Thinking .. and thinking
Last weekend we all did a bit of work on the bathroom. Matthew had fun helping me cut blue XPS board to begin the insulation process. It was fairly fun :-)
However, this got me thinking and re-thinking about my plan to insulate the bathroom. I originally wanted the wall system to look like this from inside out:
- blueboard and cement board (where applicable)
- 4 mill plastic sheeting (vapor barrier)
- fg batts
- XPS styro
- some sort of tar-paper (I actually did not know this was there untill the walls were removed)
- clapboard siding
I have been researching alot about the vapor barrier part and am still unsure about it.. It seems that there are just as many opinions on what you should do as there are possibilities of what can be done. I have been looking all over the net for help. I have a few more ideas in my head now and have found some very interesting reading. Here is a site I wanted to jot down so I'd have it some where.
http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/homeowner.htm
Here is what I am thinking now. XPS will stop the air for the most part on the outside. The inside of the XPS will not be that cold / hot (season) as it is fairly dense, it is however still "breathable". The batts will hold the conditioned or heated air and again the kraft faced will allow "breathability". GP products will do little for air movement but will be more suited for the bath environment... Inside out:
- gypsum (GP DenseArmor / Shield)
- kraft faced fg
- XPS styro
- some sort of tar-paper (I actually did not know this was there untill the walls were removed)
- clapboard siding
We'll see I might change after I continue to read more