I will soon be sealing my crawlspace with plastic sheeting across the floor and up the concrete walls. I plan on then adding rigid foam insulation.
My reading of the Residential Code is that I will need to install a thermal barrier over the rigid foam board to add protection against ignition. The layers of material are:
earth—concrete—plastic sheeting—foam board—thermal barrier—crawlspace air
Typically, a thermal barrier is provided by 1/2" gypsum board. My issue is that this is a crawlspace. I am not planning on installing studs to support wall board.
- Do I need to install the barrier in a crawlspace?
- What would I use as a barrier since I don't have studs to hange wall board on?
- Is there an alternative that I am missing?
Related questions:
Best Answer
Yes you need to install the barrier regardless of where it is.
You don't need studs to install drywall. You could install furring strips and then attach the drywall to this. You can even get XPS foam with channels for the furring strips cut out so that you don't add any extra depth to the wall.