So before we get into the details there are a few choices to make.
Insulating knee walls vapor barrier.
Water vapor can pass through building materials in several ways including direct transmission and by heat transfer but studies suggest that fully 98 percent of the moisture transfer through walls occurs through air gaps including cracks around electrical fixtures and outlets and gaps along baseboards.
If you live in a hot humid climate.
Whether your vapor barrier is a facing or a film it must be placed on the warm in winter side of the wall.
Whether or not you need a vapor retarder hinges on three main factors.
Knee walls have r 13 fiberglass rolls also called batts in them covered with stapled on reflective insulation.
Thus installing vapor barriers on wall surfaces must.
The number one most important step in insulating and air sealing a knee wall is having a continuous air barrier.
After the insulation is in place you will want to add a vapor retarder sometimes called a vapor barrier if you need one.
Not every wall does.
The biggest heat loss problems with knee walls are those gigantic holes in the air barrier.
If you live in a cold climate place the vapor barrier between the interior of your home and the insulation.
In any case the vapor barrier must point to the warm side.
The science of moisture movement.
Vapor barriers keep the air moisture in your house from condensing in the insulated cavities.
Wow there s a lot of new stuff there.
I ll deal with double vapor barriers more fully in another post let s take a look at a diagram of a finished knee wall job from energy smart home performance.
A vapor retarder is a material used to prevent water vapor from diffusing into the wall ceiling or floor during the cold winter.