Vapor Barrier on cellar dirt floor
fredwe
11 years ago
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Comments (13)
akamainegrower
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Solutions for dirt floor basement?
Comments (5)I have the same situation: perfect trees, great house, perfect place, dirt basement. My reno guy says the thing to do is lay down heavy plastic vapour barrier, in overlapping rows. There's a special tape called, I think, 'tuc tape' - NOT duct tape, I promise - that you then use to seal the joins in the plastic strips. My basement has concrete walls rising up from this dirt floor, so he's also told me about a special product used to seal the plastic/concrete join. Can't remembr what it's called, can find out if you want more info....See Morevapor barrier necessary?
Comments (13)I am also in N. Virgina (Arlington) in a cape cod style house built in the late 40's. I finished our basement 2 years ago. It went from a dark mildly musty space to what's now a nice cozy dry one. Among the work, I first had several foundation cracks filled with urethane ("crack team"). I also regraded to allow the 3 day rainstorm runoff that we get often enough (couple times every year!) to go elsewhere instead of pooling next to the foundation and finding it's way in. Also added a second downspout out front (if one spout gets blocked by oak leaves in the middle of a storm, the water still can flow without running over the gutters down to the wall). As for insulation of the walls, first I went around the inside perimeter (rim joist area) and sealed every last air gap with caulk, etc. and then applied solid pieces of foam in each space, followed by spray insulation around the edges. Very much a pain, but the results were worth it. (another option would have been to get a contractor to apply spray foam up there entirely...along with the walls - (next time I might do that instead). Then I used 3/4" XPS on the walls. I glued it with foam adhesive, but supposedly you're supposed to fasten it mechanically. Anyway, all XPS joints between panels were taped ("tuck tape"). Then I framed the walls and used unfaced insulation in the wall cavities for some extra R value. As I said, the result has been nice and dry and cozy (or nice and cool and dry in the summer). We had a brief problem this summer when a downspout elbow came loose, allowing water to deluge the nearby window well and enter the basement through the window frame. Still, it dried out fine (humidifier) and there is absolutely no sign of moisture odor down there. ( I imagine the water flowed down the back of the XPS, so the fiberglass insulation never got wet.) BTW, we left the floor unfinished (only painted) and kept the floor drain to see how things would hold up. Happy with that decision, as well. After a couple more years experience under our belts we might feel confident to finish the floor, but it's fine without thus far. It all sounds like a pain, but the results were well worth it. No mustiness whatsoever....See Morevapor barrier for wine cellar question
Comments (5)You could always do what one distillery did in their aging house. They put in a chiller unit to recover the alcohol that escaped the barrels and was present in the sir in the aging house. Of course, this disturbed the equilibrium and even more alcohol evaporated. The barrels showed higher losses during aging (called the 'angels share'). They did recover the alcohol they lost, but decided it was upsetting the aging process and affecting flavor. Talk to your local AHJ, but they are unlikely to have any real requirements for a wine cellar beyond lighting and structural safety. Cool, dark, damp, and stable are the desired environment....See MoreHow do you deal with damp, dirt-floor basements?
Comments (24)Alisande, we have a damp basement, too, and, like you said it's a pain to empty it. We have to empty it about twice a day in the wet season. As you might imagine, we're really tired of doing this! We wish we had a floor drain to have it empty into, but we don't since it's an old house. What we're going to try to do--and maybe you can do this, too--is figure out how to get the dehumidifier drain into the laundry sink. In our case, we need to rig some sort of hose for it and figure out a way to raise the dehumidifier to the proper height. But maybe you don't have a sink in your basement... :( Even so, a dehumidifier is worth having. We got ours at Lowes for about $120 and it has been money very well spent. Our basement smells clean and nice, and the items we store down there don't get damp like they did before we were running the dehumidifier. Of course, a dehumidifier can't solve all moisture problems. It definitely sounds like your gutters/etc were causing the problems. You might want to take a look at some books on basement moisture problems. Right now, I have two books out of the library on this subject that are really helping us figure out how to make some simple fixes without calling in the professionals. Home Water and Moisture Problems: Prevention and Solutions by Gary Branson (this one is so good that I'm planning on buying it for friends and family for Christmas!) 5 Steps to a Dry Basement or Crawl Space by Ronald K. Gay I sure hope some of this info is useful. I know how annoying it is to have a wet basement. Good luck!...See Morefredwe
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoakamainegrower
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoMaine_Mare
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoakamainegrower
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agofredwe
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoliriodendron
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoliriodendron
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agofredwe
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrickeyee
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoUser
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoakamainegrower
11 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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