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Basement finishing suggestions?
Hello:
I am in the process of finishing our basement. Our home is 2 years old with poured basement walls. We have started to put up 2x4 framing against the walls, and planned to insulate with faced R-13 fiberglass insulation, and put up 1/2 drywall. Recently a friend suggested that we put plastic sheeting between the framing and the concrete walls to keep out moisture, and use unfaced insulation. My question is, what is the best way to do this? Our basement has had a very small amount mildew appear in the summer, in the past. And, if the plastic sheeting is put up between the concrete and the framing, should the insulation used be faced or unfaced? I am also interested in insulating the concrete floor as well, and am open to suggestions on what to use for that as well. Thank you very much for all feedback and suggestions! -- Chris |
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Clark W. Griswold, Jr. wrote: wrote: IIRC, you don't see moisture migrating through poured concrete unless there are substantial cracks. Any mildew would be caused by moisture in the warm air condensing on the colder concrete. That's why the moisture barrier should be facing the source of moisture, which is usually the living area. Poly sheeting is cheap though and can't hurt. When I framed in a basement in a home a number of years ago, I put poly sheeting between the studs and the concrete, and then used standard faced insulation with the moisture barrier facing the living area. You wouldn't want unfaced insulation as that would let moisture condense in between the studs. Heat rises and the earth is a pretty good insulator, so insulating the floor won't be a money saver or comfort improver. A good pad and carpet is all you really need. That said... Hmm.... rule of thumb is that 10" of concrete is R1... though the floor will be below the frost line (poster did not indicate his climate), a substantial amount of heat/comfort will be lost to the floor. (Here in New England, it is required to have insulation on the basement ceiling, to reduce heat loss on the first floor). Headroom is usually an issue in basements, so you typically can't put joists on the concrete.You could do this: Seal the floor with a two part epoxy paint. Use 1x2 lathing strips spaced at two foot intervals with sheet styro in between. Particle board flooring over the lot. Personally, I would never use particle board flooring, and especially below grade. I do like the lathing strips/sheet styro method; I use PT lathing, and a heavy grade poly sheeting under all, instead of the epoxy paint. |
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But the fasteners have now punctured both the waterproof layer created
by the application of Dry-Lok and the plastic sheeting. Our basement walls had already been painted or treated with Dry-Lok or something of that type (I have no means of knowing what), so I used heavy plastic sheeting between the wall and the studs, but I anchored the new bottom and top plates only to the floor and the joists and did not fasten the studs to the walls. Perce On 12/29/04 09:42 pm Bob_M tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup: While I am not a builder I did have our basement finished a few years ago. What the builder did was to "seal" ALL the concrete with Dry-Lok clear sealer then covered the walls with thick plastic sheeting. The wall studs were then attached to the walls with special fasteners "shot" out of a gun. We've had ZERO problems with moisture with this method. |
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Ask your local building inspector -- if it isn't done to code and he
finds out about it, he may make you do it over again. Best to ask first! I've always found those guys friendly and helpful, if you go at it with the right attitude. Dave wrote in message oups.com... Hello: I am in the process of finishing our basement. Our home is 2 years old with poured basement walls. We have started to put up 2x4 framing against the walls, and planned to insulate with faced R-13 fiberglass insulation, and put up 1/2 drywall. Recently a friend suggested that we put plastic sheeting between the framing and the concrete walls to keep out moisture, and use unfaced insulation. My question is, what is the best way to do this? Our basement has had a very small amount mildew appear in the summer, in the past. And, if the plastic sheeting is put up between the concrete and the framing, should the insulation used be faced or unfaced? I am also interested in insulating the concrete floor as well, and am open to suggestions on what to use for that as well. Thank you very much for all feedback and suggestions! -- Chris |
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