Stucco, no sheathing, felt paper issues
Located in southern California desert area. Recently purchased a house built in 1979. When removing a mirrored wall, we discovered mold on the gypsum board behind it. The landscaping outside is overgrown and soil is above the floor line, which is being remedied as I type this. When we removed the gyp board, we found disintegrating foam insulation, and the felt paper behind the stucco (no sheathing), is also disintegrating in several areas. I want to reinsulate this wall, but I’m concerned about moisture infiltration through the stucco without figuring out the felt paper issue. The contractor that is doing the framing suggested using a liquid product like Red Guard or something, I’m wondering if I couldn’t just use closed cell foam insulation and call it a day? My understanding is that closed cell foam acts as a vapor barrier. so it would probably work generally speaking, but not to protect the studs or sill plate unfortunately. Any thoughts?
Replies
Maybe the foam would work but if it was my house I'd want to know the source of the water before I closed the wall up again. If the whole wall was covered with mirror adhesive it made a good vapor barrier which could have been the problem.
I think the water was coming from the exterior landscape grade being built up against the wall - it's a narrow flower bed with sprinklers, but it had gotten very overgrown, so the earth level was nearly 6-8" above the interior floor of the house. that's all been fixed now, and converting the sprinkler to drip in that bed. All of the mold was low on the wall, so I feel like that's most likely the source.