I recently rebuilt by house.and our area of the country recently had a cold snap 5 degrees and below(NJ). So here was the problem. I had a shower that had a pipe freeze (odd it was only the cold). It was done in pex and I think it did not burst. However, it must have been frozen since, it started to work again. It is a standard tub and shower and I built a bump out wall for the piping away from exterior wall. I insulated the cavity (r13) and above the shower stall (better than r13).
First let me say I cant access this area well enough to check out the insulation and it has a coifer ceiling. I was able to look at the cavity above the shower from the corner of the attic and noticed the cavities openings from the Hip roof are not blocked with a insulaition baffle whereas every other one in the attic has one of these channel like sleeves.
I also have an exposed hole in the basement subfloor whyere the run originates it was never stuffed withinsulation. In the old house a steam pipe ( i changed house over to HW) ran up the chase. i suppose in the old house this always kept it toasty in the wall. When I go into the basement I feel a decent draft coming out of this exposed hole.
So what do I do?
1. I would like to seal up those rafter openings from the roof. But they are all sealed up in the soffits +crown built on top of it. Can’t access area from the attic. I could go in through from above the shower in the coifer wall (see picture). Could you shoot that expanding foam in from holes drilled in the soffit?
2. Draft could be on lower part of the house. I don’t want to go in the wall. If I seal hole below will it stop the point of exit? Therefore it wouldlimit the draft?