I thought the spray foam applicators would be spraying into all the nooks and crannies. Apparently, they don’t spray between the window frames and the rough openings, because, I presume, the foam is likely to cause such a rigid fill that the windows could not be adjusted, or the foam would cause distortion in the wood frame.
In any event, the consulting engineer told us that the ganged up studs need to be caulked to prevent air leaks, and then covered with tuck tape or heavy plastic vapour barrier.
Preventing air leaks with caulking and vapour barrier (the shiny parts)
In addition, the space between the frame and rough opening need to be stuffed with traditional batting to prevent drafts. All potential leaks should be caulked.
Stuffing batting around window frames. White caulking between studs.
D and I started the process, using 8 regular batts to stuff just 11 windows, and 6 tubes of caulking. It took us most of the day. There are 32 windows! Yikes! We need more hours in the day.
Update next day: Unfortunately, the engineer and the building inspector rejected our window sealing. We must have misunderstood the earlier instructions from the engineer.
We now must push the 10 batts-worth of batting space-filler in further, then insert a 5/8″ “rod” of foam (540 feet total), then caulk both sides of the foam. Obviously, we should have just done this in the first place. Forget the tuck tape.
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What? I thought the house was done already.
Very useful directions today, which I will apply as we finish B’s room at S’s. I didn’t know about the ‘around the window’ and ‘between frame and rough opening’ info. Thanks.
Update on post #67) Not done yet.
Inspectors visited!
What! More work. Thanks for another close-up photo of ‘how to’.