Lingwendil
Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2021
- Messages
- 16
Hey all. I have a approximate 12x16 mother in law unit/ workshop that is fully framed, bare studs, and has an attic area rafters up, and I'm in the process of modifying a few things, as well as prepping for insulation. Plan is insulation, drywall, and to set it up as a home office and game room.
While running electrical and pulling nails I'm finding that the exterior is plywood with a layer of black *tar* type paper between the studs and plywood, with mesh and stucco on the exterior of the building.
My question here, is when choosing fiberglass insulation batts for the walls, would I want to leave this black paper intact or remove it? And then, would I want to use unfaced or faced batts? I'm planning on R13, and have 100 square feet roll of faced R13 fiberglass insulation on hand already if that matters
For reference, I live in the east San Francisco Bay area (Contra Costa county) Antioch, California. Highs of 110 degrees in summer, 35-40degrees in winter. I plan to use a small AC unit mounted in the wall in summer, and a small space heater in winter if needed.
Some pics of the space, in progress of cleaning up so pardon the mess.

While running electrical and pulling nails I'm finding that the exterior is plywood with a layer of black *tar* type paper between the studs and plywood, with mesh and stucco on the exterior of the building.
My question here, is when choosing fiberglass insulation batts for the walls, would I want to leave this black paper intact or remove it? And then, would I want to use unfaced or faced batts? I'm planning on R13, and have 100 square feet roll of faced R13 fiberglass insulation on hand already if that matters
For reference, I live in the east San Francisco Bay area (Contra Costa county) Antioch, California. Highs of 110 degrees in summer, 35-40degrees in winter. I plan to use a small AC unit mounted in the wall in summer, and a small space heater in winter if needed.
Some pics of the space, in progress of cleaning up so pardon the mess.


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