There are many different ways to line an existing chimney. A google search will probably reveal that to you.

I am sure as you live in the home, you will notice doors and such sticking as the moisture levels in the home rise and fall. a vapor barrior should cut down on this and allow your house to last another 70 years or so.
John

In the collar counties of Chicago, many new houses are being built with the crawl space having a cement floor. I think it's because of the dreaded black mold. St Charles High School East had a major mold problem and was closed down for most of a school year. The students were bused to the other school with split shifts, etc. Our home insurance had a mold exclusion, on & on & on.

Yup, you should put a vapor barrier down on the dirt floor of the crawl space. You might even want to put one down on the floor of the full basement and pour a second layer of concrete there.

Some people use poly sheets, but there are better more long-lasting, and less permeable products specifically for VB. The biggest deal about installing a VB is sealing the seams and then sealing it to the inside of the foundation. Since you have a poured foundation, the sealing shouldn't be too hard to.

You asked about whether it was a good idea to add VB to an older house. The answer is yes, because nowadays we go to a lot of trouble (in the name of energy savings) to tighten up our houses so moisture vapor that rises from the soil has nowhere to go. That's when you see sticky doors, musty smells etc. It won't hurt the soil or damage the house to install the VB. It's one of those things that yields a good, pretty immediate, payback in improvement in the living atmosphere.

You asked about plaster cracks in another post: simple answer, don't caulk (or spray foam) the ones in the walls or ceilings because they really won't stay invisible for long. If you haven't the time to fix them now with joint compound, or the taping/replastering technique you read about, just go ahead and paint over them if you're using latex paint. They will still show, and probably drive you nuts and you will have to repaint after you fix them later, but at least you'll feel as if something got done.

Repair of plaster cracks can eat up a lot of time, but it is not hard to do. Some can simply be filled with joint compound and feathered out. Some need to be cleaned out and then refilled. Some will reappear, no matter what. The reappearing ones need to be marked with a straight-edge drawn line and watched as they may indicate some structural issues.

It would be fine to use caulk (with backer rods if necessary, in wide cracks) in the cupboard. Another option is to cover the gaps with additonal trim pieces. But before you plan on storing linens figure out why it's smelling dirty and correct that! Spray foam is very hard to make look good it always looks like some bulbous, scary, fungus, even when painted. I have used it, though in desperation.

If you search here for vapor barriers/ or vapor retarders you will find a link I posted awhile ago to a manufacturer of a good one.

Molly

Hey Molly, I respect your opinions, but differ on this sealing of the vapour barrier - especially when it's the one covering the floor. From what I've read, whatever you cover on the floor will prevent that amount of moisture from evaporating - like if you cover 80% of the floor, you've solved 80% of the problem. Around the walls, I agree that a well-sealed air barried is needed, but on the floor I think painstakingly sealing the seams would get you little benefit. But, that's just what I've read in some docs from our historical society.

Thanks for all of the replies. I asked about planing sticky doors a while ago and have followed the advice to wait it out a year and see what happens. We've lived in the house for nearly a year now, and to tell you the truth, we haven't noticed a diffrence in the doors sticking. The two that started out sticking still stick, the ones that never stuck, haven't started to.

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse, but I wonder about vapor barriers in the summer. Do you lose that nice cold basement bonus? I suppose I'm not really going to rip it up and put it down every summer, but I do wonder.

On the plaster cracks...is there any way to know which can just be filled with joint compound and which need to be taped and replastered?

In that vein, the previous owners cut out two really big square holes through the lathe and plaster, one in a closet, and one in a bedroom. I assume it was to get to plumbing or attic space... The one in the bedroom had a piece of something screwed into the wall to cover it and then they painted over it. Of course my devilish litte cats felt the need to pull it off the wall one night (I should have know it was way too quiet!) so now I'm wondering what my options to repair it are. Any suggestions? I'm checking out the Tauton "Renovating Old Houses" book from the library, I'm hoping there will be some clues there, but any personal experience advice would be very appreciated.

thanks very much
trillium

No, you will not lose the cool air in the basement for the summer -- just the moisture hopefully. Our crawlspace adjoins our basement and it still cool with the VB down.

You house sounds like mine, sticky door and all.

Re; the doors -- could be swelling, but in my house a bunch of the doors are just hung incorrectly and/or just stick because of years of layers of paint. When I get around to it, I'm going to try a belt sander with the door in place to see if I can get enough off to avoid the planing.

Re: cracks -- I saw a while ago a rule of thumb for movement v. other casue cracks, I think it was here. I just generally fix it and see if it opens up again.

Well, I've always sealed the VBs I've put down on the floor. It's not hard really since there is a special tape for it. Since this pressurized, rising water vapor, (not free water or condensation) any lack of sealing will be noticeable. In a few places where I've had trouble sealing along my rough stone foundation, over time, you can see evidence of a plume of moisture where the vapor stream has been concentrated.

You can also buy vapor retarder in various widths so I don't have to seam in the middle of the room. In general I only do sealing around quirky things like cisterns and vaults set in the floor.

In answer to the OP's subsequent question: you don't have to take the VB up in the summer, and your cellar will continue to stay just as cool, or nearly so. Depending on your foundation material and whether it is entirely buried or exposed, that's what's keeping the temp down, and that will not change with VB.

In my case I have a massive natural stones (in a nearly 8 foot tall space) that are almost completely buried, so my cellar stays very nicely cool. So much so that when the outside doors are opened I get a lot of condensation on the cool walls from warm, moist, summer air. Part of my cellar was designed to be a meat storage room with places for ice and my well is under my house so moisture was a useful, and carefully managed, factor in my basement's environment.

Regarding plaster cracks. Hairline ones can be skimmed. Wider ones should be dug out and re-filled either with plaster skim coat, or dry wall (joint compound) mud. I've never bothered to tape cracks, though I generally do when I'm repairing actual holes or openings if I'm filling them with a sheet rock patch. I have a couple of places in my walls that I'm going to repair by replastering with 3-coats this winter, as I have never done that. (Just to be safe though, I have a "real" plasterer scheduled to do some work here next Spring, so if I screw it up, he can replace my divots!)

Molly~