Question about insulating an old adobe wall in Nob Hill

I started insulating the back wall of my 1920s adobe house in Nob Hill last month and hit a weird moisture problem behind the drywall. It took me three extra weekends to figure out I needed a vapor barrier and proper drainage gap. Has anyone else run into hidden moisture issues when renovating old adobe here in Albuquerque?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean50228d ago

Totally used to think you could just slap some insulation up and call it good. But then I did my own place in the North Valley and found this nasty damp spot behind the old plaster that had been hiding for decades. Turned out the previous owner had sealed up a wall without any drainage and it just let moisture build up over time. Now I'm a total convert to making sure there's an air gap and a proper vapor barrier, it's night and day difference. Your post actually makes me feel a lot better knowing I wasn't the only one who learned this the hard way.

brians2727d ago

Did you ever figure out if that moisture was coming from outside or just trapped from inside humidity? I ask because a buddy of mine in Seattle had a similar issue, but his problem turned out to be a tiny roof leak that was running down inside the wall for years before he noticed. He ended up having to tear out the whole side of his house to fix the rot.