Hello, I'm back ready to finalize what I am going to do with the exterior wall insulation of my south facing bathroom wall in Iowa. Central Iowa is zone 5 on the map above that Hollysprings posted. On another thread Worthy had a link to the building science site and I found another paper written that addresses vapor barriers. I linked it below. I will have a shower and washer/dryer in this room. I will have a 170cfm Fantech exhaust fan in the room with remote fan in the attic and 2 vents, one at the shower and the other at the W/D stack. EXTERIOR WALL DESCRIPTION: 2x4 stud wall that faces the south. There is one window in this wall. I will have drywall and latex paint on the interior finished wall. The material that is on the exterior side of the studs is 1x8 T&G boards from the 20's when the house was built. Out side of the boards is an old siding of pressed composite material that is from the 70's. It looks like the original narrow wood siding was removed at that time. The last exterior layer was put on by Sears (over the 70's era siding) within the last 10 years. It is a vinyl siding with a 3/4 pink extruded polystyrene insulation under the vinyl. The polystyrene material is by Owens Corning and says "Weatherb...Exterior Protecti..." (I only have a small section of material to read). I have been planning on using Roxul batt insulation. This requires a poly 6 mil vapor barrier sheet put on the inside surface of this wall. Then the stabled areas get covered with "Tuck Tape". Of course I can't find Tuck Tape in the US. QUESTIONS: 1) Will it be appropriate to put this vapor barrier on the interior surface of my studs with all the sheathing materials that are on the outside studs? Or will I be creating a vapor sandwich, causing damage to the studs? 2) Will Tyvek Tape substitue for Tuck Tape? 3) If not Tyvek Tape, what does substitute for Tuck Tape? Here is a link that might be useful: BSD-106: Understanding Vapor Barriers

The take down of wall and pocket door frame was a no brainer....even with the mess. This old lady did it in 4 hours. An added bonus was finding two 2X4s on both sides of the opening that the frame was attached to. More wall supprt than expected. My friend was right, the frame was nothing more than an insert with no supporting factor. There are 2 short pieces of oak flooring needed where the wall existed and have to insert these before trim. Lucky catch at Restore/Habitat, they have some oak flooring which are already finished and match existing floor to do this. Also thinking of creating an arch to match the one in living rooom, but dependant upon my motivation during the final steps. What a difference in the layout, there is so much more light and both rooms look much larger. The kitchen is an L Shape with one full wall not being used. Before enlarging the opening there didn't seem to be enough room to utilize this wall. Now it feels like I have enough area to add a table and chairs if wanted and can see more possibilities in the kitchen layout. A separate post needed for suggestions on what to do with what I've done.

That is why the electrician needs to know exactly what you want. It is likely that a 3 gang box will need to be 1/2" deeper than a single gang box. It can be done, but you want the extra trip to the specialty electric supply warehouse to be on the electrician, and not charging you a big up charge. The closet dimmer should have a 1.5" deep 4 square with a single gang drywall extension (mud ring) so the dimmer fits easily. If you do not mind the pocket door being off center, that leaves 2" of framing on the bathroom side which "should" be deep enough for a 3-gang if the right type of box exists. (Too lazy to look t up just now) It still might require some extra thinking on how to run the wires. If you want the door centered in the wall, it may be a little tougher. *Thinking a little more on the math, if you "assume" that all the lights are on the same circuit, then only one neutral would be required for all 3 switches. This would mean that the box would not necessarily need to be deeper for a two gang compared to a single gang since the lack of a second neutral wire partially offsets the proportionally skinnier box. The fact that all the ground wires are only counted once had only marginally helped before the new rules.

Thanks, Beth! Yes, it looks like a double plate. I was hoping to have the top plate flush to the ceiling (to fully remove any transition between the spaces), but I wasn’t sure if that was possible. Would you trim it out or attempt to drywall the cased opening? The top plate hangs about 1” below the ceiling. thanks again!