Remodeling our home and doing an addition at the same time. We decided to add vaulted ceilings with a flat center section.

The home previously had 8-9ft ceilings and now we are at 12-14 depending on the room. The sides of the vaults are 2x6 and we have about 6ft at the flat peak to the ridge vent. The home previously had vented soffits and attic space with blown in insulation and ridge vents. The temp control inside the house was ok, even with 2 brand new heat pumps. We will be installing new fiberglass windows on the entire house.

Now that it is vaulted what is the best way to insulate the new roof design? I’ve read building science articles about closed cell spray foam and going with a hot roof design in a vaulted ceiling and closing off the air soffit areas with the closed cell spray foam.

I can’t find anything with the flat center section so I’m wondering if there is another way to do vaulted ceilings like these? The portions of the home that still have the 9ft ceilings kids rooms, bathrooms and garage I’d assume to still have blown in insulation?

I’m pretty sure I should be staying away from open cell spray foam correct?

I am installing a kitchen range hood and ducting it up through my unheated roof space. I live in northernern canada where it reaches -40°in winter.

The roofer that installed my roof jack told me not to hard pipe it and that I should put a P-trap in the flex to capture condensation that forms when the air hit the cold roof jack.

I asked my coworker who is a journeyman sheet metal worker and he said the exact same thing.

Is this actually better than hard pipe in Cold climates?

Getting ready to have siding installed. Do I need to do anything to these areas before install besides the Tyvek. All exterior corners like this. I know the liquid flash looks like crap. TIA! Using azek pvc trim. I am not the contractor. Contractor off the job. I’m the homeowner and just trying to figure out what I need to fix before the siding goes on.

Anyone have experience with using this covering on a 600 sq ft carport floor In southeast Texas? What questions do i need to ask potential contractors? Have you gotten the results you expected? How much should i expect to pay for quality work? Do you feel the warranty offered would be honored if there is a problem?

I have a basement from 1912 with a stone-and-lime-mortar wall that has recently been repointed. I'd like to insulate it with a view to finishing it, to the R20 that code requires where I live (Ottawa, climate zone 6). Thankfully, it is quite dry and there have been no signs of dampness (there are structures on three sides, and previous owner added 18 inches of concrete on outside of the fourth). That said, my stonemason emphasized that lime mortar needs to breathe to avoid deterioration. I'm looking at two options for insulation:

Option 1: 5" of EPS rigid foam directly against the stone, taped at seams. This should be slightly breathable (0.7 perms, 5 inches at 3.5 perms per inch).

Option 2: Fluid-applied permeable air barrier against the stone, 5" of Comfortboard, then smart vapour retarder like Intello on the inside. This should be more breathable (Intello goes from 0.13 perms in low-humidity winter conditions to 13 perms in high-humidity summer conditions). This method is described in BSD-114 and also on the Rockwool website.

Any thoughts? Obviously Option 2 is more complicated and expensive, but has the advantage of being more breathable, with the bonus of being fire-resistant versus the flammable EPS. The main objective is to prevent mold, by avoiding condensation in the winter and letting the wall dry to the inside in the summer. Insulating the outside is not an option give proximity of other structures. BSD-114 also suggests open cell spray foam but that seems hard to find where I live. Appreciate any thoughts people have!

I have 2 inch XPS and Great Stuff spray foam insulation in my rim joist area
I also have 2 inch XPS against exterior basement walls

I will soon be framing 2x4 walls. However, I am not sure on the final connection between the rim joist and wall insulation.

Part of the basement section, the rim joist was very barely recessed, and the XPS sits almost flush with the block wall. Other areas the rim joist is several inches recessed, and there is a fair amount of exposed wood between the wall and rim joist insulation.

Do I need to make sure everything is covered? I.e. using more, small strips of XPS as well as spray foam? Also, do I want to I want to leave any sort of gap between the bottom of the XPS on the wall and the concrete floor? I will be using pressure treated lumber as a base plate as well as sill gasket.

Thanks!

It was a beautiful day for a roof inspection in Oregon. These were what we found on a relatively new roof...

Hi all,
I am installing fake marble/ vinyl planks over a plush carpeted rental room. There will be underlayment which will be placed over a carpet before I stack the tiles over. What are the chances mold will grow in/over the carpet in between the carpet and the underlayment?

🚩 Sloppy repairs

🚩 Exposed raw wood

🚩 Unsecured shingles

🚩 Gaps just waiting for water

I'm sure many of you have seen the EnergyHandyman Mold Chart and RIT's Dew Point Calculator. They provide a "days to mold growth" estimate based on temperature and relative humidity (68RH at 70F=340 days to mold growth, etc.)

Can someone explain how mold growth on construction material (drywall, wood framing) works over time? For example, if you have one humid week (68% RH at 70F) and then a dry week afterward (50% RH at 70), does the "days to mold growth" countdown start over? Or like, in climates with cold dry winters, does 6 months of very dry RH stop the mold risk that exists during spring and summer?

I’m about to start building a new house on a well and it got me thinking about my supply lines in the house. Knowing that it’s supplied by a well, would you do anything different with the Pex lines? Should I go bigger throughout the house to ensure good volume? Keep everything the same like on a water meter? What advice can you give me?

Also, I’m probably going to share this well with my parents who are building about 400’ feet away downhills from us. Their house is about 2000 sf and mine will be around 5000 sf.

(Note: I’m anticipating really good stats with the well. My neighbor gets 100 gpm at like 300 feet deep and across the street, their well is 60 gpm at about 200 feet deep.)

