[Greenbuilding] Insulating walls in (old) wood framed house without vapor barrier?

[Reuben Deumling]

I realize this list has gone silent, but in the hope that some of you smart
greenbuilding folks are still out there, receiving this email, I would like
to pick your brains. A correspondent from Illinois has been cautioned by
five(!) "very experienced people' not to insulate the walls in an old house:

In the attic, yes. We are not going to put it in the walls. After talking
to multiple old house restorers who have been in the trade 40 years or
more, they all say one thing, that due to lack of a vapor barrier, it will
trap moisture and rot the framing in the walls. They did a lot of
insulating in the 1970's, and then a great deal of structural repairs in
the 1990's on those houses.

I suggested he try to find a second opinion. Please share your wisdom.

Thanks very much
Reuben Deumling (who joined this list almost twenty(!) years ago.)
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