Oh, I’m not saying it’s not functional in stone capacity. I understand the physics and what is trying to be accomplished with it, but unless it’s done with pretty tight tolerance so any air leakage between the upper and lower spaces is as close to nil as possible, then it’s not going to be super effective.
Dude, this is standard framing that’s been done for ages and is in tons of houses in the US. It works, and it’s mandated by code for a reason.
I’m not disputing any of that. I’m just saying that it seems like it wouldn’t work super well.
I’m just some guy on the internet. I’m expecting an opinion. I don’t wish to suggest we should do away with it because it’s probably not the most helpful thing we could do; not at all. Keep it, use it, be happy and hold a parade.
I still think that it’s not as effective as it could be because you’ll always have air leak, and probably enough that putting a small hole in a fire break to run a cable probably won’t make things much worse.
Code says you have to seal it, so that’s what you’d be obligated to do. I’m only questioning if there’s better options that would be more effective. That’s all.
