Questions tagged [basement-insulation]
The basement-insulation tag has no usage guidance.
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Fill top of concrete block wall?
I'm planning on adding rigid foam to insulate my basement walls. The walls are hollow cinder block walls. Should I fill the tops with spray foam?
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Framing basement wall against blanket wrap insulation in tight corner
My house, located in SE Michigan, was built in 2012 and basement left unfinished by the builder. The basement is insulated with a wall wrap insulation blanket that is rated at R-11. The blanket is ...
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Insulating Rim Joists Missouri Zone 4 (cold winters and humid summers)
Basement currently has R13 batt insulation installed in rim joist. I was planning on cutting foam board pieces between each joist and spray foam in the nooks.
My question is, should I remove the ...
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Can I insulate main floorboards overhead hvac/ducts in basement?
My Hvac is in unfinished basement and part of it is crawl space which is rock. Built 1900. Is it okay to insulate my exposed floor boards of main house? Which is the ceiling of hvac/ducts/basement. No ...
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Pipes keep freezing
Edited to add pics.
I live in an old home, built in 1919.
At some point before I bought the home, there was an addition that added a bathroom and three seasons porch.
The original foundation is stone, ...
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How do I properly finish basement without framing?
Here is the issue: we have an unfinished laundry room and an unfinished closet. I would like to finish both of them. We are in a wet/moisture climate (Wisconsin). I am trying to do this without ...
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Can GreatStuff "Pro" cans be layered to achieve the same thickness as "Big Gap Filler?"
all!
For some reason Great Stuff offers all of their cans in Pro style, but not the Big Gap Filler. I have 3"-ish gap between a base plate and a floor joist in the basement that has very little ...
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How to properly finish basement walls with an indoor waterproofing membrane?
The house I moved into has an ~1800 sq. ft. unfinished basement which has been waterproofed on the inside, halfway up the walls all around it, taped to insulation put on the upper half like this:
I ...
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Insulation for 1920s New England home with stucco siding
I have an old 1920s home with stucco exterior siding, and I've been having work done to improve insulation. Mostly so far this has involved insulating the attic, which also involved air sealing it.
I ...
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Vapor barrier for cantilevered kitchen idea
Hi, all!
So I have this weird kitchen sitch, where it's cantilevered, and the back roughly 2-3 feet are hanging outside of the house. It's a dumb design, but what're ya gonna do?!
I had to have mold ...
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How should I finish this basement wall?
House built in 1970 in climate zone 3. These basement walls were apparently finished twice, the second time with drywall and originally with just wood against the concrete blocks with plaster as ...
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Can I use XPS insulation over poly sheet foundation waterproofing?
I recently had an internal perimeter French drain to sump installed along with a vapor barrier that directs water down into the French drain. Now I need to frame and get walls up. The piece I am ...
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Insulating basement foundation walls with partial interior walls
A previous owner seemed to have fun with the basement (although I'm guessing at the order): the basement had previously been finished by building framing just inside the foundation walls and then ...
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Can I un-insulate my basement quickly, and refinish it slowly over time?
I live in MN, so, a very northern climate. The previous owners of my home insulated the belowground basement poorly. It is air conditioned and heated, but insulated with 2in fiberglass bats and wood ...
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insulation material condition
Recently I needed to replace a drywall sheet in my garage, the wall is between garage and basement, so it is insulated. However I found that the insulation material got black down to the floor, I ...
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Framing small basement wall, but stairs don't leave space for foam insulation
I'm working on finishing my basement, and I'm not sure what the best approach is for framing this short section of wall so that the stair drywall transitions smoothly into the basement wall.
This ...
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Insulating a basement roof
Not sure if "basement roof" is the right term for this...
My houses concrete foundation has a small extension, which sticks roughly 2-3 feet out from the rest of the foundation for a space ...
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Basement Insulation Advice
We have a basement kitchen which was dug out about 25 years ago and wasn't insulated. Behind the kitchen units there is a void up to the retaining wall on one side and an external wall on the other. I'...
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Can rigid foam insulation board be installed on wet walls?
In the middle of a room addition; block foundation crawl space just built. I was planning on installing rigid foam board to the interior walls before the framing begins by using a powder activated ...
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Should I run vapor barrier across the ceiling in a basement?
I'm currently working on finishing my basement. Right now I'm working finishing up the insulation and am getting ready to install a plastic vapor barrier. Since I live in Massachusetts which is a ...
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Can rockwool batting be used in termite heavy area under interior face of foundation wall in ground contact?
I have a gap in my below-grade cellar ceiling and the interior face of my exterior foundation brick wall that I want to seal up. I'm thinking of stuffing it with some Rockwool batting. It was an ...
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Is R-10 rigid foam for basement enough
I live in Ohio and embarking on finishing my basement. I am planning to put R-10 rigid foam boards between my poured concrete walls and the stud walls. I only have about 2 feet or less of the ...
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How can I insulate a crawl space with very large joist spacing?
I have an older home (60's era) with rather cold floors. I was thinking of adding fiberglass batting to help with this, but when I went to measure the joist spacing, it seems MUCH larger than I ...
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Is this hose bib install missing insulation or a shut-off valve?
Plumbers installed an outdoor faucet in a requested location by drilling through a block basement wall and installing a hose bib that will not freeze. I asked if a turn-off valve needed to be ...
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Can I attach tongue and groove wood paneling (or similar) directly to foam over concrete block?
I am currently working in the cinder block basement of a small cabin in a climate with very cold winters. The convective cold from the cinder block walls in the winter is quite chilly. I want to ...
