Air-Sealing Balloon Framing
Brown1991
| Posted in General Questions on
I am renovating an early 1900’s Texas farmhouse that is a balloon frame structure and am in need of some advice for sealing the stud bays from the crawlspace. I am wanting to air seal the house as much as possible and I am stumped at the best and most efficient way of going about this. Should I simulate a “bottom plate” by placing a 2x in the bays on top of the hardwood, like shown in the picture? Thanks in advance for any feedback!
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Replies
Yup, that is what I've done with balloon framed houses. You can seal the 2x4 in place with canned foam.
With any balloon framed house your main goal is to air seal, you want to plug all these holes that connect your crawspace to your attic. This is very important with any interior wall as lot of times top plates are missing in the attic.
As for air sealing the rest of the house, the simplest with board sheathing is one of the acrylic peel and stick membranes (ie VP100, enVS or Adhero). These will cost a bit more than standard housewrap but will seal all those gaps between the boards and well worth the extra cost.