posted this under another discusion, “reinforcing brick wall? help please!” but no responses to this particular question yet and i need to resolve this issue before i proceed-
background (again)-
i have an exterior brick veneer wall , two 16″ sides and a 54″ back wall, exposed to the interior of the Living room. am framing out a closet into this space. thanks to your advice, i understand that between the studs and the brick wall i need to have a moisture-barrier sheathing of some sort and then about an inch of airspace before the brick. we agreed it may be tricky assembling this in reverse order, what with the brick ties and all.
a builder/friend came by to give me his opinion of the project and suggested that an easy way to provide a vapor barrier as well as noise insulation i was concerned about was to spread canned foam onto the brick and while wet, lay on the appropriate thickness of vapor-barrier plastic. inside that, build the frame, not touching.
whatcha guys think of this? i trust youm but i also trust our friend- but the 2 approaches sound at odds.
please give an opinion, any opinion, soon. i am on the fence about my next step. thanks!
Replies
Is it possible you could provide a wall section of what you proposing? I am not sure I understand exactly what your doing. I would be hesitent to apply the foam insulation on the brick as was proposed to you. Can you not build the wall on the floor, install your vapor barrier to the outside of the wall and then stand it up in place. Like I said I am not exactly sure what you are proposing.
Does anyone else have an opinion?
thanks james-
i do intend to assemble the framing etc on the floor and then stand it up, but the question is aside from the framing, what materials should i apply between the outer plane of the frame and the old existig exterior brick wall...
(attached are pictures i posted on the first thread; one is the open space showing the exterior brick and the other is my original plan, with a key for materials.)people here helped me with facts necessary for a moisture barrier, but then a pretty knowledgable friend suggested i just seal up the wall with spray foam, cover with plastic, and tie that in to the new wall. sounds like i need to draw another diagram to show what he's proposed. i'll have to get to that later.---------
in meantime, i guess this is the nagging question:
is the air space moisture barrier still useful if i seal the inside surface of the brick wall? or does the brick need to 'breathe'?
ie-
would sealing the wall with either spray foam insulation and plastic (for a moisture barrier), or else mortar and chicken wire (for strength reinforcement-- if i do this, i would also do the moisture barrier as shown in attached drawing)-- would doing either of these create moisture problems if i still maintain the regulation 50 mm airspace?i'll work this picture out on paper and post later.
i want to get to work on this wall but am scared to screw it up...
thanks!
Ok, I understand...You can treat that like a basement wall and cover it with the back tar. I think what your friend proposed will work as well.