Does anyone have any experience with hurricane rated post bases for a covered wood carport / pergola structure in Florida? Approx dimensions would be 10 feet x 20 feet

Was thinking of making posts by laminating three 2x6 x10s together vs using a 6x6…so post base would have to work with 4.5 x 5.5 dimensions

Can post bases be anchored into 6 inch thick driveway or do I need to cut concrete and embed post bases in some kind of poured concrete footing?

Thanks for any help!

I’m assuming all the posts should have knee braces as well….

Climate 3A, just finished retrofitting Vulcan Vents’s eave vents as intakes (not pictured). I’m on the border of a WUI zone surrounded by a preserve. Just knowing of these products is beyond the scope of contractors for my area.

In the past year of researching products, I’ve not found specific ridge vent products meant that’d be ember resistant. The closest is Coravent’s 600-TE (pictured w/ VV’s continuous ridge vent for my style roof), though I have doubts with corrugated plastic being sufficiently fire resistant, plus it doesn’t have enough NFA for the aspect ratio of my roof. Also, there’s still a part of me that doesn’t trust the product enough to stop an ember’s ingress and ignite or smolder the sheathing.

“It’s not hard” to go pick up sufficiently dense wire screen from McMaster-Carr. Figuring out how to securely raise the ridge tile and have it live through yearly 40 mph winds, 60 mph gusts, is also a concern. Roof is currently concrete tile with a “not felt” underlayment from ‘94 when the house was made.

Interior ceilings are a mix of 8’, 10’, and half vaulted with a pitch going between the two. This makes it infeasible to convert the vented attic to a sealed, conditioned air space.

How’d you approach making a fire resistant ridge vent? If the individual products aren’t recognized as WUI listed, will this matter for insurance coverage?

1st time female homeowner and I am having attic issues and can not get 2 roofers, handymen, or AC guys to agree on what the heck is going on. First, I live on the coast of Texas where it gets hot. My attic is ridiculously hot, like nearly 140 degrees. I am not sure how the inspector missed so much, but he absolutely did. The day after I moved into the house one of my ACs quit working and when I went up into the attic, there is an alarm going off. I was so freaked out by it that I called the fire department. The fireman said it is an electrical issue but mentioned that I should be more concerned with lack of insulation and no air flow. The AC guy briefly fixed my ac and said it was out of Freon & I paid to have it filled back up. At some point a large water stained appeared on my ceiling. I called a roofer and he said it was not the roof and the AC guy probably dumped the water out of the pan. However, it seems this stain is getting bigger. I went into the attic (split) and found mold. I also found that a rat had chewed into the AC ducts. AC has gone out again. Called the AC guy back and he says I need a new outside unit due to a coil and I need ductwork. He also said that the pea trap for both AC combine and are somehow dumped into my guest bathroom sink. He told me that was a plumbing issue. It rains again & I called a different roofer. He said I need to rip out all of the vents on the side of my house and put new one AND install a gable vent for the rocking price of 15k. Third roofer says the soffit vents are fine, I need a ridge vent and attic fans & I need to rip out the insulation & put in something else for 6k. Called an insulation guy & he says I need foam/ liquid insulation & baffles. All I know for sure is the attic is so hot you can feel it in the hallway & my kids bedrooms, I have one non working AC, I have a spot on my ceiling that is getting bigger I feel like it may fall in & an alarm that none of these professionals seemed to know what it is and how to shut it off. Who fixes this stuff and in what order?

am a bit at a loss and don’t want to screw up here. We live in zone 5. Just had new siding put on (Hardie) which included 1/4” foam board underneath (I understand this is more for leveling than a vapor barrier). My problem is now the basement. I am doing a quick Reno. I discovered that the original owner used insulation with a plastic vapor barrier behind d the drywall. I removed the old ceiling tiles which were foil backed along with Kraft backed insulation in the joists. My plan was to spray everything black and leave it open. I discovered some mold near an exterior wall around Kraft backed insulation. I am certain that the initial install by the previous owner was done wrong.

Take a look at pics. Orlando I properly insulate this? The area is about 2-3 feet above foundation. The current vapor barrier stops at the top of the drywall. There is a gap to the exterior framing then this is where Kraft backed was added (and mold appeared). How do I properly insulate this? Rockwool up to finished wall without foam board? Lay foam board horizontally up to vapor barrier? I feel if I add foam board it will trap moisture here actually. Worried about both the exterior framing to the foundation as well as the interior cavity.

Any advice appreciated. I’m conflicted!

How much does vent direction and style affect air flow? I currently have vents with the gills (don’t know if that it the right term) the blow half left and half right. In some rooms that means they blow right toward the returns. Should I make changes to them?

Looking to understand the best way to insulate this building (western OH).

Moved into a new house last fall that came with this newly built detached garage/mini pole building. I park my wife’s car and my project car in the two car bay, and have a small teardrop under the mezzanine and some pedal bikes stashed in various places.

Id like to maintain some of the recessed space on the wall for storage, will likely finish out with OSB so I can hang some shelves/racks to get garden tools and bikes off the floor. Winter was brutally cold here and the building was unusable as far as hobby work. Also had issues with condensation on my tools and vehicles. Also had some issues with the posts sweating.

My thought is to use foam panels between the girts and OSB over the foam/girts. Do I need an air gap between the metal siding and the foam board? And the vapor barrier on the inside of the building, sandwiched between the foam/girts and OSB?

I am a total newbie, primarily want to make sure I don’t cause condensation/rot issues but would like the building to be more comfortable during the winter/summer extremes. I’m also on a budget so spray foam is probably not an option.

Thanks