I am renovating a 40 sqm basement that will become a 10 sqm storage room and a 30 sqm recreation room with tiles. The recreation room will be used as a social room/home theater. The garage is iso-drain-drained.
My question concerns the recreation room portion and the walls. A bit of background: the concrete floor is uneven, 80 mm difference at most. Therefore, I plan to install a Nivell floor system with insulation, and on top of that underfloor heating + tiles. The walls are lightweight concrete and plastered and look terrible. Plaster is peeling off, some damages. See image. I initially planned to plaster and paint, but it seems difficult for an ordinary DIYer like me. I thought it might be easier to put up a wall with 45 mm steel studs and steel channels along the outer wall. On these, I planned to attach boards. However, I am a bit hesitant about whether I should use gypsum boards.
So my question is simply: how would you build the wall against the outer wall?
The best option is to clean the walls and use paint that "breathes" (silicate paint) to ensure any moisture (despite Isodrän) can move freely. Depending on temperature and weather conditions, moisture migration can also reverse...
Steel studs and drywall may work well if you just leave ventilation openings at the floor and ceiling. I believe it is Platon that has special strips you can use, or you can just mill out a regular strip to allow air exchange behind the drywall. It might be good to include one or two inspection hatches right away that you can open and check if it becomes damp on the back of the drywall later (in that case, unfortunately, you'll have to redo it right)...
Nivell has a system for walls as well, but I think it might be a bit overboard if, as mentioned, you have Isodrän on the outside...
Doesn't it result in very poor sound if you have a home theater with tile flooring?
"very poor sound" is a matter of definition, I guess... I have oak parquet and haven't suffered any consequences; I can hear things exploding and what they say on the news despite it...
It depends a bit on how much of a "sound snob" you are, but otherwise some curtains, a rug, and soft blankets can go a long way to absorb echoes...
Agree. A wall-to-wall carpet is almost a requirement in such a large room if you want to reduce the reverberation time to reasonable levels.
Regarding the interior walls, you can do as you describe, but leave a bit at the bottom so the wall can breathe out behind the plasterboard.
I myself am working in the basement on a home theater room. Panel on metal studs and will have a wall-to-wall carpet on an uninsulated slab. Everyone says ventilation is needed and leave a gap at the bottom. But no one writes in any thread how or how large a gap? I'm considering vent grills at one or a few spots per wall. And then a vent grill up or a couple per wall. How do I get the best air movement, one in the corner below and one above on the opposite corner on the same wall, or above and below in a few places per wall over each other? A computer fan behind a vent above that blows out air maybe and runs for a few minutes a couple of times a day? Ventilated ceiling molding and floor molding, is that enough? I don't personally think the air will circulate much like that.
It is usually enough with a few mm as an opening, but I would personally choose to cut all the drywall about 10 mm too short and install them with a 5 mm air gap at the floor and wall.
It is important to ensure that the Nivell floor fits tightly against the walls and that the walls then "stand" on the Nivell floor and not the other way around.
The Nivell fan will ensure that there is air movement in the room in general, and the temperature difference between the room and behind the drywall will create air movement.
I would probably remove the wallpaper and other things on the wall.
Using water, heat, and whatever is necessary.
And then have it plastered by someone who knows how to do it.
Is it too expensive?
Otherwise, just put up renovation gypsum with assembly adhesive, spackle, and paint.
From what I understand from what you're writing, no additional insulation is actually needed.
Mostly because I want to try to do everything myself
I was considering renovation gypsum earlier as well but hesitated because it didn't feel right to attach it directly to lightweight concrete considering that gypsum is a natural material. How do you mean one should attach it?
It is usually enough with a few mm as an opening, but I would instead choose to cut all drywall about 10 mm too short and mount them with a 5 mm air gap at the floor and wall.
It's important to ensure that the Nivell floor fits tightly against the walls and that the walls then "stand" on the Nivell floor and not the other way around.
The Nivell fan will ensure that there is movement of air in the room generally, and the temperature difference between the room and behind the drywall will create air movement.
So should I place the wall system on the Nivell floor and attach it to the tiles? I actually hadn't planned to have a fan. The space is very dry, I've had some cardboard sheets against the concrete floor for several months and lifted them yesterday, and they were bone dry. The Nivell floor will also be open on one short side where the storage will be, where I had only thought to build a dividing wall on the Nivell floor against the storage and then place a net in the air gap towards the storage. There are large vents in the storage and along one long side of the entire space.
My brother and I built a guest room/video game room in the basement of my house. We installed steel studs along the outer wall, with insulation of course (which faced the garage). OSB boards on that and then Huntington boards. In addition, we laid a new carpet - it turned out great! Left about 5-8 mm air gap at the top/bottom.
A few S-curves with mounting adhesive and then press the plasterboard against the wall.
Any expert think it gets too tight with 6 mm renovation plasterboard?
Otherwise, I think it should be an easy way to get nice walls.
Question for those advocating steel studs with insulation:
You advocate an opening at the top and bottom so it's ventilated behind the plastered wall.
Do you place the insulation directly against the basement wall's structure, or with a gap between the structure and the insulation?
But it does take up some space with 45 mm studs, if the space is limited.
But OK, the most important thing, after all, is not to create any mold hotspots.
Thanks for all the amazing posts; hopefully, they help more people than just me who are considering the same things!
Here's what I think I'll do: Nivell floor - Walls ON the Nivell floor with steel studs/steel tracks 45mm - Plasterboards with an air gap behind.
A few final questions:
1. I'm considering reinforcing the plasterboard wall with OSB sheets behind it. Good idea? Are there better options? There will be some play in this space, and maybe a child might fall against the wall. Also, I'd like to hang something on the wall, perhaps a LED TV as the heaviest item.
2. How should I attach the steel tracks to the tiled floor? I read somewhere that you could attach them with construction adhesive, like PL 400? Good idea?
3. In this case (without a fan), you don't build the Nivell floor really tight against the outer wall so that the air below the Nivell floor isn't trapped, right?
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