No Vapor Barrier, no external wrap, no tape over joints

House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Stubbs1911

New Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Well, here's an interesting one. Had an emergency bathroom renovation, (leaking shower pan, rotted entire corner of the floor, one section of external wall, one section of internal wall), and during the process I discovered that there is no vapor barrier on my walls and some pretty lousy insulation. Decided to get rid of an existing window as part of the project, and discovered that there was absolutely no wrap on the exterior and none of the joints have been taped. I know that when I did construction (Many, many years ago in NY), it was code that the exterior had to be wrapped, not sure about the code here in VA. My question is I need to replace my siding, I would like to tape the joints, install Styrofoam panel insulation over the sheathing and then wrap. Is this even doable, and if so does anyone know of anyone who had done it? House definitely needs some quality insulation, just replacing the insulation in the bathroom has netted at least a five degree difference in there compared to the rest of the house, summer and winter. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
BTW: welcome to the site, Every zone is a little different so local advise should be looked for too before you decide the best way to go forward.
 
Just out of curiosity, how old is your home?
You said you have some lousy insulation in place now. Is it just fiberglass without any backing?
How thick are the stud bays of your walls?
What type of sheathing do you have?
What type of siding is on the house now?
Is it a multi-story house? What’s in the attic now for insulation?
When you did the bathroom what did you add new to boost the R values?

The example Neal gave was installing 4” of foam board to the outside of the house. This is possibly a way to go and would have high numbers but you have the build out to contend with on windows and such.

When you said Styrofoam over the sheathing were you suggesting that thick or the thin stuff you see a lot under vinyl siding.

And welcome to the site.
 
Back
Top