I live at about 5,000′ in the Rockies and am building a house with some living quarters in the basement. The space will be conditioned with insulation on the walls and forced air heating (sadly, no radiant.) We have an option to insulate the concrete slab floor and leave it bare or to install wall-to-wall carpet. I want to be able to walk around barefoot or in socks without my feet getting cold and would rather have the bare concrete floor which I’ll stain but I don’t know how much of difference the insulated floor will make (our builder says it would be equivalent to R7). The slab will be 8 or 9 feet below the surface of the ground. Does anyone have any experience in this area who can offer advice?
Thanks,
doo
Replies
What's the price difference? It's not like you easily can go back later and insulate, so if you want to do it, now's the time.
We live on the other side of the Rockies at around 4,500 ft and I wish the floor was insulated. We ended up putting down Delta-FL under a subfloor and a finish floor and that really helped. Ours is only 7 feet under (are you sure that your basement won't extend up a foot or two to keep water and termites out of the main floor?), so maybe that makes a difference. If it were me and I wanted to just have the concrete, I'd insulate.
Thanks for your input, Aimless.
Yes, the concrete foundation extends above the ground as it should though, thankfully, termites don't exist in our neck of the woods as it's so dry here.
What is the "Delta -FL" that you put under your subfloor? Do you have the concrete slab basement that we will have? I don't understand what the layering is that you speak of.
Thanks!
doo
doo,
Utah is as dry or drier than CO, so it would surprise me if you don't have termites - they live in the ground so they can get water. They aren't a huge problem around here, but they still treat the ground for them when doing commercial construction, and I wouldn't lay my sill on the dirt.
Delta-FL is a dimpled plastic that goes down directly onto the slab and provides an air space for a tiny bit of insulation and stray moisture above the slab. Because we were putting down wood, we wanted a subfloor to staple to. The subfloor is laid directly onto it (no ripped 2x4 sleepers required) and floats. Then the finish surface went on top of that. In another room we used a product called sub-flor (similar to dricore), which is essentially the same thing only they have already glued the subfloor to the delta-fl making it easier to lay the unit down. Also much more expensive as we had to pay for shipping of a heavier product. In both cases, the floor is noticably warmer after we did it. Our utility room still has the slab unfinished, and it feels cold on bare feet.
Thanks Aimless. Your explanation of Delta-FL was illustrative and helpful. We are in SW Montana and I'm told by all here that termites just don't hang out in these here parts. Dunno why. Regardless, our foundation walls will sit well above the ground level and so sill plate contact with the ground is not possible.
Thanks again!
doo