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I am covering the first 7′ of my 2nd floor bathroom walls w/moisture resistent drywall. The remaining 3′ I will be installing wainscoat. I plan on installing all this right over the plaster and lath. Have a good vent fan to get rid of moisture. Just had fiberglass blown into the walls and attic. Outside of house is original wood siding. Looking for suggestions whether I should put a plastic vapor barrier on the (2) exterior walls before installing drywall/wainscoat or not necessary. House (approx 150 year old victorian) is in Northern NY. Thanks for suggestions. Frank.
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I'd put a vapor barrier in there, especially behind the wainscoating. The plaster is going to get cracked and the wood is not impermable. While the bays in the exterior wall used to be pretty breezy, they are now a little tighter and there is all the FG for water vapor to freeze onto. Pay attention to any penetrations (wiring, plumbing, etc) on those exterior walls. Spring for the fancy electrical boxes with flanges and gaskets.
A bigger issue may be all the other rooms in your house where you are not redoing the wall surfaces. They'll have cracks in the plaster, really leaky electrical outlets, etc. A blower door test with smoke tracing could identify the problem spots for extra attention. -David
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I am covering the first 7' of my 2nd floor bathroom walls w/moisture resistent drywall. The remaining 3' I will be installing wainscoat. I plan on installing all this right over the plaster and lath. Have a good vent fan to get rid of moisture. Just had fiberglass blown into the walls and attic. Outside of house is original wood siding. Looking for suggestions whether I should put a plastic vapor barrier on the (2) exterior walls before installing drywall/wainscoat or not necessary. House (approx 150 year old victorian) is in Northern NY. Thanks for suggestions. Frank.