Walls / Discussions

...walls dry to the interior, by that we  mean to caution readers against installing interior poly vapor barriers that traps moisture in with studs and causes walls to rot. Preventing the moisture from escaping from the concrete in the first place is perfect. Read more here- How to insulate basements properly so they won’...

...walls. Is there any benefit to this or should the walls be insulated instead? Crawlspaces are sometimes insulated between the floor joists to the floor above, or as you mention, have insulated walls instead. You will see crawlspaces with walls only insulated, but that does of course omit insulating the dirt or concrete...

Can I source a supply. There is one company in the UK that is producing Straw bale SIPs, and there was one Ontario company producing Straw bale SIPs has since stopped. We aren’t sure if anyone else has started producing them unfortunately. 

...walls absorb too much heat, poor building design. I live in a condo and would like to put something on the walls inside to keep the heat mostly outside. There are not a lot of passive heating and cooling solutions that we can recommend once the house is already built unfortunately. The only thing I could think of would...

...walls before doing the WRB? The kraft paper falling apart or separating from the insulation is no great concern, and you could blow in cellulose without causing any problems, but there is an easier and cheaper way. First check out this page on insulating the exterior of walls, and your question is sort of answered in t...

...walls it dried up.  I reinsulated and and a new vapour barrier, and left it for the winter.  I opened back up and there was condensation again. I opened up the wall and it is dry now.  Like I said our basement is finished and I can only check a few spots, and I have only noticed in one corner. I have had the weeping ti...

I live in Calgary, Alberta and bought a house built in 2007. I noticed this past winter when I started renovating my basement that the rim joists were poorly insulated and we're damp. I insulated the rim joists with R10 rigid board with spray filling the gaps and then R12 batt insulation. I then noticed that under our ...

...walls are about 8" thick solid poured concrete on the ground floor, and 4" on the second floor. Both stories have had an exterior skin added by applying bi-sected hollow blocks which gives a few inches of air gap. Interior was plaster and lathe, then strapping and gyproc was added. Over the years the inner walls have m...

I live in east Texas and have a tiny home shell with wood 4x8 sheet siding. I want to put viny siding on. For insulation foam sheets on exterior can I use formular 1/2" or does the foam sheet need to be foil faced? And can i also use 1/2" formular between the studs on the interior along with my fiberglass insulation? W...

...walls, any moisture in the concrete can move right through it, as long as it is not stopped by an interior vapor barrier. That is also why you should never put an interior vapor barrier on basement walls, since the source of moisture that could damage the walls is not humidity in the interior air, it is moisture from t...

...walls and insulated with Roxul insulation Batts I went to go do some electrical work today and pulled back a bath and noticed that there was a bunch of condensation and a little bit of mold in between the bat and the polyiso. Did I do something wrong here? The humidity in my basement is 45%.

My husband is finishing our basement and installed 1 inch foam insulation to the exterior wall before framing and then installing fiberglass insulation. When he began drywalling he noticed moisture behind the fiberglass on the secrion of the wall that is above ground. At this point we are wondering what we could do to ...

Hello, We are redoing our basement ourselves (zone 5, Toronto) and on a budget after gutting the entire finished basement due to extensive moisture penetration and mold issues. The foundation/walls are concrete block and we have 2 sides done with interior plastic membrane to french drain and sump pump, one side exterio...

...walls from the outside, that may give you some valuable tips as well. And the only other point I think you should keep in mind is that the junction between the wall and the roof. They can be tricky since many of those older bungalows have low roof lines making it tricky to insulate well while still allowing ventilation...

If so, how would the windows be installed? Also, once installed can I add stone and mortar to the stucco exterior? You could use Straw bale SIPs on the outside of a shipping container home, but I’m not sure it is your best use of your money or resources.  The thing is – SIPS stands for Structural Insulated Panel, so th...

...walls. That way you keep your stud wall dry and don’t have to go through this again in the future. And a question – what is  your climate zone? Insulating old block foundations from the inside can be a bit risky in really cold climates, as they are accustomed to staying warm with a lack of insulation. Suddenly being ex...

...walls to crack. Concrete block walls are not as strong as poured concrete, since they are only held together by the mortar between blocks.

...walls were just about touching the block walls and had no barrior between them. I now am going to put 4 new walls up (same as before 3 exterior, 1 dividing). I use Drylok so far on all the exterior walls follwoing the instructions. Now I plan on installing a vapor barrier using 6 Mil plastic and hold the new walls a fe...