Do it yourself

Well, I have been reading about vapor barriers in walls, and I have learned just enough to confuse myself. I gather that there are different approaches in different climates, and woe betide you if you do it wrong! I don't know if we should be placing the wall vapor barrier on the outside (to keep water from coming through the stucco) or the interior wall side (since many articles insist that the vapor barrier goes on the "warm" side). I don't know if I should be putting up roofers paper on the interior of the stucco, or putting up batt insulation with the vapor barrier side toward the drywall. Or something else entirely. So I'm going to put forth the list of our house's attributes (regarding vapor and moisture) and see if someone far more knowledgeable than I can tell me where the heck to put the vapor barrier! (also what to use, etc). 1) We are in Northern California, where we get lots and lots and lots of rain in the winter, and none at all in the summer. 2) Our house is in a flat area with a high water table. At present, water from both the front yard and back yard drain down toward the house. The crawl space is, as you might expect, somewhat muddy. (We are fixing the grading this summer, but haven't done so yet. We will also be installing a sump pump under the house, and french drains around the house.) 3) Our next door neighbors are farmers, and we just realized the other day that when they water their field, they also water the south side of our house!!! This could explain why there are mold problems in that part of the house and not so much through the rest of the house, dontcha think? (We will be addressing this problem also in the very near future, but there are language barriers, so we have to figure out how to approach it.) 4) The wall that gets watered by the farmers is old stucco, as are two other walls. The front wall of the house is wood siding. 5) We will be painting the house exterior in the near future, and we expect to hire someone to put on some sort of special stucco paint that is supposed to seal out water. 6) We are normal human beings (well, most of the time) and do take showers, cook, breathe, and participate in other activities that produce water vapor in the interior of the house. So, folks, where the heck does that vapor barrier go??? :) Thanks! Ann