Utility room vapour barrier useful or useless?

[techypaul]

Hello,

Apologies for the long description, I guess being accurate is useful here.

I am looking to find out if there is any benefit of installing a vapour barrier between a utility room and remaining living space of a small outbuilding, currently used as an office. There is a small partitioned room that I am planning on making our laundry room. It will have washing machine and I plan on drying clothes in there with a dehumidifier venting outside (and the room already has an automatic fan for day to day use). There is no window.

I currently have one side of the stud partition open whilst I add sound insulation (Trying to reduce noise from washing machine whilst I work in the other room). So, I have an opportunity to add a vapour barrier on the inside wall of the utility room before I put the plasterboard back on and finish up. The room's only door will be replaced with a tight fitting sound resistant door, and will be generally be closed.

The building is an old single skin garage turned into accommodation. The brick is tanked inside, and has polystyrene insulated plasterboard all around. The floor is PIR over DPM and the ceiling is PIR insulated between the rafters but there is no barrier I can see.

I have vapour barrier left over from another use. Is there a benefit of doing this, or will it in fact cause me problems? I am thinking the vapour barrier might in fact be useful for the dehumidifying process (dehumidifying the air in the room only), whilst also preventing moisture from going into the rest of the building when not using it (e.g. simple air drying with the fan on).

Love some feedback, cheers.

Paul.

 

[foxhole]

Can’t see any benefit to having a vapour barrier .
If you have air extract to outside what’s the point of a dehumidifier ? They are usually self contained and don’t require vent to outside?

 

[techypaul]

Thanks for the response. Dehumidifiers are way faster at drying clothes than a simple air vent. You can get those which drip water into a container (I think you mean these). Mine is a proper one which extracts moisture and sends it outside via the pipe which is more efficient.

 

[foxhole]

Thanks for the response. Dehumidifiers are way faster at drying clothes than a simple air vent. You can get those which drip water into a container (I think you mean these). Mine is a proper one which extracts moisture and sends it outside via the pipe which is more efficient.

Can’t think of a more ineffective way to dry clothes .They have no effect on the speed the clothes dry , that’s down to room temp .

 

[Notch7]

If the laundry room could be warmer than the other side of the wall, then it’s wise.

given the potential high humidity in the laundry room, it might be best to use a VCL as it will prevent vapour getting into the stud wall.

 

[scbk]

Can’t think of a more ineffective way to dry clothes .They have no effect on the speed the clothes dry , that’s down to room temp .

Better to run a dehumidifier than a heater to dry clothes.
Even better if you combine a fan at one side of the room to move the air about more.


But if you have the outside space, build a covered drying area.
Use a retractable washing line and you can use it as a covered patio/bbq area in the summer too!

 

[techypaul]

Thanks everyone, useful comments. As I have it open, and it doesn't seem it will cause any issue, I'll go ahead an VCL it. Noted on the outside space, unfortunately, this is not an option. This is all led by the fact the laundry room is currently our living room, which is never a great option!