Vapor barrier / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...barriers and vapor barriers Choosing the right house wrap / weather barrier, which is best? Smart vapor membranes as a safer alternative to vapor barriers Building science made easy - understanding the basics of durable home design Sign up now and reap the benefits of a free Ecohome network membership!

...Barrier air sealing spray for homes AeroBarrier is an innovative air sealing method that we have tried ourselves and quite like, and while we don't usually promote individual brands, we know of no other such product. AeroBarrier installers pressurize a home so air is forced out of any hole in the building envelope. A m...

...Vapor Barriers in Ceilings In many colder climates, building codes mandate a polyethylene vapor barrier behind the interior drywall. While intended to stop moisture from entering the roof assembly, this plastic sheet unfortunately creates a hidden hazard: it can mask a roof leak by trapping water within the structure, ...

...vapor barrier, meaning it allows moisture to pass through. This can be beneficial in some applications, such as attic spaces, where controlled moisture permeability helps prevent trapped condensation. But for walls it means you still a vapor barrier or vapor retarder depending on your climate. Closed-cell spray foam ac...

...barriers used for air barriers and in some cases like REMOTE Walls as a vapor barrier, and we think that the money you invest in reducing heat loss would be better invested as an additional inch of insulation rather than dropping it on radiant barriers.  Now you know more about radiant barriers in homes, find more ...

...vapor barrier and air barrier 11 7/8" TGIs (I-joists) as a double-stud wall attached to the exterior of the sheathing (R42) 1.5" ECO4 Wood fiber-board rigid exterior insulation (R4) Weather barrier (WRB) Strapping  Exterior cladding * Both homes are built on a Legalett raft-slab ‘slab on grade ICF forming kit’ with 12...

Vapor barrier + air-con = damp moldy walls So here's a little known fact that most HVAC installers won't tell a potential new client for central air; Polyethylene vapor barriers in combination with air conditioning in homes can rot walls because of the condensation they may cause. This is why if you have a newer home w...

...Vapor barriers on basement insulation will rot your walls" We put vapour barriers in basement wall assemblies to keep moisture from getting into them, as if they didn't already contain thousands of litres of water. Polyethylene won't keep foundations dry, they are already soaking wet. All it will do is prevent the thou...

...barriers and rainscreens play in a wall, choosing the right products and installation tips for optimum performance. They're officially known as water-resistive barriers or WRBs, sometimes weather-resistive barriers, but in practical terms they are more commonly called housewraps and weather barriers. With so many optio...

...barriers and vapor barriers: The job of a vapor barrier is to prevent vapor diffusion (walls absorbing humidity from the air), and the job of an air barrier is to stop air leakage through individual holes. A wall system should have one vapor barrier, but it can have many air barriers. A vapor barrier can act as a very ...

...barrier, we used a 10 mil barrier and a radon evacuation stack to lower radon gas levels in homes, research shows (see below) that thicker membranes offer more effective protection.  In this video we are installing a 10 mil vapour barrier but we would probably use a thick vapor barrier like this one in future as the co...