Hello.
As soon as possible, I will start making a room in our basement, which is classified as a crawl space.
It looks like a completely ordinary basement, with a cast floor & good ceiling height. But I assume it is more humid than a regular basement. At the entrance next to the rock, there is a small "channel" where there is always a little water. I will buy a hygrometer & measure the humidity in the coming days.
The plan is to make a room 3670x3450 (external dimensions) The ceiling height is currently 2360.
I assume I need to choose inorganic building materials & apply an air gap against the exterior walls.
The room will only be used for meditation, so I don't think I'll need any heating source. I hope not, as the budget is not very large.
Since I have never built anything like this before, I will need all the help & tips I can get.
I think you can start by laying underlay paper where the walls will be. Then screw U-tracks in metal there on the floor & also screw U-tracks in the ceiling.
Then screw U-tracks vertically at cc600 & insulate in between.
Vacuum the concrete floor, apply primer, seal against the metal tracks & then self-level.
So now to some initial questions:
1. Am I thinking correctly? Or should I do it another way?
2. Is 50mm air gap against the exterior walls enough?
3. How thick insulation should I use? In other words, how wide metal tracks should I make? (I am a sheet metal worker) As I said, it doesn’t need to be 21 degrees in the room. 15 degrees would work fine.
4. Then do you put harder insulation outside the metal tracks & inner insulation before mounting the outer layer? Or can you mount drywall / moisture-resistant drywall directly on the tracks?
5. I read on ByggMax's website about the self-leveling compound: "Usually, it is not enough to vacuum the surface; sanding, scraping, or milling is required to achieve a sufficiently good surface." Is this really necessary for a rough-cast concrete floor?
6. Do you need to reinforce the self-leveling compound?
Grateful for answers ☺️
As soon as possible, I will start making a room in our basement, which is classified as a crawl space.
It looks like a completely ordinary basement, with a cast floor & good ceiling height. But I assume it is more humid than a regular basement. At the entrance next to the rock, there is a small "channel" where there is always a little water. I will buy a hygrometer & measure the humidity in the coming days.
The plan is to make a room 3670x3450 (external dimensions) The ceiling height is currently 2360.
I assume I need to choose inorganic building materials & apply an air gap against the exterior walls.
The room will only be used for meditation, so I don't think I'll need any heating source. I hope not, as the budget is not very large.
Since I have never built anything like this before, I will need all the help & tips I can get.
I think you can start by laying underlay paper where the walls will be. Then screw U-tracks in metal there on the floor & also screw U-tracks in the ceiling.
Then screw U-tracks vertically at cc600 & insulate in between.
Vacuum the concrete floor, apply primer, seal against the metal tracks & then self-level.
So now to some initial questions:
1. Am I thinking correctly? Or should I do it another way?
2. Is 50mm air gap against the exterior walls enough?
3. How thick insulation should I use? In other words, how wide metal tracks should I make? (I am a sheet metal worker) As I said, it doesn’t need to be 21 degrees in the room. 15 degrees would work fine.
4. Then do you put harder insulation outside the metal tracks & inner insulation before mounting the outer layer? Or can you mount drywall / moisture-resistant drywall directly on the tracks?
5. I read on ByggMax's website about the self-leveling compound: "Usually, it is not enough to vacuum the surface; sanding, scraping, or milling is required to achieve a sufficiently good surface." Is this really necessary for a rough-cast concrete floor?
6. Do you need to reinforce the self-leveling compound?
Grateful for answers ☺️
I also have it under the house, and some have speculated that it might have been built that way because it is a radon area. Probably not for that reason, but maybe something you should check and include in your building plans if it turns out to be a radon area for you as well.
Hello human,
It's been a few years since you posted your question but didn't get a good answer.
I am thinking along the same lines and wanted to know if you would like to share how you ended up doing it?
My project and current plan look like this:
I have a crawl space that is about 3 meters high under part of the house (the kitchen) where I think it would be nice to build a wine cellar with access through a hatch in the kitchen floor, simply.
However, I only have gravel against the ground so I either have to pour a slab or build a wood joist near the ground.
I'm leaning towards wood joists because it's much simpler.
I already have a dehumidifier in the space, so it's dry and good.
I will only have one wall against the foundation wall, the others are against the empty space under the house. It's the wall against the foundation wall that I'm a bit unsure about. I don't want it to mold there and be inaccessible for inspection and fixing problems. I'm considering having about a one-meter distance to the foundation wall so I won't build directly against any wall at all. Then my room will be completely free-standing in the space, which should be least problematic. On the other hand, I lose space that way. Maybe one can place some inorganic material directly against the wall? Like insulation of foam plastic and metal studs.
It's been a few years since you posted your question but didn't get a good answer.
I am thinking along the same lines and wanted to know if you would like to share how you ended up doing it?
My project and current plan look like this:
I have a crawl space that is about 3 meters high under part of the house (the kitchen) where I think it would be nice to build a wine cellar with access through a hatch in the kitchen floor, simply.
However, I only have gravel against the ground so I either have to pour a slab or build a wood joist near the ground.
I'm leaning towards wood joists because it's much simpler.
I already have a dehumidifier in the space, so it's dry and good.
I will only have one wall against the foundation wall, the others are against the empty space under the house. It's the wall against the foundation wall that I'm a bit unsure about. I don't want it to mold there and be inaccessible for inspection and fixing problems. I'm considering having about a one-meter distance to the foundation wall so I won't build directly against any wall at all. Then my room will be completely free-standing in the space, which should be least problematic. On the other hand, I lose space that way. Maybe one can place some inorganic material directly against the wall? Like insulation of foam plastic and metal studs.
If you're going to use it as a wine cellar, perhaps paving stones could be an alternative to a poured floor/wood frame, I have an acquaintance who did so in his wine cellar under the house. The ground is unlikely to get so cold even in winter that you need insulation. Leave a gap against the outer wall large enough for it to be ventilated and for you to peek in behind there, 1M sounds a bit excessive.perjar said: