Makes sure foam board is tight to concrete, if there are unsealed gaps between wall and foam it creates a highly likely condensation point. This will result in wall sweat possibly coming out at the floor. 2" foam thickness is a minimum in the perfect world.
Basement insulation
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Did a bunch of research and gutted the room. Going to put a electric baseboard heater in the room. I see most people recommend 2 inch rigid insulation. RI code looks to be 7.5 for below grade which is 1.5 inch board at my local store. I am going to insulate the sill too with rigid foam and spray foam. then frame my 2x4 wall. I will probably put non faced batt thermafiber insulation in those walls which is r15. Is it safe to use the pink fiberglass stuff if I have a cement walls sealed with the rigid foam? It is cheaper, but not risking it for the chance of any moisture and mold. I am running new electrical in the room and I know the framing will eat some space it'll be easier to run all my wires. I'm not seeing much about basement flooring. I will be using pressure treated for the base of my framed walls and using spray foam for all the little cracks. I will then probably use 3/8 drywall leaving it half inch off the floor. I will probably use a mid price laminate flooring. Thinking about putting some safe and sound in the ceiling since my sons bedroom is above this space. Will it make much of a difference?
better off with a vinyl flooring. Most of laminates are only good on one side and most are not to be wet washed, damp mopped, steam mopped, or even the swifter stuff as the moisture from any of these will get in the joints( which are not sealed) and cause swelling. Then you will have ridges all over the place along the joints ( those flooring joints do not tell you this. it is in the very fine print though) in a basement you have moisture coming up through the floor unless during construction a vapor barrier was installed prior to the concrete pour. It is very hard to seal a basement floor if older due to whatever may have been spilled on it. Did epoxy floors for a while both basement , garages, and businesses. Generally we would have to clean with a very heavy-duty cleaner/ degreaser and then acid etch to get rid of any surface powdering. Done right it works well- don't do the prep work and the epoxy will flake off same goes for any other concrete sealer. To use laminate in the basement requires some sort of channel for air passage under the laminate. Used to be some products for this but it has been years since I was in that biz.
Check out HD's Lifeproof vinyl planks. They snap together, can be cut with a saw or scribed and broken. They have a discount over so many boxes, and if you are a vet you can get another 10% off that. I put in quite a bit of laminate over the years, and this stuff is quite a bit nicer.
I wish I could remember the price break point, but the last time I bought some I picked up an additional 5 boxes to hit the limit. The price for the 5 extra boxes was only an additional $50 with the discount. I rat holed them in case of a future disaster. There are 20 square feet in a box.
I have about 2400 feet of it in the new house. It can be used in kitchens and bathrooms without worrying about water damage. I did the upstairs last fall and the basement early this year.
I suppose it depends on the color, but mine barely shows dirt.
I wish I could remember the price break point, but the last time I bought some I picked up an additional 5 boxes to hit the limit. The price for the 5 extra boxes was only an additional $50 with the discount. I rat holed them in case of a future disaster. There are 20 square feet in a box.
I have about 2400 feet of it in the new house. It can be used in kitchens and bathrooms without worrying about water damage. I did the upstairs last fall and the basement early this year.
I suppose it depends on the color, but mine barely shows dirt.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
I just put down waterproof luxury vinyl plank. (LVP). Cheapest fully waterproof one I could find in white/grey. Only thing with the LVP is that to do a really good install the subfloor has to be FLAT. I didn’t need a perfect install and to cut cost just poured leveling concrete on about 1/4 of it. It saved me 600$ but probably should have just poured it all.
Previous contractor told me that the glue down bamboo was perfect for basement. Complete lie. The old carpet was a better choice at least it would dry out. the bamboo just sucked up the moisture but it had no where to go with the finish on the top. The carpet in the basement of the house I grew up in was fine. It got wet a couple times and was dried out.
Thought about tile but it was more work than I wanted. Plus it’s cold on your feet.
I would recommend using a insulation in wall cavity that is NOT fiberglass. Do not place any batt insulation right to the bottom plate, stay up 3" in case of a flood. Also I would suggest using the 2" eps vs 1.5" as there is much research showing that 2" is the minimum to prevent condensation forming on the backside between the foam and concrete wall. One other thing you may want to do is forgo the p.t sill plate and go with standard lumber but place a silll gasket then a strip of 12" vapour barrier to protect the first 4" of the wall assembly. Make sure to roll the vapor barrier up both sides of the plate and studs. The backside may be easier to do if you do it before hand as there won't be much room to attach after it's down. Lvp is the go to flooring for basements now and a good choice. It will still feel cold on the feet but has the insurance that it will not be garbage if it ever sees a basement flood. Consider installing a new sump pump if there is much age on the present one, and there are some pretty cheap water alarms available to let you know if the water has risen to a critical point putting your investment of a basement finish in jeopardy.
Also as far as noise to bedroom above, the consensus is best value is to use resilent channel on the underside of floor joists and fill the joist cavity WITH FIBREGLASS. ...the cost vs noise transmission of using more expensive insulation doesn't balance. This is the only place I use fiberglass for anything.
Also as far as noise to bedroom above, the consensus is best value is to use resilent channel on the underside of floor joists and fill the joist cavity WITH FIBREGLASS. ...the cost vs noise transmission of using more expensive insulation doesn't balance. This is the only place I use fiberglass for anything.
the mention of bamboo flooring reminded me of a customer describing his experience with it . main floor installed over the winter, summer gets a bit humid at times around here. that bamboo swelled up and made a mess. Ripped it all out and installed something else
That's a sad situation when there is flooring troubles. I've heard of the 3/4 solid wood floorings doing some big time buckling on main floors and have witnessed laminate that was pinched with a kitchen island. The engineered wood and LVP have been good for homeowners
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