Basement finishing dilema

pengu1@quickclic.net

Hi,
We are finishing our basement, the house is 6 years old, and the basement walls are finished about halfway with the pink insulation and a plastic sheet over , just like the builder left it. Oh yes, and we are living in Canada.
We 'been reading so many web site article about:
-How to insulate the conrete wall? We don't want any mold issue in the future.
We used metal studs.
So do we have to put any plastic sheet right on the concrete wall, then the pink insulation, and a second plastic sheet on the top?
If we put a plastic right against the wall the bugs,crowlers can be infesting the wall. (Please don't laugh, )
Please help us , everyone has different idea.
Thanks

Bob Mariani

You would not use plastic on the concrete and plastic on the warm side. This double barrier will trap moisture in the wall and ruin the insulation. Also use solid foam insulation against the cement, the pink stuff in the studs then the plastic then drywall.

jpsmith

Bob - wouldn't using extruded polystyrene on the wall, then putting plastic between the drywall and the fiberglass create a double vapor barrier? XPS is a vapor barrier. If you put it against the wall, then put another vapor barrier under the drywall, moisture will be trapped in the wall the same as if you put plastic on both sides of the fiberglass.

Everything I've read and heard suggests to use the XPS on the wall, making sure to seal it up completely air-tight with tyvek tape and spray foam, then use un-faced fiberglass insulation between the studs, and apply the drywall to the studs with no barrier of any sort between the drywall and the fiberglass.

To pass along a link that was provided to me in another thread:

http://www.buildingscience.com/searc...leText=rr-0202

Bob Mariani

You are correct, if you seal it well, you will not want to use the plastic or faced insulation. It is just that it seems real DIY'ers never seam to seal this very well.

II Weeks

do all your framing in metal studs. do your rough electric and plumbing then call in a local spray foam guy and let them spray it from the ceiling joists down to one foot below the frost line then sheetrock with green or mildew resistant rock. No carpeting. No real wood moldings yad yada yada

you'll never have any issues with mold and creepy crawlers liek you would with the pink stuff. theres now a bio foam that will warranty against it . . .