Finish Basement

2/13/2011 at 2:38:56 PM

HI BRENDA

basement floor can be laminite,ceramic or hardwood.depending on your taste.

-exterior walls would be insulater with r-12 insulation or better,frame 2x4 or metal studs,vapour barrier.

basement ceiling would also be up to you.you can insulate using safe and sound.you can drywall,or you could install drop ceiling.there are many options.hope this helps

2/13/2011 at 3:39:21 PM

Hello Brenda,

Basement floor, and walls have to be checked for cracks, and if any repaired. Before repairing a foundation crack it is important to diagnose the cause of the crack and its effects on the building structure.

Minor cracks (not structural) could be repaired by injection method with polyurethane or two part epoxy.

Do not attempt to fix foundation cracks yourself. Leave it to the professionals.

After floors, and walls are repaired you could proceed with perimeter walls framing. Framed walls can

now take insulation (for your area I recommend R19 min.), and vapor barrier.

This is not the only method of insulating the walls. Instead of using fiberglass, or mineral wool, within

warmed walls, you could use rigid closed cell polyurethane, or polystyrene insulation attached directly

on perimeter walls. There are different methods of doing this depending on finishing walls.

When walls are finished, you could proceed with floor finishing. Wood floors are sensitive to moisture,

and precaution should be taken. It is not uncommon for people to use DryCore product as subfloor.

This subfloor is enough itself for laminate flooring, however for solid hardwood floor another layer of thinner plywood should be applied before you can proceed with installation.

Ceiling in basement could be done by using drywall as finish (or suspended ceiling system using so called Armstrong Tiles , or other decorative tiles ) in variety of installation ways in relation to your needs.

If basement will be used as a living space this should be planed carefully bearing in mind sound proofing, and firewall rating.

Rod. M.

2/14/2011 at 7:27:10 AM

There are various ways to insulate in a basement from fiberglass,roxul,rigid foam,and spray foam.When using the rigid foam or spray foam, a vapour barrier is not used. However you must use tuck tape on all seams with the rigid foam. Remember to also protect your bottom plate of framed walls with poly and/or a foam gasket. I also recommend when using the regular fiberglass or roxul to install tyvek/typar/house wrap against foundation with the lettering facing towards foundation. This provides extra protection against moisture yet breathable from the warm side. Remember to leave at least an 1" air space between foundation and framed walls. Making sure all necessary steps are taking when preparing your exterior walls is crucial to a warm,mould and mildew free living space.

2/14/2011 at 7:08:44 PM

Hello Brenda

The best way to start your basement floor is with the 2 x 2 pre made sub floor panels called Dri Core. They allow for very good water floor under a protective layer, which never makes it to your finished floor, it also has ridges under neath that allow for air movement, which in turn keeps your finished floor warmer. Once the Dri Core sub floor is installed you can finish the project with any flooring of your choice except tiles. I would advise that you don't use a hard wood in the basement but an engineered wood floor would be exceptable. If you wish to tile the floor then you should start with a product called Schluter Detra. This acts as a support to the tiles, so that when the concrete shifts and cracks, it will help your new tile floor to stay un-harmed and crack free.

As for the basement walls, the best product to use is spray foam. In my experiance, I find that Insta Insulation offers the best product at a very resonable price.

The basement ceiling can either be drywalled or drop ceiling tiled.