Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) does not recommend the use of any blown-in insulating material inside "enclosed vertical cavities" (that's a fancy way of saying "walls that are not open"). They feel that techniques of installation and verification during installation are not good ...
Yes, but maybe not good enough.Sheathing paper is designed to keep outside water and wind out of the walls but to let inside vapour breath out (like your skin does for your body). Over the years, manufacturers have made the traditional sheathing or building paper stronger, but at the same tim...
There are two systems that work well on the outside of the house and have, almost by accident, the effect of blocking almost all air movement through the wall. (Caulking is not one of them and should never be used on the outside of the house beyond what is necessary to prevent rain and snow ...
An incredible number of exterior insulation jobs are done wrong and do not follow the building codes requirements regarding the use of building paper. This can lead to immediate water problems inside the wall (rain penetration or condensation) or less evident long term decay.Building paper (m...
Do not fill the space between brick siding and the sheathing.
First, this space is outside the sheathing and does not cause condensation, as does an air space inside the wall. (A small space between ordinary siding and the exterior insulation or between ordinary siding and sheathing is also perm...
CUTTING FIBERGLASS STRAIGHT AND SQUARE
It is always easier to cut fiberglass batt insulation if you compress it down as flat as possible. That way you can get through in one pass. Using a piece of plywood gives you a straight edge at the same time.
There is a special devic...
Walls often have air spaces hidden somewhere between the siding on the outside and the drywall on the inside. Some are accidental -- some on purpose, even code required -- some served a purpose at one time in history but because of the evolution of construction, are no longer useful -- some a...
Gordon from Montreal writes asking about the use of Celotex foam insulation (with aluminium foil cladding on both sides- 4 X 8 sheets). He writes:
"For your information, the Celotex product is considered by many, to be a premium insulator for residential installations. Ironically it is made in C...
Steve asks: "I have a question about insulating a home from the exterior. My house has got wood siding and I'm going to be removing it and replacing it with vinyl siding and when I do I want to insulate certain areas with blown in insulation but I heard that it settles over time. So if it starts ...
As I look at my own database, I see that I have almost 100 answers to specific questions about roofs and roofing. Despite a good search engine, that much scattered information can get confusing. Let me make just a couple of overview statements to help guide you in getting your existing or new r...
