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Insulating Poured Concrete Foundation

4K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Winchester 
#1 ·
I have a storage room in my basement that has bare poured concrete walls. It is all below grade. Is this worth insulating? If so, what is the best way to do it?
 
#4 ·
In my case I have a slab ceiling under a porch, no joists. I have read that treating the walls outside the room like any other exterior basement wall will isolate it as a cool zone, which is my goal. My space has two vents running into it to provide " cold storage" so I will also insulate and seal the door to reduce draft.
You are in a much warmer zone. Unless you are insulating the entire basement, you could start with sealing the rim joist and sill plate. Then determine if you want to isolate the room. You may prefer to let it breath into the rest of the basement through the joists and just use it like a concrete closet.
 
#5 ·
If the goal is to keep the heat inside the rooms above, you would want to put insulation in the joists, all the way out to the rim joists. This can be tricky if there are nails penetrating down from the subfloor above.
 
#8 ·
The room is 7'x14', very dry, and I am in the process of insulating the rim joists with 2" thick extruded polystyrene and will seal with expanding foam. The sill plate is sealed. The concrete walls are on three sides of this room.
Not to impede on the 7' width of your storage area, you could do what I'm considering doing to my own basement. Adhere foamboard directly to the walls and/or floor (can create an insulated subfloor with 1" high density foamboard and 5/8" plywood) caulking and taping all the seams. For fireproofing purposes you could install furring strips right over the top of the foamboard and screwed to the wall. Then throw up some drywall. Otherwise you'll have to construct wall and then insulate the cavities.

Wouldn't take long to put up a few 4'x8' sheets of foamboard and some furring strips possibly 24" OC.

Consider reading this information from the EERE
Best of luck. :thumbsup:
 
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