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Vapor barrier and insulation help please?
I have an existing wall in the home I bought that has zero insulation in it. I am a little upset that I paid a home inspector to check for things like this and he had nothing about it in his report. That is another story though. The question I want to ask is this: The existing wall is a basement wall, above ground no earth contact. It is 24 foot by 8 foot, with one window and a standard sliding glass door. I need to know if I can paint the existing wall on the inside (plasterboard) with a good vapor barrier paint and then stud out a new wall and put in insulation and new plaster board. I know I would lose 4 inches or so of room size on that wall but it would be a much easier project than tearing down the wall from either the outside or inside. My concern is would this cause the existing plasterboard to become damp and moldy.Would the empty existing wall space get moldy or damp. Any other suggestions on a way to do this???
jsygrove, thanks for your answer. After I read your answer I went and cut a small hole in an outside wall in a closet up stairs. (I tried several outlets first, but the plasterboard was too tightly cut to see in the wall). It has insulation with the paper on it facing in. The neighbors said that the previous owners had replaced the basement wall not long before they sold the house to me. The other three walls of the basement are concrete and mostly below ground. Now I am wondering if they paid for insulation and did not get it. Guess I need to call the previous owners. I do not want to believe they would not have a wall insulated when it gets below zero here in the winter.
2 Answers
- Jeffrey SLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
No, you should not build over the existing studded wall. Remove the old work that is not up to your standards and start over. You may be able to peel off the old dry wall and install insulation and just have to get new dry wall to up. Not much more work then you already planned to do.
- 1 decade ago
I guess the easiest thing to do would be to hire a contractor to come in and blow insulation into the existing wall. They do this by cutting small holes into each void between the studs and sticking a hose into the wall which blows in insulation from a truck outside. All you have to do then is to Fix the holes and paint the wall with vapor barrier paint. They do make it, but its not as good as the real thing.
Alternatively, you could remove the drywall from that wall and install batt insulation between the studs. The paper backing on the insulation is a vapor barrier in itsself. Then you would have to reinstall new sheetrock. If it makes you feel any better you can also use that vapor barrier paint too.
You say that the wall doesn't have a vapor barrier. This would most likely mean that the rest of the house doesnt have any either, which makes me wonder why you want to do this work to the basement when the rest of the house would need the same treatment. Seems like a waste to me.
Building a new wall on the inside of the old one is an option but it is much more costly than to do my second suggestion with removing the sheetrock. Have you seen the price of wood and metal lately? Its really expensive.
Source(s): I have a BS in construction management from a university and work for a commercial construction management company that does $85 million of work per year.