Some background:
My house, 30 years old, been here one year. Central Maine, Full poured foundation, finished except two closets…
The front porch is also poured concrete and forms the ceiling of the closets and there is an access for coal delivery into closet A.
Closet A is 12 X 3 ft. Closet B is 8 X 3 ft. The interior walls are 2×6 insulated with 30 inch hollow core doors.
My plan is to remove closet A and make it part of the finished basement. Insulate it with 1inch foam (pink) like the rest of the basement topped with knotty pine. (after I remove the coal).
Closet B is going to stay. It currently holds the vacuum for the shop dust collector and paint storage. It has a dirt floor and insulation on the ceiling
They both have Humidity around 80%
The dirt floor in closet B, I think this is the main source of humidity. Any idea why the builder would leave a 3×5 dirt hole in the foundation floor. I thought maybe for a sump but don’t see any sign of one. I plan to remove some dirt and pour new floor.
Question #1: Should I put down a vapor barrier?
Question #2: should I put pins in to hold the new and old floor together? How many? Every 2 ft? Do I need mesh in the floor?
The ceiling has 1 inch foam on it, with a chunk broken out. This spot has water dripping from it. The ceiling in Closet A has no insulation and no condensation on it.
Question #3: what’s the best way to insulate the concrete ceiling?
Thanks for any advice
Ward
Replies
Seems to me you don't have two closets, you have two root cellars.
A tale of two closets
Seems to me I don't want two root cellers, I want two closets.
I think the dirt floor may have been there to allow water drainage from wet coal. Fixing it should be easy, I would put a bonding agent on the edges of the old concrete and pour a batch of bag concrete in the hole. It would be a good idea to put pea gravel down first. Pinning would be nice but I don't really see the need here. A vapor barrier under the pea gravel would be helpful.
I would insulate the ceiling with Extruded Polystyrene Foam (blue or pink board) which has an R value of 4.5 to 5.0 per inch of thickness or polyiso foam which has a a higher R value (R 7.0 to 8.0).
I am not sure that the water leak is condensation, so I would take care of that problem first. Otherwise you may have a mold problem later on.
Where I live, I see a great tornado shelter in the closet, so I would probably set it up for that function.
A tale of two closets
Thanks Mark,
I hadn't thought of the gravel.
Ward