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Sidewall insulation retro vapor barrier

petereugene | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on August 27, 2008 09:22am

Greetings folks. Longtime FHB reader (my collection goes back to #1), first time poster. This is my very first post so please be easy on me.

I recently bought a house built in 1952 which has minimal attic insulation but zero anywhere else so am about to begin the project of correcting this deficiency. Here’s my question.

What do I need to think about regarding a vapor in the exterior walls? My plan is to use celluose blow-in insulation. It’s sided with sidewall shake (rake shake) so it will be easy enough to remove shingles as need to access the sheathing for drilling the holes to do this. Is there a type of blow-in that also serves as a barrier? Is a barrier even necessary? I’m uncomfortable not having a barrier in place. The house is sound, there are no issues with drainage around the foundation, gutters and roof are sound, the crawl space is dry and free of any rot, albeit uninsulated or vapor barriered (that’s probably the first step in this project), and air infiltration does not seem to be a problem although I’ve yet to have an audit.

This house is in Salem, Oregon which is a temperate climate but, as you may have heard, can be, let’s say, a little moist for sometimes half of the year.

I’ve read Breaktime for a while, have learned some things in doing so and look forward to seeing if there’s a definitive answer to this question. Thanks for any wisdom offered.

One other question… Where is the index that used to be on the FHB front page? Does one have to be a subscriber to have access to it or am I just blind for the moment? I may have to subscribe again but have not worked for almost a year now so I have to watch my expenses. Yeah, it was that damned sub-prime mess that did me in…

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  1. User avater
    BillHartmann | Aug 27, 2008 10:37pm | #1

    First time poster that post long message get chopped up and used for bait.

    Sorry, that just the rules. You should have read them first.

    " Where is the index that used to be on the FHB front page?"

    You mean on the first page of the website?

    It is still their, but hidden.

    If you start here.

    http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/

    Then at the top right there is a ling to Fine HomeBuilding MAGAINE.

    And the same link is that the top of this page.

    That gets you to http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/

    And the Index link is on the left side.

    There is also a new "search" At the top of this page and also the FHB main page is a search window with a Red button.

    Note, that this search is as screwed up as the index and the search in on that page.

    But it is screwed up in a different way. So you might try all 3 to find an article (Index keyword, Index Search, and Web search)

    About the vapor BARRIER. What you need is to control the flow of moist air. In your climated you don't have strong moisture drive and minimal condensation problems.

    Do some looking around wwww.buildingscience.com

    Possibly in your climate you don't need to do anything other than densepack the cels.

    .
    .
    A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
    1. petereugene | Aug 27, 2008 11:18pm | #2

      Thanks, I think.

      Being new, I'm prepared for the slice and dice so have at it. I'll don my

      flame resistant, not flame proof gear.

      Don't mean to be obtuse but I thought more info was better than less. In deference to the veterans here I'll refrain from snark, for now.

      Anyway, seriously Bill, thanks for the info and I'll follow up on it on both counts.

      Short enough? I was gonna... oh never mind, too long.

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