Home Improvement Today?

Is paper faced insulation still in use in the US , or is this an older building ?

 

I was looking at that, think the tiles may be asbestos-type?

 

repainted the whole interior of the house a few days ago. Besides that cleaned up the back yard..today . and tomorrow I will work on freshening up the main bathroom. Placed the house for sale.

 

Yes at least here in the south it is. The plastic vapor barriers with unfaced insulation which i'm sure you're accustomed to is more common up north. The condo was built in the 80's.

Nope, they're ceramic. Stick downs are vinyl and only 3-4 years old.

 

thanks

Predominantly cooling demand vs predominanly heating demand .

Vapour / air barriers are an interesting subject .

 

That is exciting! That tub and tile combo looks great. The water issue could have sucked, glad you were able to open the spigot and knock out your soldering.

 

Haha yep, it got me a little nervous. My girlfriend had a pleasant conversation with the HOA management company this morning . The woman though the spigot on we found was an additional shutoff...lol.

The plumber said his backup plan would be to quickly cut the pipe and put a sharkbite shutoff fitting inline. With a bucket underneath to catch the water.

 

built this for my one of my friends daughters....thinking of starting a business....

 

Paper faced batt insulation is used around here only when there isn't an exterior vapor barrier in place. Typical here is Tyvek wrap and then unfaced inside. I used paper faced insulation before my one piece tub/shower went in because I couldn't find any unfaced at the local HD and I was in a hurry. I sliced up the paper face to allow for ventilation.

I watch a lot of the Holmes on Homes episodes and it seems in Canada they used an exterior and an interior vapor barrier. Is this normal practice up there?

 

Hmmm...All of the new houses around here have paper faced insulation and are wrapped.

 

General practice here is housewrap or builder's paper on the exterior , batt insulation in the cavities and a 6mil plastic vapour barrier on the interior .

Housewrap is not a vapour barrier , but is the air barrier , the 6mil poly is both an air barrier and a vapour barrier .

Sounds like you have no vapour barrier in your application , this is not great in a heating climate .

 

The supposed issue with a housewrap barrier and then an interior barrier is that there is a possibility that moisture may develop and be trapped between the exterior and interior in the wall cavity. That's why it interested me when I watched Holmes on Homes that the 6 mil plastic was used on the inside. So is the plastic inside sealed airtight between the outside and the inside?

 

Creating a vapour lock inside the wall cavity is only a concern if you seal up framing that has too high a moisture content , or there is water getting in from the outside .

The interior 6mil vapour / air barrier is sealed at all interior perforations , this keeps the interior warm , humid air from mixing with the colder outside air inside the wall cavity where it would condensate , generally on the interior surface of the wall sheathing .

Housewrap , particularly Tyvek or Typar has a perm rating below that of a vapour barrier and is designed to allow moisture to escape from the wall cavity .

The danger in not having a vapour barrier on the warm side of the insulation in a heating climate such as the one we live in , is you run the risk of the humid interior air condensing on the exterior side of the drywall .

This equation is further altered if you put exterior styrofoam sheeting on the exterior side of your framing , was this done at your house ?

 

No, although I did consider it. None of the houses constructed around here that I have seen have an interior vapor barrier. Standard is unfaced batt insulation followed by sheetrock. Now I don't know if by IRC standards they consider the sheetrock as the barrier but I would assume that the states are behind the Great White North when it comes to energy efficient construction. Also interpretation of the IRC varies from county to county.

The state of Washington just enacted the new energy code that requires duct testing and a blower door test on new construction. I was permitted right before this was enforced but I have an old neighbor that has a heat loss analysis company and I need to run through my house.

 

This conversation interested me , and I did a little digging , and you seem to be correct that your area is exempt from a vapour barrier .




Q. What does the code say about vapor retarders?
A. Codes vary; older versions of model building codes often included more sweeping requirements for vapor retarders than more recent versions.

The 2006 International Residential Code (IRC) and the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) both define a vapor retarder as a material having a permeance of 1 perm or less. This definition includes such materials as polyethylene sheeting, aluminum foil, kraft paper facing, and vapor-retarding paint.

In section R318.1, the 2006 IRC requires: “In all framed walls, floors, and roof/ceilings comprising elements of the building thermal envelope, a vapor retarder shall be installed on the warm-in-winter side of the insulation.” It should be emphasized that this code requirement makes no mention of polyethylene; vapor-retarding paint fulfills this code requirement.



The 2006 IRC includes exceptions to the vapor-retarder requirement. It allows a vapor retarder to be omitted:

• In Climate Zones 1 through 4 (an area including most of the West coast and the South);
• In walls, floors and ceilings made of materials (like concrete) that cannot be damaged by moisture or freezing;
• “Where the framed cavity or space is ventilated to allow moisture to escape” — an apparent (although poorly worded) reference to vented attics and walls with rainscreen siding.

Interesting difference in codes

 

Fun!

 

Thats pretty sweet!!

 

Finished this kitchen cabinet install today

 

Very nice looking kitchen.

 

That is very cool. The kids are going to love playing in that.