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

[Clarke Olsen]

   Gave me a turn… I blew cellulose into the walls of an 1852 church 43 years ago. So far so good: there is really no reason 
   for moisture to be trapped in the walls. We also painted it in ’75 (last was 1910),and the paint never peeled; just started to powder 
   after 17 years. It did (does) have a 10/16 pitch, a good overhang, and nice clear 1 inch board & batten siding.

Clarke Olsen
clarkeolsendesign.com
373 route 203
Spencertown, NY 12165 
USA
518-392-4640
colsen at taconic.net





> On Nov 25, 2019, at 11:03 PM, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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.)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
> 
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20191126/215e2c58/attachment.html>