Quote:
Originally Posted by frecny
All of the walls of our bathroom are interior walls. We were redoing the shower from the 1970s, there is no vapor barrier behind the tile and there is no water damage or mold.
We are using Durock cement board then thinset then tile. Is a vapor barrier needed?
They seem to be a recent thing. 40 years (when the old bathroom was done) they didn't use them and there were no problems for 40+ years. (believe it or not, they also used sheetrock with not problems!)
Ideas?
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The tile surround debate is just that- a debate. And it's because people usually don't put 2 and 2 together.
Back in the late 40's, through the 50's and 60's housing was going up at a fire storm rate. They were like Swiss cheese to air infiltration. Energy was cheap, so we compensated by bumping up the t/stat.
Housing that has been built in last 20yrs is much tighter. Much less air infiltration, more insulation- meaning less use of energy for heating and cooling. All of these and a rapidly changing and more diverse climate are the factors that drive the moisture/mold problems we see today.
That old saying "they don't build them like they use too" can go both ways. So, just because you don't see mold in a 40-50yo house doesn't mean is was better, it just means the moisture didn't stick around too long.