Hello,
I've searched around a bit on this but can't quite make sense of it.
We moved into a house built in '67 with a partially finished basement a month ago. The basement is built with Leca blocks, and the drainage is original from '67. The entire basement has wall-to-wall carpets and masonry interior walls, some clad with wood paneling and some with felt wallpaper.
There are no signs of moisture in the basement, and the inspectors (three of them at the time of purchase) were surprised at how low the humidity levels are in the basement.
The house is located on a slight slope where they had to blast away some rock during construction; otherwise, it's clay soil. The basement is made from Leca with an asphalt sheet on the outside. Ventilation is natural draft with intake vents here and there.
We plan to partition off what is currently a large recreational room with a small workshop in the corner. There was a "light wall" which I've now taken down, with 2 simple studs up and down, and simple wood paneling nailed on one side to partition the recreational room and the workshop. There were no signs of moisture or mold on the beam that lay directly on the basement floor.
We plan to partition off the workshop and transform the recreational room into a guest room and TV room. Adjacent to the workshop is the boiler room, which also houses the pool machinery. We thus need to insulate/soundproof the new wall between the workshop and what will be the guest room.
How best to approach this in this basement?
The interior wall will not be directly against the exterior wall. I will use 2 "reinforcements" in the basement wall as attachment points. This is like a small, masonry "stock," about 50 cm into the room with a small air gap at the top. The interior wall will be drawn from there to the center wall in the basement.
From what I understand, you should avoid organic material in direct contact with at least the floor. I plan to use a steel stud against the floor and then frame with wood. On the workshop side, the surface finish isn't that important since it will have shelves, etc., for storage. However, we want the area on the guest room side to look nice. Gypsum would be nice, but I understand the paper can create problems?
And how do I solve the insulation/soundproofing so it's possible to sleep there?
Grateful for any tips and advice.
I've searched around a bit on this but can't quite make sense of it.
We moved into a house built in '67 with a partially finished basement a month ago. The basement is built with Leca blocks, and the drainage is original from '67. The entire basement has wall-to-wall carpets and masonry interior walls, some clad with wood paneling and some with felt wallpaper.
There are no signs of moisture in the basement, and the inspectors (three of them at the time of purchase) were surprised at how low the humidity levels are in the basement.
The house is located on a slight slope where they had to blast away some rock during construction; otherwise, it's clay soil. The basement is made from Leca with an asphalt sheet on the outside. Ventilation is natural draft with intake vents here and there.
We plan to partition off what is currently a large recreational room with a small workshop in the corner. There was a "light wall" which I've now taken down, with 2 simple studs up and down, and simple wood paneling nailed on one side to partition the recreational room and the workshop. There were no signs of moisture or mold on the beam that lay directly on the basement floor.
We plan to partition off the workshop and transform the recreational room into a guest room and TV room. Adjacent to the workshop is the boiler room, which also houses the pool machinery. We thus need to insulate/soundproof the new wall between the workshop and what will be the guest room.
How best to approach this in this basement?
The interior wall will not be directly against the exterior wall. I will use 2 "reinforcements" in the basement wall as attachment points. This is like a small, masonry "stock," about 50 cm into the room with a small air gap at the top. The interior wall will be drawn from there to the center wall in the basement.
From what I understand, you should avoid organic material in direct contact with at least the floor. I plan to use a steel stud against the floor and then frame with wood. On the workshop side, the surface finish isn't that important since it will have shelves, etc., for storage. However, we want the area on the guest room side to look nice. Gypsum would be nice, but I understand the paper can create problems?
And how do I solve the insulation/soundproofing so it's possible to sleep there?
Grateful for any tips and advice.
Homeowner
· Västernorrland
· 2 541 posts
Insulating interior walls in the basement is no problem. I'm currently working on building in the basement extensively. Steel studs for walls and Platon under the floor.
Taking the liberty to lift/interrupt this thread since I basically have the same question myself.
It's good to hear that there's no problem with insulating interior walls in the basement, but I doubt that you can do it just any way you like. How do you handle the following situations?
* Insulation at the floor. Can you let the insulation go all the way down to the bottom of the metal stud, or is there some special solution needed there? I have no plans for Platon; I was thinking of using a breathable floating mat instead.
* Drywall at the floor. How much air gap should you leave at the bottom? For soundproofing reasons, should you seal with something (what?) between the drywall and the floor?
* If I wanted a wall where you can easily hang different items, I would use plywood or similar and then drywall over it, but how do you do that in a basement where you should avoid organic materials?
* Floor moldings. How are they attached to the floor and adjoining exterior wall?
Going shopping tomorrow, and it would be nice to buy right from the start for once.
It's good to hear that there's no problem with insulating interior walls in the basement, but I doubt that you can do it just any way you like. How do you handle the following situations?
* Insulation at the floor. Can you let the insulation go all the way down to the bottom of the metal stud, or is there some special solution needed there? I have no plans for Platon; I was thinking of using a breathable floating mat instead.
* Drywall at the floor. How much air gap should you leave at the bottom? For soundproofing reasons, should you seal with something (what?) between the drywall and the floor?
* If I wanted a wall where you can easily hang different items, I would use plywood or similar and then drywall over it, but how do you do that in a basement where you should avoid organic materials?
* Floor moldings. How are they attached to the floor and adjoining exterior wall?
Going shopping tomorrow, and it would be nice to buy right from the start for once.
Homeowner
· Västernorrland
· 2 541 posts
If you're talking about interior walls, then there’s no problem with what you're asking about. The insulation doesn't touch the floor. If you have so much moisture that even if you insulate inside the steel studs, I would stay away. Otherwise, a small gap of about a centimeter will do. Then we have ventilated floor skirtings, which are also organic. If you don’t have moisture problems today, there’s no need to overdo it in my opinion. I'm currently working on making 3 bedrooms in the basement. I have construction pictures on styleroom.se, search for Mattias_jo1 and check out my albums.