# foam board and housewrap



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Not going to want to do that in most cases. That would form a double vaper barrier if there's already one on the inside.
Tell us from the inside wall to the outside what there is for layers.


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

House wrap is not a vapor barrier at all. It is extremely vapor open.

You can do the foam or housewrap in either order as long as the flashing details are correct.


----------



## funfool (Oct 5, 2012)

No expert here, but we typically deal with stucco siding on our remodels.
You add a addition and now need new stucco for it and old house has no insulation and stucco is in bad shape.

We often have our stucco crew wrap the house in 2" ridged foam, then they wrap it in what I call tar paper, you call it what you want, then the chicken wire and then stucco on top of that.

Is many things like outdoor electrical boxes that need to be extended and is no big deal.
Then they come in and nail up the foam and have to cut and piece in little pieces around other objects like a service panel and other utilities on exterior walls.
Then they wrap it. When done they make me want to hire them to wrap Christmas presents, they do such a nice job.
Then the wire goes on top of that. That is for stucco, but seems would be same process for other siding also.


----------



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

If the house is cold inside, the first thing I would be doing is going around and sealing any air leaks around outlet boxes, and removing the window trim to put in foam to seal around them, same with doors.

I have no insulation in my walls, but have 6 inches up in my attic space and R-13 around the Rim & Sill joist area in my basement.

My house stays right at 69 degrees with 2 cycles an hour, if really windy outside & cold during the Winter, maybe 3 cycles an hour. During Summer I see the same in cycles per hour.

Placing insulation around the outside will help to air seal from the outside in, but you need to seal from the inside out first.


----------



## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

Where are you located?

Gary


----------



## chillz911 (Aug 25, 2010)

ottawa ontario, 
-the house is build in the early 70's.
-The basement is unfinished
-we also have a wood fireplace with an insert, the flue is left open


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Whats the wall construction size?


----------



## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

You can see we need to know the wall make-up for the foamboard/vapor retarder, the inside poly- or not, etc, as Joe asked. 

Gary


----------

