How to Place a Vapor Barrier to Protect Your Basement from Moisture

If you are building a new home or finishing that long unfinished basement perhaps the most important thing you need to think about is how you will put in place a vapor barrier to protect your basement and home from moisture intrusion. The best time to put a vapor barrier in place is when the home is first constructed. An exterior vapor barrier that consists of several key components will provide such a great vapor and moisture barrier that it makes a home virtually moisture proof.

There are two key components to an exterior vapor barrier. The first is a buffer zone of material that allows easy and complete drainage of moisture and ground water away from the foundation of the home. The second is a plastic sheet protection that is put in place before the foundation is poured or laid in place. This plastic sheeting is 6mm to 8mm thick and is used in many parts of the world under poured cement floors. This is not only beneficial it is required in many building codes. This plastic sheeting extended from under the basement floor and up to the surface on all sides of the home completes the best vapor barrier your home can have.

So that's great for new home construction but what if your have an existing home with a moisture problem or you are going to finish a long unused and never finished basement? Your goal is still the same. You want and need to keep moisture that does move from outside the foundation from getting the insulation you will place in the walls from getting wet and you want to protect the wood in the wall framing from being exposed to getting wet over and over again, which leads to rotting.