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Posted by Goedjn on May 19, 2006, 11:48 am
On 19 May 2006 00:52:08 -0700, dr_swami@yahoo.com wrote:
>Hi
>
>I'm renovating the basement of an old house in Victoria, BC. The
>climate here is typical Northwest. It rains a lot, but rarely does it
>get below freezing.
>
>The building code in this area says I should put vapor barrier on the
>external walls between the drywall and the insulation. This is to
>prevent in-house moisture from penetrating through the drwall and
>insulation and condensing against the cold external walls. It's the
>same building code across Canada.
>
>My carpenter says however, that this code is relevant in climates like
>Alberta where it gets to -10 and stays there for months on end, but
>that for climates like BC where it hardly ever gets below freezing it
>does more harm than good. His recommendation is that I not use vapor
>barrier on the external walls and simply drywall right over the
>insualtion. According to him, in temperate humid climates like British
>Columbia, vapor barrier seals the moisture in the walls and causes more
>wood rot and mold than without it.
>
>(He does, however, recommend putting vapor barrier up against the
>foundation (~ 2 feet) BEFORE the insulation and then drywalling. That,
>he says, is to prevent the outside ground water moisture from coming in
>through porous concrete and into the walls.)
>
>What is your guys' opinion? Is he correct? Would you vapor barrier the
>external walls between the insulation and drwall in humid climates that
>rarely get below freezing?
I'd use a spray-on close-celled foam as both insulation and vapor
barrier. You get no condensation against the sheathing because
there's no way for air to carry water there, and you get no
condensation against the vapor barrier, because the "exposed"
surface isn't cold.
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