Insulation of basement ceiling...
 

I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which has
a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the rest
is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you can
see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very quickly
when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the touch
making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow down
the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to the
direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the joist
s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do not
want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and put
them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it will
conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat -and
have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

Generally, the vapor barrier goes towards the "warm" part of the house,
which would be the 1st floor and not the basement.

On 16 Dec 2004 08:36:47 -0800, "spotty"
wrote:

I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which has
a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the rest
is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you can
see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very quickly
when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the touch
making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow down
the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to the
direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the joist
s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do not
want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and put
them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it will
conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

vapor barrier should face the warm part in the summer time. This
being your living space, not the basement.

hth,

tom @ www.BookmarkAdmin.com



As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat -and
have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

spotty wrote:
I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which has
a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the rest
is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you can
see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very quickly
when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the touch
making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow down
the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to the
direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the
joist s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do
not want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and put
them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it will
conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat
-and have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

As noted the barrier goes toward the warm side. Putting it the wrong
way will trap moisture where you don't want it.

I will suggest that while it should no do any harm, I doubt if the
insulation is going to do much good. You would be likely to be better
served by adding it in the attic or sealing up doors and windows. Very
little heat is going down into the basement. The basement is partly heated
by the waste heat from the water heater and furnace.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

Vapor barrier goes up to warm side. Don't worry about pieces of exposed
fiberglass falling down into your basement. Doesn't happen.



"spotty" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which has
a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the rest
is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you can
see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very quickly
when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the touch
making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow down
the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to the
direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the joist
s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do not
want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and put
them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it will
conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat -and
have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

According to Owens Corning, you insulate the floor (basement ceiling) with
unfaced, no-vapor barrier fiberglass.

http://owenscorning.com/around/insul...ect/floors.asp



Remove the 'remove' in my address to e:mail me.

It does if you head bumps into it - with 5 1/2 to 6 ft ceiling - this
is highly likely as I already have to bend slightly to avoid hitting my
head on the joists.

With regard the paper being a combustable etc. the fact that its
wooden floorboard and joist about - are these not combustable as well.
I'm just looking at trying to find reasons why putting bats in
reverse and stapling the paper up to the joists would be a bad
move.....




Art wrote:
Vapor barrier goes up to warm side. Don't worry about pieces of
exposed
fiberglass falling down into your basement. Doesn't happen.



"spotty" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which
has
a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the
rest
is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you
can
see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very
quickly
when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the
touch
making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow
down
the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to
the
direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the
joist
s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do not
want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and
put
them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it
will
conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat
-and
have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

It does if you head bumps into it - with 5 1/2 to 6 ft ceiling - this
is highly likely as I already have to bend slightly to avoid hitting my
head on the joists.

With regard the paper being a combustable etc. the fact that its
wooden floorboard and joist about - are these not combustable as well.
I'm just looking at trying to find reasons why putting bats in
reverse and stapling the paper up to the joists would be a bad
move.....




Art wrote:
Vapor barrier goes up to warm side. Don't worry about pieces of
exposed
fiberglass falling down into your basement. Doesn't happen.



"spotty" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which
has
a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the
rest
is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you
can
see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very
quickly
when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the
touch
making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow
down
the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to
the
direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the
joist
s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do not
want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and
put
them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it
will
conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat
-and
have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

On 12/17/2004 2:21 PM US(ET), spotty took fingers to keys, and typed the =

following:

It does if you head bumps into it - with 5 1/2 to 6 ft ceiling - this
is highly likely as I already have to bend slightly to avoid hitting my
head on the joists.

With regard the paper being a combustable etc. the fact that its
wooden floorboard and joist about - are these not combustable as well.
=20


Yes, but one is more combustible than the other. Hold a lit match up to=20
a joist, and drop another on a pile of shredded paper. Guess which=20
material would burn more easily (other than the fingers holding the match=
).

I'm just looking at trying to find reasons why putting bats in
reverse and stapling the paper up to the joists would be a bad
move.....
=20

I've had my basement ceiling bats stapled up with the barrier facing=20
down for 20 years.
My basement is finished though, and the boiler and water heater are down =

there.
My basement temperature runs between 65=BA (winter) and 75=BA (summer)=20
without any additional heat other than the ambient heat from the boiler=20
and water heater, so which side is the warm side?




Art wrote:
=20

Vapor barrier goes up to warm side. Don't worry about pieces of
=20

exposed
=20

fiberglass falling down into your basement. Doesn't happen.



"spotty" wrote in message
roups.com...
=20

I've seen a couple of questions relating to this but not one that
really answers my question.

I have a 105 year old house - stone foundations and basement which
=20

has
=20

a 5 1/5 ft - 6ft ceiling so really never going to be finished out.

The basement contains our furnace and a hot water heater and the
=20

rest
=20

is pretty well just used for storage. The floor above is simply
hardwood floors - pretty old stuff which small gaps etc. that you
=20

can
=20

see down to the basement. The house seems to cool down very
=20

quickly
=20

when the heat goes off and the floor remains fairly cool to the
=20

touch
=20

making the downstairs rather unappealing in the winter.

I suspect insulating the ceiling in the basement will help slow
=20

down
=20

the loss of heat in the room a bit - the basement is closed off to
=20

the
=20

direct outside - no open vents or anything like that.

If I want to use fibreglass insulation on the ceiling between the
=20

joist
=20

s - do I really need to put a vapor barrier in and if I do I do not
want to have fibreglass exposed.

I suppose what I'm saying is if I get faced fibreglass batts and
=20

put
=20

them in so paper side is out rather than against the floor - it
=20

will
=20

conceal the fibreglass. But it would mean that the paper which I
think is a vapor barrier is on the wrong side.

As the furnace is down there it provides a degree of residual heat
=20

-and
=20

have not noticed condensation forming down there last winter.
Is this a good idea ?

=20


=20