[lucid484]

Well the wife said the basement was my domain when we bought the house last May. Said she didn't care what I did down there, that it was allll mine. Muahahaha.

Well 8 Months later I'm starting the very slow process of preparing things and planning.

The first thing I did was seal up around the windows and today installed R-30 Roxul in the front wall rim joists. As you guys can see in the pics a lot of the old BX wire sheathing is badly rusted. I'm planning to replace all the wiring in the basement with new 12/2 romex. Half the house on the first floor is all on one 15 amp circuit, so that needs to be fixed anyway.

The other thing I need to seal up first is where the sill plate meets the foundation...There is a lot of air intrusion and can see some light from the outside in some areas...Some of the block was cracked when someone installed new windows also....It looks like a previous owner slathered some sort of mastic on top of the cement...would this work to stop the air?

The only other thing I can think of is when I put the walls up to put another layer of insulation behind the frame to seal that area up.

I will only be finishing the front half of the basement where the center beam is located. The back half houses the oil tank,water heater,furnace,washer/dryer etc. It's basically the exact same size of the living room and bedroom upstairs. it's 28' long and will be approx 10' wide.

 

[Weekend Warrior DIY]

I'm impressed you can actually stand up and use the treadmill without smashing your head.

 

[lucid484]

Hahaha I had to place it in between the joists so our heads wouldn't hit. Mine is still about 2" from the floor above though....I plan on soundproofing the basement' and that will be the tricky part..Ill have to put roxul safensound up against the bottom of the floor...planned on using resiliant channel for the rest of the basement though.

 

[SuperJETT]

Did you air seal before putting the roxul in?

We have very similar basements and I'm in the process of air sealing the rim joist area and other places also. If you haven't seen them, here are thermal images of our basement and other areas that you might find interesting.

http://www.diychatroom.com/f103/more-thermal-imaging-basement-walls-167093/

 

[lucid484]

I didn't even think of it because i packed the roxul in.....I may rent a thermal gun and have s look...i couldn't feel any air coming in from there...I know under the sill plate where it meets the block foundation I have a ton of air intrusion...what product do you suggest i use.

The problem is the sill plate is 2" short of the inside of the foundation...so what they did is put concrete in on the lip and angled it up to the plate...think you can see it in one of the pics...wll that has cracks and gaps all over.

 

[SuperJETT]

I'm using Great Stuff Pro. If you have small gaps, caulk works well also. I have a lot of larger gaps so went with the foam.

 

[lucid484]

Yeah...I had some huge gaps where they chipped away the concrete to install the windows...I used foam in those holes..I'll get some caulk and do the perimeter becauese it's mostly hair line cracks and a few spots I can see daylight.

My only other nightmare is trying rip out the BX that is stapled in without cutting into the walls up stairs..its convenient that all the wiring is the the basement and almost none is in the walls though.

 

[lucid484]

Do you guys think this will be a good product to seal up the top of the foundation and around the sill plate?

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...eyword=dap+masonry&storeId=10051#.UPw1TF6rl8E

 

[funfool]

That product looks ok, would be fine in exposed places outside that you will see.
I love great stuff for many reasons. Where caulk will eventually dry up, shrink, crack, harden, need to be replaced, great stuff will last forever.

 

[lucid484]

Yup already used great stuff in all the cavities and areas with gaps it can expand in....I have a bunch of surface cracks and tiny gaps i just need air sealed.