If you have a wine cellar in your Austin home, you know the importance of maintaining the proper temperature inside the cellar. A vapor barrier is critical, but why – and what exactly is it?
What a vapor barrier is
Basically, a vapor barrier is essential to controlling humidity and the environment inside the wine cellar. Wine cellars should have a cool environment, however a vapor barrier does not stop warm air inside your home from infiltrating your wine cellar’s environment. That’s what insulation is for!
Now that we’ve said that, we have to share the fact that if you have blown-in foam insulation, you won’t need a plastic vapor barrier as spray-in foam actually acts as its own. The purpose of a vapor barrier is to help prevent fiberglass or cellulose insulation from becoming wet; moisture and mold are two things you do not want in your wine cellar.
Think of it this way: Your wine cellar’s cool environment and the warmer, more humid environment of your home will compete, resulting in condensation. It’s much like when you get into your cold car on a winter morning and turn on the heat, only to have the windshield fog over. When the warmer, moister air in your home seeps through even in the tiniest amounts to your wine cellar, condensation develops. Not good!
With fiberglass batts, cellulose, loose fill, or rolled insulation you find at many home supply stores, you will need a vapor barrier to protect the integrity of your wine cellar. If you choose to have closed cell spray foam insulation installed, you have a built-in vapor barrier of sorts. This type of insulation expands to fill the tiniest spaces, essentially making it impossible for warmer air to penetrate the structure of your wine cellar.
Why not take care of creating a vapor barrier and insulating your cellar at the same time? At HabiShield, our spray foam insulation experts have helped countless Austin home and business owners protect their fine wine collections from potential dangers. Give us a call today!