Walkout basement - poured concrete walkout side V.S. framed wood
Hi there, my first post on GardenWeb. I'm building a new house in PA. It's a 9' ceiling walkout basement on a slope, and the rear wall is the walkout side with a door. My builder said they will only pour the other three basement walls with concrete, and frame the walkout side with 2x6 studs with R-19 insulation and make it drywall. Similar to the picture on the left (I found this online) . I've seen other walkout basement walls are all poured concrete, as shown in the right pic. I don't feel very comfortable if mine has a framed wall. Especially it's a reputable custom builder. I don't know why the builder has decided on this. Do you guys have any insights on this? Should I ask for a concrete walkout side too? Thanks a lot!
This post was edited by yuanzhou19 on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 21:33
Comments (11)
worthy
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Insulating Walk-out basement
Comments (5)I used a grinder to smooth the foundation walls for rigid foam adhesion. 2x4 walls with unfaced batts were used behind the foam. I had Icynene sprayed around the entire rim joist perimeter area. I caulked and spray foamed all seams and penetrations in the basement. So far, I still have the fiberglass batt insulation in the rear framed wall that's above grade. I'm weighing the cost of other more air tight insulation options for that wall....See MoreBasement Perimeter Framing
Comments (1)If comfort and energy savings matter, you need to provide sufficient space for insulation to meet the min. R Value for your area. According to Dr. Lstiburek of Building Science Corp., the minimum R values north of the Mason-Dixon line is R20 for basement walls, R40 for abovegrade walls. For below grade walls, do not use fibrous insulation unless you can locate MemBrain brand vapour barrier, which I have found is very unlikely, or you first attach extruded polystyrene boards at least 1" thick to the walls. This can be followed by high-density fiberglass batts. Copying what previous builders/renovators have done makes sense only if what they did was sound practice by contemporary standards. Leaving a 1/2" of space between the foundation wall and framing (and insulation) only provides space for air currents to swirl reducing R-Value. Here is a link that might be useful: Building Science Corp. on Basements...See MoreAdding a Basement: Is our contractor doing it right?
Comments (3)Now that he's broken through one of your basement walls and removed two feet of soil, it's a little late to be having second thoughts!! So it's labour only. Assuming this is a smallish house--say 2,000 sf or so, the price is low. But, for some parts of the country, I suppose, not absurd for a no-invoice deal. But, as you have described it, there may be a lot wrong with the way he's doing it! On a house I bought to renovate, I was presented with a similar situation. The previous owner had lowered the basement floor by about a foot by breaking the concrete floor up and and digging. Then he had laid a new wood floor directly on the soil! (The basement was totally finished when I bought the home, so I didn't realize what I was buying.) In lowering the floor, he had dug lower than the footings--in this case, bricks laid perpendicular to the brick foundation wall. Essentially, he undermined the house. (And since it was a semi-attached, he had partially undermined the adjoining home too.) A professional engineer designed the fix: a rebar reinforced retaining wall around the entire perimeter of the basement to provide lateral support to the footings. Since I was doing that, I also lowered the basement a bit further and put in new sewer lines. My concern on your home is that the excavation has undermined your footings too. He left a foot of undisturbed soil between his excavation and the walls. That's not adequate. Putting up stud walls to secure wall finishings is fine. None of this work was done with a building permit, I take it. Before you proceed any further, I strongly suggest you contact your local building officials or a qualified professional engineer to design this project properly. Don't be surprised if the municipal inspector puts a "stop work" order on it. It's only a bargain if it's done right!!...See MoreXPS in walkout basement
Comments (20)R 23.8 is the minimum basement wall insulation value for the Energy Star 2012 Standard in either of Saskatchewan's very cold climate zones. The cheapest retrofit interior way to reach that minimum while avoiding condensation in the basement wall would be two-inches of XPS against the interior of the foundation wall, (R-12) followed by fibrous insulation between wood or light steel framing with no vapour barrier. Building scientists Joe Lstiburek and John Straube, among others, recommend this system. (Variations that either eat up more interior living space or cost more in most cases, use ccspf, expanded polystyrene boards (EPS) or polyisocyanurate boards.) The key detail area is the space around the rim, which, ideally, should be sprayed with closed cell spray polyurethane or fitted tightly with foam board, sealed and caulked. This post was edited by worthy on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 14:14...See Moreworthy
9 years ago
yuanzhou19
9 years agoworthy, as someone else told me that the pic on the left shows that the basement slab extended outside. That's a GUARANTEED leak situation. And I've double checked my blueprint, mine is not like the left pic. My walkout wall is sitting on the concrete foundation (frost wall under grade). I've attached it here. Which one is more desired? Durability? Termite resistance? Flood/Moisture resistance? Fire resistance? Of course concrete may have cracks in the future. All I wanted to ask is which one is a better way to design the walkout side considering all the aspects.
DreamingoftheUP
9 years agoyuanzhou19
9 years agoworthy
9 years agoyuanzhou19
Sorry, I didn't notice your post earlier. Your drawing looks to me like what you have. Minus that slab/patio.
Instead of a poured slab at grade, I would have used a paving stone patio a few inches lower than the walkout wall and sloped away from the house. (That's the way I have done below grade walkouts. (See pic below in a house I built in '91.) As I posted earlier, a stem wall--even a foot off grade--would have been more resistant to water entry.
yuanzhou19
9 years agopprioroh
9 years agoworthy
9 years ago
Keli Rae
8 years ago
yuanzhou19Original Author