vapour-check or plain plasterboard?

[Brigadier]

Hello all,

finally got to doing some diy, and have begun to batten out my lounge external walls, with a view to increasing the thermal efficiency of the house.

Old 1920's detached property. Solid walls with no cavity. No penetrating damp that I can find, but mould in corners on occasion, presumably because the external walls are stone cold.

I have used pressure-treated 1 1/2" x 1" tile laths for the studwork, with 25mm polystyrene boards between as insulation.

Would vapour-check boards be essential / desirable / over-cautious / pointless / counterproductive?

Secondly, I've battened the one wall ready for boarding, with vertical battens. It would probably be simpler (don't ask my logic!) to batten the other two wall with horizontal laths. Is that a yes / no / doesn't matter?

Any other things that I ought to consider, or tricks of the trade to bear in mind?

Best regards

 

[skinters]

seen the way the americans do the same job?

they batten out fill in with insulation of choice,then use a vapour barrier,sealing all the joins with tape,and stick down the bottom with a good sealant.just board over the top as normal.

 

[Brigadier]

Thanks Skinters,

Vapour barrier = 1000 gauge polythene (which I can get readily), or something more "hi-tech"?

 

[Alastairreid]

Vapour barrier = 1000 gauge polythene

500 guage visqueen would suffice.

 

[skinters]

aye you dont need anything particulary strong,for what you want to do .i would just remember to use some mastic to seal all the edges.

i know this might sound obvious aswell but, remember to mark where your battens are prior to screwing the boards on .

 

[Brigadier]

Thanks again Skinters,

finally.....

would using horizontal (rather than vertical) laths matter? It would fit the boards better if I could batten it horizontally...

 

[skinters]

not quite sure why you using vertical laths, are you attaching these to the studwork? look at tthis example below,pretty much what you aiming for.


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also take a look at this .

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/partition_wall.htm

 

[Brigadier]

Sorry,

perhaps I'm not being too clear......

Solid walls, currently wet-plastered.

I have done one section of wall with vertical 1 1/2" x 1" laths, spaced @ 400mm, fixed with 2 1/2" no. 8 screws into 6mm plugs. No noggins.

I was thinking of doing the other 2 sections of wall with horizontal laths, purely because I thought it would be easier to fiddle with 4ft horizontal laths than 9ft vertical ones (i have high ceilings).

As I'll be fixing the boards myself (uncle will be taping and skimming them), does horizontal / vertical matter? As long as it's flat, I'll bet he doesn't care......

 

[skinters]

to be honest mate you would have been better off making a stud frame,a lot quicker that attching individual laths,what with all the drilling for plugs and screws .by the looks you might aswell stay as you are,i suppose you can still attach a membrane to the lath and just board as normal,horizontal,vertical up to you.