vapor barrier in austin, texas

Go to The Journal of Light Construction and enter vapor barrier in their search engine

This article speaks most directly to your area and your problems:

Here is a partial quote: Contrary to code, do not use a vapor diffusion retarder on the interior of the wall system, because walls in the hot, humid South dry to the inside, not to the outside. Especially avoid placing a sheet of poly under the gypboard, or covering the gypboard with vinyl wall-paper. The only place where we use poly is on the interior side of walls around tub and shower enclosures that do not abut an outside wall. In these localized areas, we feel it?s prudent to protect the partition wall cavity from the high humidity generated in the bathroom. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing. . . . DanG

towards living

the heater.

So does this mean use a non-faced insulation, or reverse the vapor barrier and place towards the exterior wall???

If you are going to use a vapor barrier, it belongs on the warm side of the insulation. If you expect to be cooling your house more often than you expect to be heating it, put the vapor barrier on the outside.

Austin Texas... what vapor?

That's an excellent magazine. The Building Science Corporation web site has excellent climate related information. It's based on research, although they try to sound folksy. Tom Baker