proper way to insulate cavity under window stools?

hi, having some water damaged window stools replaced and seeing a vast opening from the bottom of the window to the floor of my brick townhome. bricks definitely visible in this cavity. should there be some kind of insulation here? do the bricks need the open air to properly handle external moisture? any guidance is appreciated!

solehappy

in General Discussion 3 years and 4 months ago

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hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 4 months ago

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I agree with Maggie, don’t slap things on without being informed as it’s risky. I do have an older building where I have brick. I also have walls that are brick/wood. One needs to address each of these conditions correctly. With each one, there was hours of research, talking to the air/vapor barrier manufacturers, the insulation company and their building scientists, my contractor, architect and occasionally mechanical engineer.

hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 4 months ago

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As I said the water has to be stopped first. One should never do interior work when water is coming in form outside. Parging can be done with lime based products too. Parging is a process term thought sometimes people assume it’s x material.

Guest User | 3 years and 4 months ago

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@vard01 – people love to slap coatings on brick and stone as fixes and many contractors will happily do it without another thought. but for this OP, who clearly has water infiltration issues on the exterior of the building, parging the interior of the brick wall could potentially lead to freeze-thaw damage in the brick wall. that would be a much bigger problem than what they currently have, which is just a masonry cavity wall with no insulation (other than the air in the cavity, which is a form of insulation, though not a particularly good one), which isn’t actually a problem, just a specific method of construction. building science is fascinating and complicated and typically difficult to apply directly to the variety of older building types and materials. can parging work in specific situations with specific materials? sure! can it cause unintended negative consequences? absolutely! can it be easily removed if you realize that you shouldn’t have done it? absolut ely not! so to the standard homeowner, i’m going to continue to say – wait! don’t do it! don’t parge those bricks!

Guest User | 3 years and 4 months ago

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@vard01 – people love to slap coatings on brick and stone as fixes and many contractors will happily do it without another thought. but for this OP, who clearly has water infiltration issues on the exterior of the building, parging the interior of the brick wall could potentially lead to freeze-thaw damage in the brick wall. that would be a much bigger problem than what they currently have, which is just a masonry cavity wall with no insulation (other than the air in the cavity, which is a form of insulation, though not a particularly good one), which isn’t actually a problem, just a specific method of construction. building science is fascinating and complicated and typically difficult to apply directly to the variety of older building types and materials. can parging work in specific situations with specific materials? sure! can it cause unintended negative consequences? absolutely! can it be easily removed if you realize that you shouldn’t have done it? absolut ely not! so to the standard homeowner, i’m going to continue to say – wait! don’t do it! don’t parge those bricks!

hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 4 months ago

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@Maggie with all due respect, that’s not correct actually. Parging is acceptable if you use the right materials. I didn’t make up the assembly above. I’ve consulted with building science experts, Phius certified contractor and done research. The above assembly is outlined on many sites but OP needs to delve into what’s appropriate for their situation.

Guest User | 3 years and 4 months ago

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do not parge brick inside your wall! bricks need to breathe! if you are interested in improving the insulation in your home you should do it more holistically – not in a spotty fashion. key factor to remember when insulating – when you move temperature gradients around you are changing where water vapor will condense within your wall. if you move that to the wrong place you will get water damage and potentially rot if you have wood in your walls. if you fill this cavity with insulation, even if you include vapor barriers/retarders, where will the dew point move on either side of the newly insulated cavity?
please don’t put a bunch of insulation in just because it seems like it might be a good idea. you’re likely to create all kinds of other problems you couldn’t have possibly imagined. If you have drafts, caulk and point the outside of your building. if you want to improve energy efficiency and heat/cold retention, caulk and point the outside of your building fir st and then talk to someone knowledgeable about cavity wall construction in your age of building who can give you specific advice based on YOUR building, there’s no one-size fits all solution for this.

Guest User | 3 years and 4 months ago

string(1) "3"
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do not parge brick inside your wall! bricks need to breathe! if you are interested in improving the insulation in your home you should do it more holistically – not in a spotty fashion. key factor to remember when insulating – when you move temperature gradients around you are changing where water vapor will condense within your wall. if you move that to the wrong place you will get water damage and potentially rot if you have wood in your walls. if you fill this cavity with insulation, even if you include vapor barriers/retarders, where will the dew point move on either side of the newly insulated cavity?
please don’t put a bunch of insulation in just because it seems like it might be a good idea. you’re likely to create all kinds of other problems you couldn’t have possibly imagined. If you have drafts, caulk and point the outside of your building. if you want to improve energy efficiency and heat/cold retention, caulk and point the outside of your building fir st and then talk to someone knowledgeable about cavity wall construction in your age of building who can give you specific advice based on YOUR building, there’s no one-size fits all solution for this.

hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 4 months ago

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General rule but don’t hold me to it because I have not seen this in person. Going outer layer in: Parge brick if needed. Follow with an air barrier then insulation then another air barrier/vapor retarder (retarder is often used interchangeably with the term vapor barrier) then your drywall. But you have to get rid of the water infiltration first and talk to a contractor about different options for the barriers and do your research.

stevecym | 3 years and 4 months ago

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This was written about on here about 3 months back and some people went into a good bit of detail.

solehappy | 3 years and 4 months ago

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thanks i did try googling quite a lot of terms but couldnt quite hit on the right keyword sequence i guess

hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 4 months ago

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You should be using an air barrier with a vapor retarder. Vapor should be moving freely in and out of your walls. Once you get rid of the source of water, insulate with Rockwool which won’t trap moisture. There’s plenty of info online about how to sequence.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 3 years and 4 months ago

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AFAIK insulation without a vapor barrier is not a good idea