My son just bought a place in Omaha and will be moving there from California in a couple of weeks. It has an unfinished basement, and his wife is pretty adamant about getting the basement finished out ASAP with a rec room, guest bedroom, and bathroom. We’re putting together a family work crew to fly back there and help them get it done.
Being from California, we’re a little clueless about what to do with a basement slab in the midwest. For ease of construction, I’d like to just cover the concrete with ceramic tile in the bathroom and pad/carpet in the other areas. My son seems to think that some kind of builtup subfloor (like 2X4 sleepers with insulation in between and covered with OSB) is needed so the floor won’t be too cold in the winter. I’m thinking, it’s nine feet underground; how cold can it get?
Any thoughts on how to approach this? Thanks.
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My son moved from Calif,to utah, same cold winters, we just last year finished his basement, metal stud walls around the outside concrete basement walls with insulation, use a metal u track on top of pressure treated wood sills so you will have something to nail baseboard to. be sure to use galvanizewd fastners with the new type wood. tight pack fibergklass insulation where required for fire-draft stop, check with the building inspector. We just used padding and carpering on the floor. that is what everyone else does there. He applied tile to the concrete floors with thin set, I don't like cold tile, i would have looked into the elect heating mats to install under the tile. I think FHB has had articles on that stuff.
I never heard of fiber glass insulation serving as a fire stop. perhaps a spray foam insulation. Normally if you're not using 2 by stock one can also use drywall strips to act as a fire stop. But I doubt that a bat insulation would ever be approved as fire stop. I could be wrong but I would be surprised if I was.
He might be talking about mineral wool, a yellowish/greyish very dense insulation that looks a little like a very dense fiberglass. Where I am in Ma, that is the fire stop for larger opening, like the drain area under a tub, etc. All the small electrical holes, etc are filled with a fire stop mortar (caulking). The mineral wool stuff does compress much, its that dense.
the fiberglass may stop the drafts but it won't do anything as a fire stop...
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I some commercial buildings they spec out compacted fiberglass on the fire spec sheet, I think only in 20 min rating areas. to confine heat in one area to trip the fire sprinklers in that area. otherwise the whole building would have to get hot before any sprinklers came on. When you furr out a wood or metal wall you should first snap a chalk line on the ceiling joists at the inside of your top plate layout. Install 5/8 x type sheetrock from the line to the wall and fire tape any joints ( 1 coat of mud and tape) then install the top plate or metal track to the chalk line below the rock, nail or screw thru to the joists.
Metal track works best even with wood studs for the top plate. you should also do a fire wall break at wall intersections and if it is a large family room do one mid way.. this is done by fitting a piece of sheetrock from the furred out wall inner surface to the concrete wall, I like fiberglass tape, if it won't stick to the concrete use a spray can of 3 m contact adhesive for a light coat and then mud the joint. fire stop can also be a problen where ducts or pipes penetrae thru walls. talk to your inspector when you get your permit.
Doing sleepers will ruin the headheight and waste money better saved for other things. I've finished many basements in the Midwest(Ohio) and not one did I put sleepers on the floor. As long as there are no water/leakage issues with the walls, don't worry about it. You could do what the last guy said and use heating mesh for the bath tile if your son has California blood and can't deal with Midwestern cold, otherwise, save yourself the headache.
Use Dricore underlayment, then put Suntouch or equivalent resistance heat mat between it and the floor covering.
basement finished out ASAP
I'd caution the wife on just what that means! ;>)
"basement finished out ASAP""I'd caution the wife on just what that means! ;>)"Hey, that's the argument I used when I tried to get out of this job! In one ear and out the other.Checked the DRIcore website. Looks like that might be the way to go if my son insists on a subfloor. Any idea what this stuff costs? I'd check around here, but they don't sell it in California.Thanks for the replies.
FHB 169, pp. 78-83.Andy Engel
Senior editor, Fine Woodworking magazine
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Read the article Andy mentions, theres also a thread in the "Feedback on FHB"section of this forum. His floor system takes up 2" of head room and stops the concrete from sucking your heat into the earth. But if you do anything, do not use OSB in the basement. It isn't as forgiving as plywood if it gets wet. Mike
put sealer on the CC and go with a #8 pad or better... heat mats in the bathroom..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Has anyone tried Homasote Comfort Base.http://www.homasote.com/comfort.htmlSuppose to be designed just for this purpose.
never tried it..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I think I've heard that earth (as below your basement floor) is about 50 degrees the year around. Not especially cold, but enough difference in temperature to pull heat out of basement. In the 70's it was real popular to put things underground and to berm up around structures because the earth never got as cold as the air in the winter in the midwest. Then they learned that it was still cool enough to pull out heat (especially when damp). People also learned to insulate under slabs if the space was for living space.