How do YOU install faced FG insulation?
davidmeiland
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
OK… first… hold all comments about the inferiority of FG and the superiority of cells or foam or Optima or whatever your favorite is–it’s a given. Bear with me and suppose you have no choice but to install kraft-faced FG insulation in typical wood frame exterior walls and ceiling.
Do you…
(1) staple the installation tabs along the edge of the kraft facing to the FACE of the framing (i.e. the 1-1/2″ edge of a 2×4), or…
(2) staple the installation tabs along the edge of the facing to the INSIDE of the framing (i.e. the 3-1/2″ face of a 2×4)?
In method 1 the kraft would be against the back of the sheetrock. In method 2 the kraft would be about ~3/4″ away from the back of the sheetrock.
Replies
I always staple to the inside so I can glue my wallboard directly to the stud.
I always attach to the edge of the studs, and screw the DW. Glue's a mess for just me, and I feel like pushing the insulation back on the edges makes vertical flow paths beside each stud, which is already bridging to the outside of your wall. Not sure if it matters, but it just seems wrong.
Hate to think I'm making any iffy insulating choices just to make DW installation "easier" - that's the wrong reason to do stuff, IMHO.
Forrest
All the insulation subs around here staple it to the sides. Better glue bond for the drywall.
I know a guy, that pulls the paper off the batts, shoves them in the wall like friction fit, the comes back and staples the paper on the face (narrow side) after the area has all been stuffed full.They do a very clean looking job, but that gets a little to anal for me. ;)A medium to large guy named Alan, not an ambiguous female....NOT that there is anything wrong with that.
snort
LOL, I had to stop and think it has been so long since I've used faced FG
I stapled to the face of the studs - version one
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I staple it to the sides of the studs because I wish to avoid nail pops in the drywall. I think however that no kraft with a plastic vapor barrier is the way to go. (If you gotta use FG )
"it aint the work I mind,
It's the feeling of falling further behind."
Bozini Latini
Face of the stud.....if'n memory serves correct, the void created (between insulation and drywall) by stapling to the sides of the studs is the perfect place to trap warm moist air, and encourage mold.
On a side note raised by others who staple to sides.....I have never understood the reasoning behind glueing rock to stud. Never done it myself, nor even seen it in these parts. Ceilings perhaps.....never walls.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
..I have never understood the reasoning behind glueing rock to stud. Never done it myself, nor even seen it in these parts. Ceilings perhaps.....never walls.Nail pops, stud movement, more solid unit, less fasteners on the outside (one on the edge, two in the field), gaps any voids, drywall glue is flexible, stronger etc etc.You don't have to if you don't want to. I find it better and more secure.
Stud movement has always been a reason I don't glue. Wood studs will react to changes in humidity....usually only mildly....where as the DW will not. Glued boards are going to be affected greater (nail pops, cracking seams) by those changes than boards not glued.
My theory anyhow. I just never considered drywall adding any structural integrity. Glued or otherwise.
These pretzels, are making me thirsty.
A study of thermal performance of whole wall systems done both ways showed no difference. This was reported in FHB a few years ago.
This is because small losses due to pushing back the FG, to staple in the stud space are offset by the glue sealing each stud bay and isolating them from each other and reducing air leaks at the bottom plate.
With thermal performance of both methods being equal, consider the benefits of being able to glue DW. Considerably stronger wall, less screws needed, less "pops".
In some juristictions, the inspectors will insist on a continuous vapor barrier...so to placate them I use unfaced & poly. Otherwise, if insulation is not inspected or if inspectors can be reasoned with...go for the glue!
Edited 2/26/2007 7:40 am ET by basswood
dave... when we were using FG, after a couple years we stopped using Kraft face and would only buy friction-fit
then we'd cover everything with 6-mil poly
the Kraft-faced has too many gaps and you still needed a vaporbarrier on top of it to be effective
switch over to friction -fit.. it is so much better and faster
of course.. i really mean .. switch over to cells... but ...
This is the way we've been doing it for years, have never glued drywall, ever. With 6mil. poly, how would you glue it? Being in a northern climate, we can't skip the V.B.