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Azure · 05-14-2016, 10:36 AM

I would imagine if you properly get rid of moisture and keep your humidity levels stable there shouldn't be much of an issue even with vapor barrier that is either non-existent or not properly installed.

I recently helped renovate a RTM, and the owner didn't properly setup his eavestroughing, so for almost 10 years everytime it rained or snowed, the moisture would actually collect beneath the RTM and saturate the ground. Also, the insulation wasn't evenly blown in and instead only covered around the outside of the attic. Overtime it started smelling and the people living inside had to constantly dehumidify the home and remove buckets of water per day. The ceiling and walls, doors and cabinets would all shift from season to season and started to peel. The homeowners were always sick as well.

We had someone that is trained to detect mold go up into the ceiling and underneath to check everything, and he said because the insulation that was blown into the attic wasn't properly dispersed, there was a lot of excess moisture in the attic, which led to a bunch of black mold being up there. However he also said despite all the other problems, if there have been adequate air movement through the attic, there probably wouldn't have been many mold issues despite the ground underneath the RTM being extremely saturated.

We opened up all the walls and found no mold at all. That was despite the vapor barrier not doing anything. Whoever installed it forgot to let the electrician wire first, so when the electrician came to wire, he had to cut through the vapor barrier. When the contractor came back to finish afterwards he was too lazy to seal off the vapor barrier and just put plywood and drywall on top of it. Basically everywhere there was an electrical outlet the vapor barrier was cut open.

So, knowing all that, I often wonder why some inspectors are so adamant about vapor barrier being so excessively sealed off. Top and bottom I understand, and then tuck tape around the outlets, but why have to seal it all off with that black silicone?

05-14-2016, 10:36 AM	#982
Azure Had an idea! Join Date: Oct 2005 Exp:	I would imagine if you properly get rid of moisture and keep your humidity levels stable there shouldn't be much of an issue even with vapor barrier that is either non-existent or not properly installed. I recently helped renovate a RTM, and the owner didn't properly setup his eavestroughing, so for almost 10 years everytime it rained or snowed, the moisture would actually collect beneath the RTM and saturate the ground. Also, the insulation wasn't evenly blown in and instead only covered around the outside of the attic. Overtime it started smelling and the people living inside had to constantly dehumidify the home and remove buckets of water per day. The ceiling and walls, doors and cabinets would all shift from season to season and started to peel. The homeowners were always sick as well. We had someone that is trained to detect mold go up into the ceiling and underneath to check everything, and he said because the insulation that was blown into the attic wasn't properly dispersed, there was a lot of excess moisture in the attic, which led to a bunch of black mold being up there. However he also said despite all the other problems, if there have been adequate air movement through the attic, there probably wouldn't have been many mold issues despite the ground underneath the RTM being extremely saturated. We opened up all the walls and found no mold at all. That was despite the vapor barrier not doing anything. Whoever installed it forgot to let the electrician wire first, so when the electrician came to wire, he had to cut through the vapor barrier. When the contractor came back to finish afterwards he was too lazy to seal off the vapor barrier and just put plywood and drywall on top of it. Basically everywhere there was an electrical outlet the vapor barrier was cut open. So, knowing all that, I often wonder why some inspectors are so adamant about vapor barrier being so excessively sealed off. Top and bottom I understand, and then tuck tape around the outlets, but why have to seal it all off with that black silicone?