Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 3/14/2010

Question
QUESTION: we bought our first house last year and over the winter,the walls and slanted ceiling are wet. The tape is falling off along with the joint compound in our closet it is all new sheet rock that was already there and my husband taped it and painted it with a good primer from Home Depot. someone told us the insulation is in backwards, is this really a possible reason?

ANSWER: Hi sharyn, I guess it depends on what type of insulation it is and how it was installed.  A foil faced or paper faced insulation should have the paper or foil facing into the room.  How that would cause your wall to get wet I don't know.  Generally walls get wet when moisture penetrates from the outside.  If you are not stopping the moisture at the exterior with good paint, caulking and house wrap, then I don't think it will matter which direction your insulation is facing your walls are going to get wet in wet weather.  Lack of air conditioning or heat in the closet could have something to do with it also.  In super cold weather moisture may collect on the closet walls because of the heat in the adjoining rooms interacting with the cold in the closet, but most of that moisture would be on the door itself. A humidity test of the interior of your house should be 40 to 50 per cent maybe a little lower or higher depending  on your climate.  If you have an interior moisture content of 75% or higher in one room and 50% in another then you need to look at your heating ventilation system. If you are pumping heat into the closet but the closet door is tight to the floor and there is no return air creating circulation then moisture will collect.  Check out the following website for further information on interior humidity: http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/B924.html
I hope this information helps, please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much for your reply. There is no heat in this closet at all,and it gets freezing cold in there (Vermont winter) so the lack of circulating air may be the problem. the insulation is foil faced between the bedroom and closet wall,with the foil side facing into the closet. I would like to know if we can put a vapor barrier on the outside walls would this help.. We have been told you can't do this , but watching all those house makeover/ rebuild shows on TLC and Discovery like, "Holmes on homes", the pros do it all the time... I guess sometimes too much information can be overwhelming and it's great that there are guys like you to help sort things out.
Thanks again,
Sharyn

Answer
Hi again Sharyn, If you put a vapor barrier on the inside of the outside wall it may trap moisture and create a water problem of its own.  If you were to remove everything from the wall cavity and wrap the wall cavities between studs with vapor barrier, felt paper or house wrap..But water may accumulate on the outside of the paper and run down to puddle inside the wall cavity on the base plate or bottom plate of the wall.  If you take off the outside siding you can stop the moisture where it starts by installing a proper house wrap and then replacing the siding.  Another thought.  There are several products that remove water from the air one that comes to mind is Damp rid.  It is a bag of crystals that absorb moisture from the air and are great in closets that accumulate moisture due to lack of circulation. Works great but you need to keep them changed when they fill up with water..I hope this information helps, please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com  .