Vapour barrier

3 December 2012

I wish to build a timber-framed garden lodge/office, can you tell me what specification of insulation and vapour barrier is required, please?

Answers

This rather depends upon external finishes, stud wall thickness and whether the building can be considered exempt of the Building Regulations. Regardless of insulation type and thickness, always include a 500 gauge polythene vapour barrier internally between finish (plasterboard or timber panelling) and a breather membrane externally. If the external finish is a timber boarding, this should be on a minimum 25mm thickness counter batten fixed over the membrane (if vertical boarding is proposed, a second counter batten should be fixed vertically prior to the horizontal batten used for fixing the cladding). If he structure is exempt and cost is a driver, use mineral fibre quilt / batts between the studs to the same thickness, otherwise consider rigid board insulation, such as Celotex or Kingspan. For plasterboard finish with a higher performance, a thermal laminate can be fixed over the vapor barrier instead.

3 December 2012

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