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Rockwool vs Fiberglass insulation
I'm currently finishing my basement and I'm stock between what to use on rockwool or fiberglass.
Based on my research rockwool is better than fiberglass but it is hard to install so its more ...
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How to remove drylok paint from copper pipe [duplicate]
What can I use to safely remove dried drylok paint from a copper pipe without damaging the pipe?
Can I use mineral spirits or acetone? Maybe olive oil?
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Insulating a Deep Rim Joist Cavity In Old Home
Recently bought this 1880's home and there are several very deep rim joist cavities.
There are three in total, 2 under the vestibule of the house, 1 running along the rear wall of the home (under one ...
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Insulating under the staircase from the crawl space - faced fiberglass insulation ok?
Our house is built on a slope, so the staircase to the bottom floor is right above the crawl space (vented; climate zone 3). The staircase is carpeted, and there's no insulation underneath. I can ...
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Could spray foam insulation around a drain pipe have caused a toilet to loosen?
About 3 weeks ago, we had a problem with our toilet. The toilet is on the first floor. It was leaking. We called in a plumber who said that the wax seal was bad and he fixed it. After doing this, we ...
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Is there any reason *not* to add shipping styrofoam pieces to wall insulation?
My basement walls are covered with a few inches of polyiso foam board with interior stud walls being built over the foam board. I have some extra pieces of foam board from the installation that I am ...
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Vapor barrier under cut slab
My basement concrete slab has been cut to add some plumbing. Problem is that it was cut in such a way that there are no existing vapor barrier left to tie new ones into. Attaching photos for better ...
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What should I do about condensation on radiant barrier in basement?
I have insulation surrounding the opening of two of my egress windows in the basement. I am noticing a good deal of condensation where this insulation is in contact with the radiant barrier which is ...
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Insulate around header joist in 1913 house? Insulate under the floorboards?
The house is drafty and cold. We are a couple miles from the Pacific so get a fair amount of rain and wind.
As long as the heater is running, it is nice. I'd like to improve it, however, I've also ...
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fixing crawlspace insulation, can/should we use r-30 batting meant for attics?
Our kitchen floors (hardwood) are freezing, and we found that crawl space insulation below those floors appear to be poorly installed.
First, the insulation appears to be installed upside down, with ...
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What is the best way to insulate already existing stud wall against block foundation?
I am doing some remodeling in the bathroom of a bi-level. I removed the wood paneling and found the stud wall directly against the concrete block foundation with batt insulation only in the cavities. ...
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What is this material? Could this be containing asbestos or any other harmful material?
[![enter image description here][1]][1]
I have this in my furnace room stuffed above the duct and also on the ceiling if u see one of the picture.
What is this?
Can it be containing something harmful ...
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Does my walkout basement stud wall need to be flush against the 2" rigid foam board I have installed on the basement concrete wall?
I am building an 18' x 14' wood shop in one corner of my basement and one of the side walls is concrete. I am installing 2" rigid foam board on the concrete wall and the way I have the stud wall ...
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Basement wall design
I'm working on finishing my basement with 6 corners.
The back wall is solid concrete with 4 corners (the garage is above one section).
There is no moisture, and I plan on keeping it fresh with the two ...
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Rim Joist Insulation with Backer Rod
I want to take a semi-permanent approach in insulation for my rim joists as I’ve heard DIY spray foam may not pass inspection and it would be a lot of work to remove once sprayed and cured. I’m ...
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Insulating solid walls, permeable membrane vs solid insulation
I've got an integral garage being converted to living space (bedroom).
Around half the longest wall and rear wall is below ground which is insulated and well drained from the outside. Front wall ...
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How to fire block/draft block large gaps in the basement?
Coming up on my inspection and I am unsure what to use to fire-block/draft stop parts of my basement.
The framing around the perimeter sits between 4" to 6" away from the poured concrete. I'...
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Recommendations for basement insulation where studs do not touch the concrete walls?
I'm working on our basement reno, and am looking for recommendations to insulate. We are in NE Kansas, Climate Zone 5. The basement is below ground.
We currently have a reflective foil bubble ...
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Will I lose a ton of efficiency by removing the blue foam insulation from my unfinished basement?
My house inspection noted that the exposed blue foam insulation in my basement is not to code and (if there’s a fire) could be dangerous due to noxious fumes. The insurance provider has told me to ...
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Newbie questions on framing exterior basement walls
I'm looking into doing some finishing work on my basement, which is entirely unfinished at this time with the exception of some shelving. House is circa 2008 built in Western NY (Zone 5). Foundation ...
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Repairing Foil Faced Insulation
I removed some wood paneling which was glued to some foil lined insulation. In the process of removing it, some of the foil facing tore off.
What’s the right material to replace this with? If it’s ...
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Can I remove accumulated sawdust from fiberglass insulation?
I have an unfinished basement with framed and insulated (the yellow fiberglass stuff) walls, but no sheet rock. Over time there has been a lot of accumulation of sawdust on the insulation as the area ...
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How should I insulate rim joist cavities behind backing blocks?
I am finishing a basement with 2" EPS on the poured walls and then doing the rim joist and sill plate with the same 2" EPS. My question is along 2 sides of the building there are 2x8 ...
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Should the foundation wall be insulated when encapsulating a crawl space, or not?
I've seen conflicting info on this. Some sources say that you shouldn't insulate your foundation wall because moisture can get trapped between the insulation and the wall. Others say that the ...
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Basement partition wall sole plate - do I need sill plate gasket?
I am building a bathroom in my basement. It's not a remodel, it's a fully new room from the concrete floor up to the joists.
The partition walls will not be touching the cinderblock foundation; there ...
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