finishing a basement…..original builder placed kraft-faced batts with the kraft face toward the concrete foundation walls…problems with leaving this as is??
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Few people understand it. Nobody agrees what it is, how to learn about it, or who's responsible for it. It has never been more important
Featured Video
How to Install Cable Rail Around Wood-Post CornersHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Where is this located? That may be the correct orientation for your climate.
The craft face is a vapor barrier. The builder must have wanted this next to the wall.
You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
That's sorta correct. But fiberglass is a poor choice for basement walls.
Fiberglass is just a poor choice.
The vapor barrier is supposed to go on the hot side. That's usually the interior of the house. Doing it the other way 'round will cause condensation to form inside the fiberglass, so, yes, it needs to be redone.
I've made a few shekels redoing this after a structural inspector took a look at it. If an inspector can't see it, you can get away with it, but you will eventually get structural rot.
The vapor barrier's supposed to go on the wet side.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I've been hired to redo a few basements--because the vapor barrier was on the inside, and the framing was moldy and rotten. Wood and fiberglass between moist masonry and plastic vb is a mold sammich.Ironically, the codes here still call for a vb on the inside...no exclusion for basements...so I still have to install the vb on the inside--then I tear it off after the inspection.
I assume 2x4 stud walls are already installed against the concrete with the FG in the stud bays. If so, that is too bad. Good to have a VB between the concrete and the wood framing...even better to have foamboard glued to the concrete, then framing or firring on the inside of the foamboard insulation with no VB.
If there is a small space between the studs and the concrete, I would spray foam those gaps and replace the FG with rips of XPS fitted to the stud bays, glued to the concrete with PL300 and sealed in with "Great Stuff" spray foam.
If there is no framing in place (insulation bats just hanging there--though that sounds unlikely)...this is how I finish exterior basement walls with 1-1/2" XPS panels: