Basement vapor barrier

10/3/2018 at 12:19:20 PM

Hi Dylan. I suggest packing the whole rim space full of insulation so its flush with the front side of the wall or strapping then your can run the vapour barrier straight up from the wallto the underside of the floor above. Also you could remove the strapping against the wall temporarily to insulate and vapour barrier more easily. The insulation and vapour barrier needs to go right to the underside of the floor. Hope this helps.

10/3/2018 at 9:29:35 PM

Thanks for the response. I was hoping to not have to cut the strapping as its sandwiched between my built out studded wall top plate and the bottom of my webbed joist. The fact that its webbed makes it more complicated for the vapor barrier in the rim. It pretty well forces me to use spray foam. Was hoping there was another solution.

Thanks again

10/4/2018 at 11:40:50 AM

Hi Dylan, I'm wondering why your contractor frame the walls 7 inch away from the concrete? By code you only need 1" from the back side of the framed wall to the concrete. This is a total waste of square footage for your basement? Concerning insulating the best would be to sprayfoam we lose most of the heat in the rim joist from a basement. If not you probably would need to remove the strapping until you insulate vapor and then reinstall the strapping unfortunately. Sprayfoam is the best. Hope this helps you out. Jeff

10/4/2018 at 5:19:20 PM

Hi Jeff. The reasoning for this is to allow for r20 insulation plus an air gap. The code out here is R20 basement walls and R22 Rim. Its 2x4 framing in the basement only. Spray foam will be easiest but expensive.