My wife and I are in the process of building our home and we just finished the framing stage. Our builder used 1/2" OSB with Tyvek wrap for the exterior of the house. We are finishing the exterior with brick....shouldn't there be foam board or some sort of insulation between the the sheathing and the brick?

Yes, and you should consider using spray foam between the studs.

There doesn't "have" to be, but it will be a huge advantage to you. The studs in your walls will be thermal bridges, letting heat flow out of your house easier than the heat can leave your cavity insulation, but exterior foam board can block that heat, since you can put it over all the outside of their wall with no bridges to speak of. In a nutshell- that R-13 batt won't actually give you an R-13 wall, but an R-5 foam board on the outside will give you an extra R-5.

you really should have foam board on the outside and foam in between the studs costly yes but in the long term you will be happy ,very tight home

We should be getting our quote from the spray foam installer in a week or so. Anyone have a ballpark figure to help me avoid sticker shock (2100 sq. ft)?

Talk about a lot of space to insulate - check out this attic!

I'm in Louisiana, and the website of a local spray foam professional gives this as a rule of thumb:

"COST PER SQ FT FOR FOAM- full installation (all labor, materials, & insurance included) of our product varies in cost from $1.20-$2.10 per sq ft depending on how thick we spray the foam, the type of foam we use, & whether we are spraying on the walls or attic or subflooring. Size & difficulty of the job is also a factor."

Keep in mind that the square foot price refers to square footage of the surface area to be covered, not the square footage of your living space.

My builder is saying $3,000 to $4,000 for the attic and nearly $10,000 for the entire house. That is merely an estimate and should be verified by the quote from the actual installer. I think the installer is gonna hit me hard because my attic is so tall (16 feet above ceiling joists).

Now, if the quote is around $10,000, is it worth that much to do the spray foam?

I hate to say it but is this house your 'last' home? If so, then it would be worth it.

As Alton, et. al. have stated, an exterior foam board would be thermally advantageous.  If you decide to pursue it, check the width of the brick ledge to make sure all the components will fit.

Bruce

2inch closed cell foam cost me $2/ sq/ft 5inch cost me $ 4.20/sq/ft in ontario

We are both 29 years old...I would say that I am certain that this is not our last home.

With escalating energy costs, I believe we will reach a time when a prospective buyer will insist on seeing the past year's energy bills before they make a bid.  I know I have already reached this stage.  In some areas, the power company will furnish a report on energy costs for the past year.  I think superinsulating should add to the value of a home.

tsufan,

I received your message and attempted to reply but my message to you was returned.  Feel free to e-mail me directly so that I can e-mail you directly.  Since we are not supposed to list our e-mail address in these forums so that bots can read them, I have listed my e-mail the following way:    alton at auburn dot edu        Use the correct symbol for at and period for dot to reach me.

Your message made it through. Check your PMs.