How are vapor retarder seams to be treated?
Beth-Anne writes from Whitewater, Wisconsin: “How are vapor retarder seams to be treated – just overlapped or sealed? Please provide details. I’m interested in a garage ceiling system which will have 1/2″ drywall on the underside, then R30 blown in fiberglass over/between the 24″ o.c. roof trusses. Garage will be heated.” Answer: A garage can be insulated in much the same way as a basement. There is a guide with accompanying videos at www.itseasytoinsulate.com. Step 1: Use faced insulation in the exposed wall with the paper facing the interior of the room. You can overlap the vapor retarder or, if you want to seal the vapor retarder, use a construction grade tape such as BILD-R-TAPE® construction tape. Step 2: Use cut-to-fit pieces of insulation to place snugly in the band joists. Step 3: Install an interior finished material such as drywall as soon as insulation is in place.
