Member
· västra götalandslän
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Hello. Our house is a functionalist style from 1937 with a basement, two floors, and an attic. In our basement, previous owners have added insulation on the inside of the outer wall with 45 mm fiberglass. In the boiler room, which is the innermost part, it's just the old slab. However, without a floor drain. Before that is the laundry room with tiles on the floor. Then there's a common room where the stairs come down, and then a guest room with storage. In these last rooms, there's a raised wooden floor with a plastic mat.
Yes, you see a lot in your days.
The boiler room is another story, so we won't discuss it here.
We intend to finish the laundry room before the rest of the mess. We've started by demolishing an old sauna and some of the cladding on the outer wall. It doesn't look too bad. The baseboard in the sauna was completely burnt out, looking charred, and even a bit up the standing parts. But it was completely dry. The previous owner (not the one who finished the basement) drained around the entire house, but only with Platon, no insulation, in 2004.
Is there any point in insulating with 45 mm if you constantly have to ventilate the moisture away from the wall behind? I was thinking of an opening a bit up the wall.
The tiles will be chipped up.
I don't have much room to build upwards. I also don't want to dig out the old slab. But to chip away tiles and possibly leveling compound. I will probably replace the main floor drain.
Underfloor heating? Insulation directly on the slab and then tiles on that?
If you lay tiles or something else, shouldn't it be laid before the wall with an upturn on the stone wall? But of course, then the steel studs will be on a damp floor.
I don't have time to write more. I'll post some pictures soon.
Please come with lots of ideas or tell us what you've done that worked.
Yes, you see a lot in your days.
The boiler room is another story, so we won't discuss it here.
We intend to finish the laundry room before the rest of the mess. We've started by demolishing an old sauna and some of the cladding on the outer wall. It doesn't look too bad. The baseboard in the sauna was completely burnt out, looking charred, and even a bit up the standing parts. But it was completely dry. The previous owner (not the one who finished the basement) drained around the entire house, but only with Platon, no insulation, in 2004.
Is there any point in insulating with 45 mm if you constantly have to ventilate the moisture away from the wall behind? I was thinking of an opening a bit up the wall.
The tiles will be chipped up.
I don't have much room to build upwards. I also don't want to dig out the old slab. But to chip away tiles and possibly leveling compound. I will probably replace the main floor drain.
Underfloor heating? Insulation directly on the slab and then tiles on that?
If you lay tiles or something else, shouldn't it be laid before the wall with an upturn on the stone wall? But of course, then the steel studs will be on a damp floor.
I don't have time to write more. I'll post some pictures soon.
Please come with lots of ideas or tell us what you've done that worked.
If you don't want to tear out the old slab, the only option is to insulate on top if you want underfloor heating. I've had the best thermal efficiency where I removed the slab compared to where I insulated on top.
Do you have moisture in the slab? It's drained and moisture-protected with Platon, which is exactly what we did, but did it achieve the desired result?
A simple way to check is to tape a piece of plastic to the floor about 1 m2 to see if you get water on the underside.
If you don't have any moisture, you can essentially insulate directly on the slab (but there may be regulations or practices that say otherwise, I actually don't know), which reduces the building height somewhat compared to if you need to ventilate moisture away under the insulation.
If you don't insulate/install underfloor heating, you can lay tiles directly on the slab; the moisture moves through the tiles and grout.
A baseboard in a basement laundry room is not needed; you shouldn't moisture-proof the floor anyway when you have an old slab without insulation and moisture protection underneath.
I wouldn't insulate or stud the walls in a basement of the type you have, even if the plastic test shows that there's no moisture in the slab.
Do you have moisture in the slab? It's drained and moisture-protected with Platon, which is exactly what we did, but did it achieve the desired result?
A simple way to check is to tape a piece of plastic to the floor about 1 m2 to see if you get water on the underside.
If you don't have any moisture, you can essentially insulate directly on the slab (but there may be regulations or practices that say otherwise, I actually don't know), which reduces the building height somewhat compared to if you need to ventilate moisture away under the insulation.
If you don't insulate/install underfloor heating, you can lay tiles directly on the slab; the moisture moves through the tiles and grout.
A baseboard in a basement laundry room is not needed; you shouldn't moisture-proof the floor anyway when you have an old slab without insulation and moisture protection underneath.
I wouldn't insulate or stud the walls in a basement of the type you have, even if the plastic test shows that there's no moisture in the slab.
Member
· västra götalandslän
· 24 posts
Okay, we're probably just going to lay tiles on the floor. But that's not the worst. Either we chisel up the floor and put in insulation and underfloor heating or not, as mentioned. It will be way too low under the ceiling if we put insulation directly on the floor.
Now to the walls: Behind the insulation, there is a built inner wall (before the actual foundation wall) consisting of brick standing on end. About 2-3 cm of air between these walls. It feels cumbersome to take it down and carry it up the basement stairs. But it doesn't feel very stable either. So what is the wall's function? Insulation? On this wall, there's plaster and paint that is peeling here and there. It's not particularly well-built either.
So how do you get a nice, even wall in the laundry room? I want a shower down there and would preferably avoid the cabin.
Now to the walls: Behind the insulation, there is a built inner wall (before the actual foundation wall) consisting of brick standing on end. About 2-3 cm of air between these walls. It feels cumbersome to take it down and carry it up the basement stairs. But it doesn't feel very stable either. So what is the wall's function? Insulation? On this wall, there's plaster and paint that is peeling here and there. It's not particularly well-built either.
So how do you get a nice, even wall in the laundry room? I want a shower down there and would preferably avoid the cabin.
No idea about the function of the brick wall, maybe they didn't want to plaster the outer wall from the start? I would have taken it down but I would have also broken up the slab and insulated and installed underfloor heating 
Did it in our basement bathroom, incredibly hard work and dusty but worth the trouble afterwards.
What you normally do otherwise is to plaster the wall, our basement walls are plastered and become straight and flat as you want it. On the plaster, you can put tiles if you want or paint.
But I'm not a bricklayer, maybe someone else can have better ideas about the brick wall.
Did it in our basement bathroom, incredibly hard work and dusty but worth the trouble afterwards. What you normally do otherwise is to plaster the wall, our basement walls are plastered and become straight and flat as you want it. On the plaster, you can put tiles if you want or paint.
But I'm not a bricklayer, maybe someone else can have better ideas about the brick wall.