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spray foam or viscon air barrier

efficient_disciple | Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on

Hi,

I am new here, I will be renovating my 1920s brick row home in NYC this year. The bricks have been repointed and kept in good shape by the previous owner. From outside to inside I was planning on installing viscon liquid air barrier directly on the exterior walls completely, then installing 5/8″ sheetrock to the entire ceiling. Then leaving an inch air gap before framing out a 2×6 wall 24″ oc and putting rockwool batts, then install 5/8″ sheetrock to cover it up. Are there any problems with this approach?

Another thing I started to think about recently was not installing the viscon at all and just replacing it with 2″ closed cell spray foam directly on the brick, leaving an inch air gap, mainly to run electrical, then framing a 2×4 wall 16 oc with rockwool batts and 5/8″ sheetrock installed same way as above…in both cases the ceiling is sheetrocked first and then the walls are framed. 

Are both of these viable options, if not what am I missing, do I need to add a vapor barrier to the first system?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Replies

  1. guillow | | #1

    Curious as to what you ended up doing? Having the same thoughts on spray foam vs Visconn+EPS...

    Feel like the GHGs are lower with the Visconn+EPS assembly, but increased time and labour...

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