I love the story that Harold Orr of the National Research Council tells about basements. Years ago, a farmer went into his field, dug a hole and prayed to God that it would fill up with water for his cows. He called it a watering hole. Then a housing developer bought the farm, dug a hole o...
Any of the following five factors can make matters worse:-- Thermally conductive soils: Dense soils that hold water fairly well, in contact with the basement wall are asking for trouble. Clay soils are even worse in that they allow migration upward of water through capillary action, the prim...
The three fundamental cures for basement problems are: removing the water from the outside, using granular back fill or a drainage layer against the foundation wall and insulating on the outside of the basement. Any one could stop or prevent a problem, all three of them together is the bes...
You must make five decisions before insulating your basement or crawl space:-- Heated space, warmed space, or cold space?-- Interior or exterior insulation?-- Full height or partial height insulation?-- Fiberglass or rigid foam board?-- What R value?I discuss each of these decisions separately in...
It is not a good idea to leave a basement completely cold, as this subjects the walls to freezing. A crawl space under the house can be left cold by insulating the floor above, but less insulation is required to simply insulate the perimeter of the crawl space (although you will have higher ...
This is the most controversial question about basement insulation. Everyone, however, agrees on two points:-- Outside the wall, go as far down as you can afford to. -- Concrete block walls have large continuous air cavities that run the height of the wall. (The code now requires that this air ...
For detailed R value recommendations, search keyword "R-Value" for the title "WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDED INSULATION LEVELS?".Note that in the previous answer, some of the common options for basement insulation does not even meet the minimum recommendation of RSI - 2.1 (R-12). Manufactures of all...
The joist space is commonly insulated with fiberglass batts jammed up into the cavity. The header should have been well sealed with caulking first. (search keyword "sealing" for the title " WHERE SHOULD I SEAL AND HOW?") The batts should be covered with simple paper (an acceptable vapour barrie...
First, decide whether you want your crawl space heated, warm, or cold. (search keyword "crawl space" for the title "BASEMENT: HEATED SPACE, WARMED SPACE, OR COLD SPACE?")Insulating under the floor is usually done by first stapling a plastic vapour barrier to the underside of the floor. This ...
Slabs on grade are insulated from the outside, using the same techniques as exterior basement insulation and not less than 600mm (2 ft) below grade level. Extra horizontal insulation over shallow footings have permitted what we call "frost protected shallow footings". The insulation makes the f...
