Link to Bldg Science’s Basement Insul?
So, talked with the city code folks this week to pull a permit on the basement remodel. As I suspected, they still believe the 4mil poly is the proper moisture barrier.
That said, the inspector said they’d certainly consider the ‘other’ method as long as I had decent drawings for them to go off of.
The ‘other’ method I’d prefer is the one that comes from the building sciences company out of canada that uses XPS foam sealed against the wall as the insulation and moisture barrier.
I swear I had a PDF that detailed all of this information on my hard drive at one point, but can no longer find it and google isn’t helping me at the moment. Anyone happen to have a link to the basement insulation publication they produced? I’d like to take that in with me to help win them over.
Other quick question…any thoughts on minimu r-values for basement walls? Ours is a hold house, but even in the dead of MN winters, the basement isn’t THAT cold. I was hoping to get away with 7.5 and the inspector thought that even the 10 value they list in their spec’s was overkill.
Replies
http://www.buildingscience.com/search?SearchableText=designs+that+work
They're out of the Boston area.
Boston! That's...umm...sorta close to Canada? OK, no idea why I was thinking Canada.I think this is the link I need:http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-114-interior-insulation-retrofits-of-load-bearing-masonry-walls-in-cold-climatesThanks!
Here's a link I saved in my Favorites folder. Building Science has changed its website and some of the articles are hard to find.
http://www.buildingscienceconsulting.com/resources/foundations/basement_insulation_systems.pdf
You might also look at this system I saw advertised in FHB. http://www.ovrx.com
Billy
Thanks, Billy...I actually found enough references (including the FHB article from a year or two ago) which finally convinced them.I'm appalled at the lack of interest in new technologies at our inspectors office.
They tend to be conservative in their approach, and prefer "tried and true" technologies, even if they aren't "as good" as the new ones.
There have been a lot of "great ideas" down through the years that turned into major nightmares ten or so years down the road. Part of their job is to try and catch them in the design phase if they can.
Yea, I'm cool with that.I just wish they'd read the occasional web site or magazine to at least have some 'radar' as to what's going out there in the world of construction techniques.
if you are looking for info on foam got to polar foam web site.