Visqueening under carpet

Dec 04, 2006 5 Replies
S

I have a cabin with a single layer of berber carpet, no padding. I believe that if I pull up the carpet and put better carpet with padding, that I could stop some air infiltration from under the cabin. I definitely could uncover some spaces that need to be caulked.



But, I was considering if I should put down some thick visqueen directly over the tongue and groove flooring, and stick it with double face tape, THEN put the padding and carpet. Would the visqueen create a place for condensation? Would this be advisable, or would the padding serve the same purpose and allow the wood to breathe a little so as to avoid mold?



What would you do? I know I can't make it air tight, but right now, I have a lot of sealing to do, and I figured I'd start with the big stuff.



Thanks



Steve


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J

I would prefer it under the floor than on it.

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S

In order to do that, I would have to get on my back in the crawl space, pull off 1,000 square feet of chicken wire, pull out insulation from between floor joists, and cut each strip of visqueen to fit between the joists, as well as cut around electrical and plumbing. Then I would have to seal it all.

It sounds doable, just not logical.

Steve

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N

Well... where IS your cabin? Any kind of vapour barrier goes to the warm side. So in Canada it goes between the drywall and studs. In warm places where air conditioners run much of the time the barrier goes between the outside sheathing and studs.

So it should go between the floor joists and floorboards OR overtop of your chicken wire (kinda removing the need for the wire to start with.

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S

Sorry you misunderstood. This structure is built. I do not want to pull out everything to put in visqueen. Thusly, I was asking on the viability of placing it on top of the floorboards.

Steve

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J

Steve B wrote: ..

As I said, that is the way I would like to see it done. I did not say that is the way I would do it. :-)

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