Basement Finishing

jsnake

bigharpoon

Foam board is definitely the way to go. Concrete walls will condense water so you want to use materials that won't soak up water and rot: foam boards and PT lumber. Is your framing PT? If it touches the concrete it should be so at a minimum your bottom plate should be PT and your studs could be spruce if the foam is between them and the concrete. I wouldn't use fiberglass insulation at all, even after the foam. The ambient temperature of the basement should be enough that the foam and air and drywall will make it plenty toasty. Don't forget your floor will condense moisture too!

The Sniper

jsnake

Harpoon, thanks buddy. What should I do for the floor? No Drylok on it and no moisture on floor. Plastic barrier under? Going to pad and carpet.

bigharpoon

jsnake

jsnake

Crap, I just realized that I already have my walls up and anchored and there isn't room for 2" foam. What to do what to do? I figured I could slide the XPS foam between the wall and framing but there isn't enough room.

bigharpoon

Get some sill seal, pink synthetic plastic in a 8" roll that is made to put between the basement and sill plate. It's only about 1/8" thick and it's compressible so you'll be able to slide it between the studs and concrete and it will keep your wood far enough away to discourage wicking.

jsnake

I can get some 1 1/2 or 1 inch stuff in there so I will do that. I actually have the biggest wall and two half walls left so I can do the good stuff there. I already have the wood about 1 inch out but since the cement walls aren't perfect it isn't a uniform 1 inch. All the wood is far enough out and anything touching cement is treated wood.

jsnake

bigharpoon pm to you

bigharpoon

jsnake:

bigharpoon pm to you

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RBeckom

Good advise here. One other thing you may want to consider is A de-humidifier, at least until you find the average humidity level your basement will naturally adhere to.

jsnake

Yeah we might throw one down there. I have figured out that if you are going to do this right it costs more money and takes more time. I understand why contractors and builders take short cuts. Their shortcuts are causing me more work but we just called our lender yesterday and got them to lower our interest rate to 3.675% so we have decided to commit to staying here for at least 5 years. Regardless i want to do it right. Learned many lessons here for sure.

kingjk729

Jake you can also do a hydrostatic pressure test on the floor to see how much water there is ..... It's very easy you just take a heavy mil plastick like a contractors garbage bag cut a 12x12 square and tape three sides flat to the ground ... Leave for 24 hours and check if you have water under the plastic you water coming from under neath ..... Read this and there are some ok ideas http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/4713/i-have-a-basement-floor-with-lots-of-moisture-can-i-paint-or-seal-it-to-make-it

jsnake

Thanks, I actually read that. I spent a ton of hours just reading about different methods and beliefs in basement finishing. Regardless, I think we will still go with the Dricore just to play it safe and other then costing a little extra it isn't a complicated install.

Direwolf

You'll be good with the drycore

The Colonel

jsnake

I took some pictures but I am finishing the battle with strep pneumonia so the basement has been on hold for a little over a week. Picked up more supplies today. Will start posting pics soon.

Roberto99

jsnake

Roberto99

LOL Yes, we had floor joist problems also! The builder skimped and put in slightly undersized joists for the span. Fortunately I had some expert help and they were able to show me how to attach the joists together to strengthen them. We guessed that was the original plan and the builder just didn't follow through. It was just a few dollars to fix but I was told by a contractor that regardless, they would have used the larger joists. Like you say, all to save a few bucks... and they got away with it

jsnake

bigharpoon

any pics yet???

jsnake

Yes, I will try to put some up tomorrow. Framing my last wall tomorrow. Been sick twice and lost a lot of free days to work on this. Looking good though IMO.

jsnake

Been busy and I know I suck. I just finished my electrical and will be taking some new pics this week. I will post up from the start to now sometime this week. Pretty proud of myself. Accomplished a lot on my own and it looks great.

Roberto99

jsnake:

Been busy and I know I suck. I just finished my electrical and will be taking some new pics this week. I will post up from the start to now sometime this week. Pretty proud of myself. Accomplished a lot on my own and it looks great.

Looking forward to the pics!

jgibv

jsnake

Roberto99

I can appreciate what you are doing. There's alot of work there. I didn't get hardly any photos of the before or during in my basement project. In a month or two I plan on being mostly done with the main area and I will post some photos in a new thread.

jsnake

Yes I am still working on this. Time and money! Wait til you see what it looks like now. I just need to caulk and paint the trim and doors next week and all that is left is carpet installation. I will post some pictures. Pretty proud of myself and how it has turned out since I have no prior experience. I would say I have done 95% of the work by myself. I had a little help hanging drywall and a buddy did my tape, mud, and knockdown.

jsnake