# Whole house insulating help?



## jklingel (Dec 21, 2008)

Curious. Did you do anything to beef up the footings/foundation wall when you added all that weight? As for the fg, I defer to bs.com, and/or follow what the local building department says (then, ask a few builders if the local building department really knows their stink or just reads, and maybe misinterprets, the codes). Hot/humid, but some snow, may be a nightmare for vb placement. If you are ever going to run air conditioning, then the interior vb may get wet and ruin your walls. If possible, skip the $%#^ thing and air seal well, using a house wrap and a rain screen on the outside. Leave the inside vapor open as well. But, check locally. I live in the snow, so I am not entirely sure about vb's there.


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## daveo916 (Mar 20, 2012)

jklingel said:


> Curious. Did you do anything to beef up the footings/foundation wall when you added all that weight? As for the fg, I defer to bs.com, and/or follow what the local building department says (then, ask a few builders if the local building department really knows their stink or just reads, and maybe misinterprets, the codes). Hot/humid, but some snow, may be a nightmare for vb placement. If you are ever going to run air conditioning, then the interior vb may get wet and ruin your walls. If possible, skip the $%#^ thing and air seal well, using a house wrap and a rain screen on the outside. Leave the inside vapor open as well. But, check locally. I live in the snow, so I am not entirely sure about vb's there.


Howdy jklingel and Thanks for the input.

Yea, the more research I've done the more it seems the recommendation is the walls being able to breathe to the inside and keeping the outside sealed enough to prevent excess moisture entry from the exterior. Relying on the working AC to keep the interior walls dry. The exterior of the house is 100% completed already in the pics, Tyvek and all. 

The AC will be running I'm sure, the house is pretty shaded though, and the brick did remain cooler than ambient generally, summer or winter.
I don't have a building dep't. or permits to pull here, but I'll call the next locality and see what they require...

As to your questions about the footers..Thanks for asking, don't get to show off the work I did there too much:no: 
There's about 20 yards of concrete in them......all mixed 2 bags at a time and poured by half a 5 gallon bucket...my wife helped too...she liked to fill the buckets to 3/4 and a little bit....just for me

I installed the new footers to support the entire structure,and the back wall had to be completely underpinned after the tree roots were dug out.....They are reinforced with welded #4 rebar and go completely underneath the existing foundation to support it too. There's L-shaped rebar drilled and fitted into 2 or 3 courses of the block and welded to attach the new footers to the existing foundation. 

Like this...





































The liquid is termite spray...



















The back of the house...


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## jklingel (Dec 21, 2008)

Not being a SE, I don't know if that will suffice, but it sure won't cave in for lack of trying! Looks very good to me, and it is hard to imagine all the work you put into it. One weekend, or two?:laughing:


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