A different version of the great vapor barrier debate. In a mixed (i.e. heating and cooling) environment, what are your opinions on installing a vapor barrier midway or so through a wall? Particularly in an envelop type of wall where there is a permeable interior stud wall with insulated cavities, a VB, a second interior stud wall with insulated cavities, then sheathing, drainage plain and siding. Vapor permeable inside and out to facilitate drying, barrier in the middle to reduce transport/diffusion wetting.
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Dear Tim,
I consider all climates to be mixed. In Vermont, I see nasty condensation problems all year long: Vented attics in winter, vented crawl spaces in summer. It never stops. My dream is to find condensation and a rotting house in a desert climate. Someday....
Anyway, I actually built the design you describe 20 years ago when I really knew what I was doing. No problems, but I'd never do it again. Always some other place to better spend the money.
Now that I'm bewildered by moisture movement in buildings, my solution is to eliminate all diffusion barriers from the framing. Sure it's a form of dumb luck, but it works. Everything gets wet, everything dries out. We party on.
Letting nature win, Fred
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