Glidden vapor barrier paint question
Dan Fleming
Ernest Rogers (ero...@oasys.dt.navy.mil) wrote:
: For more than 15 years, Glidden has made a unique latex-based vapor
: barrier primer-sealer paint. They call it InsulAid. I am thinking
: of specifying to the paint contractor that this paint be used on the
: dry wall on the ceiling and outer walls of a new house. The purpose
: is for an extra level of water vapor migration resistence. I have limited
: experience with this product. Are there any pitfalls
: to this paint or its application? The contractor is not familiar with
: this paint, what can go wrong?
: Thanks,
: Ernie Rogers
I painted our new home (new 10 yrs. ago) with two coats of vapor barrier
paint (primer) then 2 coats of regular latex paint. I'm sure it was
the Glidden Insulaid paint and I've had no problems whatsoever to
date although I can't attest to the products effectiveness.
Ernest Rogers
Edward Rice
ER> Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD Date: 29 Oct 1994 11:09:30
ER> -0400
ER>
ER> For more than 15 years, Glidden has made a unique latex-based vapor
ER> barrier primer-sealer paint. They call it InsulAid. I am thinking of
ER> specifying to the paint contractor that this paint be used on the dry
ER> wall on the ceiling and outer walls of a new house. The purpose is
ER> for an extra level of water vapor migration resistence. I have
ER> limited experience with this product. Are there
ER> any pitfalls to this paint or its application? The contractor is not
ER> familiar with this paint, what can go wrong?
It's fabulous. I've used it on almost all the external walls of my house, and
internally too (esp. upper ceilings), and it's fantastic.
You start with a clean, paintable surface. Two coats of InsulAid, which add up
to the equivalent of a .3 (?) mil vapor barrier. The summer afterwards, your
insulation dries out -- and then it stays dry, because warm air doesn't
exfiltrate from the house and condense on the insulation in cool weather.
Despite claims on the paint can, InsulAid is really a good primer but NOT a
finish paint. The surface is not pleasing. I found that even on the one
occasion when I had the InsulAid colored to match the final coat, that it still
took two coats of color-paint to completely hide the INsulAid surface. But I
don't paint rooms very often -- if you re-paint every five or six years, you
might be willing to live with the imperfections in that first coat of
color-paint until the next re-painting.
Anyway, the temperature difference in a room that has been fully InsulAided is
really significant. As I mentioned earlier, I have a 3-story townhouse. It
made the bottom floor MUCH more tolerable in the winter. (Re-building part of
the external wall to a greater thickness, while removing a single-pane patio
door and replacing it with a fully-insulated conventional door, made it useful
as a full-time office. But that cost a lot more than the InsulAid.)
Roger Vortman
I wouldn't use a vapor barrier paint on the outside of a house,
only on interior walls. If you have a vapor barrier on the
outside of your house, moisture that gets through the interior
vapor barrier will condense on whatever is in the walls, like
insulation. That radically reduces the effectiveness of a lot
of insulation materials.
-Roger
>: For more than 15 years, Glidden has made a unique latex-based vapor
>: barrier primer-sealer paint. They call it InsulAid. I am thinking
>: of specifying to the paint contractor that this paint be used on the
>: dry wall on the ceiling and outer walls of a new house. The purpose
>: is for an extra level of water vapor migration resistence. I have limited
>: experience with this product. Are there any pitfalls
>: to this paint or its application? The contractor is not familiar with
>: this paint, what can go wrong?
>I painted our new home (new 10 yrs. ago) with two coats of vapor barrier