Frost in unfinished basement...help.

keltic25

I live in South Dakota in a house that is roughly a year old and has an unfinished basement. The unfinished basement has a walkout side so 3 walls are poured concrete and the other wall is 2x6 framing and sheeting. There is insulation with no backing on that side of the house.

We get some pretty cold winters around here. The weekend was pretty warm after a week of VERY cold temps. The other day I noticed the bottom board looked wet, so i looked behind the insulation for water and there was a bunch of frost. I got to looking further and noticed what looks like black mold to me.

I pulled the insulation off and it looks like it has condensation that has been getting in then freezing. This is also near the walkout door with the light box and outside outlet in it. It looks like they didnt seal those at all.

So my question is, what do i do? Obviously I have to kill the mold but how do i keep this from happening again? Is the insulation ruined? Any help would be great, thanks!

itsreallyconc

just a wag but there's no heat down in the bsmt, is there,,, garden sprinkle can & some 1/2 & 1/2 clorox/wtr'll kill the mold,,, insulation ruined - would YOU put that insulation BACK INTO PLACE knowing what you do now ? ? ? at least insulation's cheap - go buy an utility knife & another roll - even treat your self to a genl purpose stapler

ck for drafts where you found the frost - shouldn't be ANY ! welcome to home ownership !

ps - its ' sheathing ', not ' sheeting ',,, sheeting's something pointy-hat wearers used to wear in the old days down south

pps - what'd you mean by ' no backing ' ? ? ? understood the ' black mold ' part

ppps - you DID say ' any help ', remember ? ? ?

Bondo

Ayuh,... You'd better grab a cauking gun,+ some cauking too...

keltic25

Thanks for the input. Actually there is heat downstairs. I imagine it doesnt' stay as hot as upstairs since it is not fully insulated but probably isn't ever much below 60 degrees.

What I meant by insulation with no backing is the fiberglass insulation that doesn't have the paper on one side.

The mold seems to be most prevalent at the top of each cavity b/w the studs where the sill plate is. I'm not sure if thats cuz it rises and condenses or what?

What about the foam insulation rather than the rolls? Also, I know my contractors used some sort of plastic to cover the walls after they put the insulation in upstairs. Should I do that before I finish it?

Thanks again.

ccarlisle

Read up on some of the other posts on this forum about basement and insulating; you'll find the answers there that, basically, say that anywhere where the winter is cold enough to require a heating system, basements can be made liveable by (1) insulating (2) controlling the moisture both bulk water and water vapour and (3) sealing out the drafts.

You have a problem with moisture and air sealing, maybe even insulation, I don't know. But you can fix the problem yourself...the results you have now (mould) will become a thingg of the past, but for now remove it as much as you can as part of an 'insulating-the-basement' project.

It's all part of the solution; doing one without the other will only get you back to square one.