How do I seal the air barrier at the top of the exterior wall?
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How do I seal the air barrier at the top of the exterior wall?
Nicolas Jolicoeur
Jan. 3, 2022Last updated: Jan. 3, 2022
Hello, The air barrier was installed up to the top of the exterior wall. I wonder how to prevent the air from entering between the top plate of the wall and the OSB r4? The roof trusses are already laid on the top of the wall, so it is difficult to put red tape on the length of the wall.
I have the impression that the air barrier should have been installed over the top plate and the roof trusses installed on top afterward. How to air-seal it at the top of the wall opposite the plate? If I just put red tape on the wall at the top, the outside air could come in through the soffits, then enter between the OSB r4 and the top plate and end up inside the wall. Thank you
Whenusing a house wrap as an exterior air barrier, the best way to bring that inside to create continuity with the ceiling air barrier is to put it between the two top plates.Putting it on top is fairly common, but also somewhat pointless as it will usually get shredded when you slide trusses back and forth to get them placed properly, not to mention ripping it with a hammer when you side nail the trusses to the top plate. So having it under the top plate protects it. But, it sounds like neither of those techniques happened for you.
I think at this point you may be wise to try to use the top plate itself as a part of the air barrier. It has a double top plate? if so, I would run a thick (and likely messy) bead of acoustic seal along the exterior joint between the two top plates, that way you now on the interior if you seal a ceiling air barrier to the top plate you would have continuity.
明白了吗?我不确定你在哪里有R4 OSB，所以我试图可视化，如果这听起来不明智，那么可能我误解了。if you can't access that joint anymore then you can use the acoustic seal on the interior instead,
Ultimately an air barrier should have a plan to integrate it securely with other components of the air barrier, and in your case it sounds like that wasn’t done. Acoustic seal is horribly messy to work with as it sticks to everything under the sun and is almost impossible to remove, but the bright side is that it works really well for sealing cracks against air leakage.
你好Emmanuel，谢谢你的建议!这是有道理的，但不幸的是，在我的情况下，这是不可能的，因为OSB覆盖了两个盘子。我想我在一开始的问题中已经联系到了一个图像。这将帮助你理解R4 OSB在哪里!这里有一个链接，展示了如何建造。不同的是，我还没有安装室外墙板:https://ibb.co/FWdFx87我的评论是橙色的。图片最初来自于rege du Bâtiment du Québec，而Tyvek既不是贴在OSB上，也不是贴在顶板上。但我感觉应该是这样因为空气可能会在OSB和顶板之间泄漏。在我的例子中，因为它是R4 OSB，空气可以通过OSB和R4，在R4和顶板之间。再次感谢您的帮助!
我现在明白你说的尼古拉斯了。这个图表所显示的是我认为你的意思(如下所示)。你可以看到天花板上的内部聚脂膜粘在了墙上的聚脂膜上，所以在这张图中，他们依靠内部6毫米聚乙烯作为空气屏障，这就是为什么外部没有胶带。这也是一个错过的机会，因为你不能有太多的空气屏障在墙壁组装。它也讲了一点经常在建筑施工人员不总是精通什么是什么在一堵墙，它是内部聚或外部的天气屏障，旨在作为空气屏障的困惑。通常你会天气障碍粘像疯狂的所有，但然后离开一个关键的组成部分-像没有粘顶-渲染很多以前的工作没有意义。
I would prefer to see that shown as a well-installed exterior membrane –preferably a peel and stick air barrier– that could be carried between the two top plates and then taped to the ceiling air barrier, then the poly on the wall taped to the ceiling as well. Then there would be a second barrier to further reduce leakage. But that’s all hindsight I guess, and in your position you may well be best at this point to get a few tubes of acoustic seal and make sure the exterior barrier is sealed to the top of the wall with no air allowed through the two top plates (which is where the acoustic seal comes in handy).
Image via Regie du Batiment du Quebec
Ah..! Now I understand why the contractor did it that way. As you suggested, I'll go with the acoustic seal. Thank you again for taking the time to write that detailed answer!
Happy to help Nicolas, hope it works out!