Rebuilding Coldroom

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dougstove

Feeling the Heat
Aug 7, 2009
322
New Brunswick, Canada
Hello;
My front step is poured concrete on top of a cold room that is poured as an extension of the foundation.
It has a small door opening from the basement, and is about 2m2.
It is insulated 'out' from the main basement.

The cold room never worked well because:
-it had no vents and tended to get damp
-about 1/3 of the wall area, plus the room ceiling/step pad are above ground, leading to excess warmth in the summer and excess cold in the winter.

I just had the above-ground portion re-built (removed the old step, repoured the concrete, with a bond to the below-ground walls.
I got them to incorporate 2 x 4" vent ducts (4" PVC pipe) near the top of the wall, so I can now attach a thermo-siphon type venting arrangement.

I am wondering about insulating the inside of the above-ground concrete.
Would rigid foam insulation, attached directly to the concrete with adhesive ('liquid nail'?), be a good way to go?
I am thinking that insulting the above-ground concrete will buffer the winter and summer temperatures, so the room temperature is set more by the ground temperature.

Am I likely to get mold between the insulation and the concrete?
cheers, Doug
 
I just added an 8x14 addition to my kitchen. The foundation below is going to be a root cellar. My room is on the NE corner of my house so I have 2 outside walls of 12" concrete block. I plan on insulating the shared house walls to keep the room cooler. I am also putting 2 air vents to exchange air and cool. My room is 6' tall with about 16" out of the ground. At this time I am not planning to insulate the outside walls.
Doug
 
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