46erjoe wrote:
I've got a very dry, clean, tidy, high-ceilinged basement in a 4-year
old home, approx 25' X 45' in size. Unpainted concrete block walls.
Poured concrete floor with some minute cracks. The ground outside goes
about 3/4 of the way up. There is no evidence of leakage although
there is a sump pump that I hear turn on briefly every couple of days.

I want to finish off the basement dividing it into 4 rooms: furnace
room, family room, bedroom, bathroom.

Would the following be the best way to start:

1) seal and/or paint the inside block walls.
2) stud out with 2X4s positioned an additional 2" from the wall so
that I could stuff 6" fiberglas insulation between the 16" on center
studs.
3. Cover it all with plastic before screwing on 1/2" drywall

Is this arrangement inviting condensation? Should I maybe delete any
seals and use a de-humidifier instead? Should the bottom 2X4 plate be
pressure-treated? Do I even need insulation... wouldn't the dirt
outside be insulation enough? Is step #1 even needed?

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

You didn't say how much head room you have in the basement. If your
basement doesn't have enough vertical space, you may not even want to
be bothered with finishing it. After leveling the floor, adding a drop
ceiling, you might find that the ceiling is kind of low. Please check
the head room before proceeding with this project.

You may also need to decide if you have enough storage space after you
have converted the basement from storage into living space. If you
have already had enough living space, you may want to leave good enough
alone.

You may want to level the floor before framing up the wall. If you
find that one side of the room is higher than the other side after you
have already framed the wall, you will have to level the floor, and the
build up on the floor may be so high that the bottom plate of the wood
frame may be below the floor level (after you have put on the
flooring); then you will have to build up the bottom plate of the wood
frame in order to have a nailing surface for the baseboard. Moreover,
framing a wall on a level ground is easier than trying to frame on the
group that is uneven. Having said that, I need to point out that you
don't need to worry about this if the floor is rough but is basically
level.

This is a good idea to paint the basement wall with thing like DryLock
to seal the wall. Still, you should use plastic sheet to cover both
sides of the wall frame that is covering the basement wall to avoid any
possibility that miosture may get into the insulation (in case moisture
gets through from the basement floor that is not sealed).

Hope everything will be fine.

Jay Chan