Old Brick Buildings With Basements Venting Into Attic

Trapped moisture in masonry construction if not addressed can lead to problems such as spalling.

Old brick buildings with basements venting into attic.

As a result moisture is no longer allowed to migrate freely throughout the building envelope. However my architect says that on a prior project a consultant from building science recommended leaving an airspace between the brick cmu and the spray insulation. The idea of roof vents existed for hundreds of years with natural vents employed in chinese buildings during the tang dynasty natural ventilation ducts in the buddhist monks caves and wind catchers incorporated in arabian architecture. Instead fresh air still flows in through the soffit vents and travels along the underside of the sheathing until it reaches a ridge vent or can be vented with another type of exhaust vent.

If it s jammed too tightly into a cavity it can t trap as much air and won t be as effective. Doubled vapor barriers in attic. Laying a second layer of fiberglass batts in the attic is an easy way to boost r values. 1 from several articles including insulating old brick buildings i read that the high density spray foam should be applied directly to the inner brick concrete block surface.

Oct 6 2019 explore donnapfingst s board attic vent on pinterest. But if the new layer has a kraft paper backing it can trap moisture and turn the layers underneath into a soggy mess. Why ventilation advances in building construction techniques have led to a structure which is significantly more energy efficient and air tight than in years past.