Something Sexy
New Member
I have been a long time lurker but finally posting. I have gotten a lot of ideas from here but I am still not sure what my best solution is yet.
We purchased a home 3 years ago in southeastern Wisconsin. It is a ranch and the basement was finished when we purchased it, with wood planks/paneling (not terrible on the eyes). There is a utility room that is unfinished, which is fine with us. The basement stays very dry, even in the heaviest of rains and we run a dehumidifier in the summer time. We want to tear down the paneling and hang drywall. The finished part is heated and in the coldest of tempatures we can usually maintain around 60-65 degrees, however I still think we are losing a lot of heat around the sill. At first I wasn't too concerned with this job but now that I am inspecting things closer, I do not have confidence in the job the previous owner did. We have two closets in the unfinished part, against the foundation where the back side wasn't completely closed off so I an take look at how they did it. It appears they put up a vapor barrier against the cement wall and then put the studs directly against the wall. Inside both of the closets they used rigid foam core as insulation but it is for the most part tossed in there, nothing is sealed. I haven't taken anything down yet to see if that is what they did with the rest of the walls against the foundation but I wouldn't be surprised it that was the case. They at least used PT wood for the bottom of the wall against the foundation floor.
I am wondering what my best approach would be (assuming no mold problems either) knowing that the studs are directly against the wall. Is closed cell spray foam still possible even though the studs are directly against the wall? There might be a gap but it doesn't seem to be more than a 1/4". Or can I get XPS or something and place it between the studs and seal it? Or should I really move the wall to be at least an 1" away the foundation and then get spray foam done? I haven't got any estimates yet on spray foam (maybe it will be out of budget for me) but I feel like that is what I want to do if I can.
Any help from the experts around here would be most appreciated!
We purchased a home 3 years ago in southeastern Wisconsin. It is a ranch and the basement was finished when we purchased it, with wood planks/paneling (not terrible on the eyes). There is a utility room that is unfinished, which is fine with us. The basement stays very dry, even in the heaviest of rains and we run a dehumidifier in the summer time. We want to tear down the paneling and hang drywall. The finished part is heated and in the coldest of tempatures we can usually maintain around 60-65 degrees, however I still think we are losing a lot of heat around the sill. At first I wasn't too concerned with this job but now that I am inspecting things closer, I do not have confidence in the job the previous owner did. We have two closets in the unfinished part, against the foundation where the back side wasn't completely closed off so I an take look at how they did it. It appears they put up a vapor barrier against the cement wall and then put the studs directly against the wall. Inside both of the closets they used rigid foam core as insulation but it is for the most part tossed in there, nothing is sealed. I haven't taken anything down yet to see if that is what they did with the rest of the walls against the foundation but I wouldn't be surprised it that was the case. They at least used PT wood for the bottom of the wall against the foundation floor.
I am wondering what my best approach would be (assuming no mold problems either) knowing that the studs are directly against the wall. Is closed cell spray foam still possible even though the studs are directly against the wall? There might be a gap but it doesn't seem to be more than a 1/4". Or can I get XPS or something and place it between the studs and seal it? Or should I really move the wall to be at least an 1" away the foundation and then get spray foam done? I haven't got any estimates yet on spray foam (maybe it will be out of budget for me) but I feel like that is what I want to do if I can.
Any help from the experts around here would be most appreciated!