some kind of tyvek home wrap?
and the million dollar question, how in the world do you apply it, after the fact? through the attic?
I assume the whole has doesn't have it..... ugh

Yes i am talking about the tyvek type house wrap or similar product. I just noticed in that one picture of your column with the brick you could see the osb plywood which should be wrapped. Hopefully just your columns but you never know. i would just take a brick or two off carefully using a hammer and cold chisel. they are easy enough to replace. if you have a snake camera you could try that route.

as far as installing house wrap after the fact... well you cant you would have to pull all the masonry off.

maybe there is some sort of epoxy type sealer you could spray on.

this is the picture i am referring to. you should not have any exposed wood products.

 

[ront02769]

Keeping in mind that those of us on the board do not know everything, there Should always be an air gap between a brick veneer wall using full size bricks and the supporting stud wall. That said, there is a DIFFERENT application in which the veneer is more like a slice of brick applied kind of like stucco. In THIS case, the jury appears to be put on air gap/no air gap...BUT at this point a waterproof membrane against thelywood or osb is required.

With THAT said, you need to assess your individual situation. Gonna live there less than five years? Fuggadaboutit. Gonna live there forever? Dig deeper and see what you have. In between, on your own. Ron

 

[Alumifab]

Good to know.

The pictures of the gap are only from me sticking my iphone down the gap (without dropping it :smile: ) and it can't really reach that far down.
With that said I think the plywood that is seen in the pictures is the trim that the arrow is pointing to below.
On the other side of the wall (interior side) I need to really get in there and see if it's sealed, etc.
I'll probably rent a little drop down camera and see if there is anything that I can see and if not, at the top where my attic gap is, I might pull a little more wood off to access my interior side and see if there is anything....
But I need to do this soon as the attic gap is just letting air come and go which isn't good.

 

[Alumifab]

Ok so I went back up in the attic and here's what I found. There is no wrap.
You can see clearly nothing on the brick side and on the interior side there is a .25" type of plywood and I could bend that back a little and could see batt insulation, but nothing else.
So I said the hell with it and sealed it up with foam.
I'll see how the summer goes and if I win the lottery I might tend to it.....