LESLIE: Joseph in New York is going to have a very chilly fall and winter with no insulation in his home. What’s going on?
JOSEPH: Yes, we have kind of an old house here. It has no insulation. It’s a solid masonry building with no insulation and it has firring strips and wood lath and plaster on that. We were wondering if we put a rigid insulation over the plaster …
TOM: OK.
JOSEPH: … and then sheetrock that – OK, so that that would take care of the fire problem – and if it would be a – if there would be any condensation problem.
TOM: No, I don’t believe there would be. I mean that’s a technique that’s fairly common, actually. Let me think about this. Should you put a vapor barrier in? Yeah, you probably should put a vapor barrier in first.
JOSEPH: Well, actually, the material that I was using, thought of using, is already encapsulated with the foil on both sides.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Oh, alright. Yeah, that’s isocyanurate foam insulation.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Well, then that’s fine.
TOM: Yeah, that should be fine. That shouldn’t …
JOSEPH: Oh, you don’t think there’d be a problem with that, huh?
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Not at all.
TOM: (overlapping voices) No, I don’t think so.
JOSEPH: (overlapping voices) Oh, great.
TOM: No, you can put that right against the masonry. You can frame around that and then put drywall on top of that and that’ll seal it up quite nicely. Also, take a look at those windows and doors. This is also a good opportunity for you to think about replacing some of them that may be particularly drafty.
JOSEPH: Oh, yeah. We’re going to be doing that also. And the whole idea was, with the oil being the way it is, you know, we ought to really do something here.
TOM: Yeah. Well, I think that’s a good option.
JOSEPH: I appreciate it very much.
TOM: Alright, Joe. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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