I am a new owner of a single-story house with a finished basement. Each floor is 110 sqm. The house was built in 1981, not as a part of a series, but individually designed by the previous owner. I am now trying to understand how the house works because I am considering remodeling the basement.
See the attached very simple drawing of the basement. Here I have indicated which walls are insulated and where the radiators are. As you can see, only two walls are insulated. According to the house plans, these walls look like this, from the outside in:
10 plaster
250 lightweight clinker
50 mineral wool RW 331
45x45 frames
01 plastic foil
13 plasterboard
The other walls in the house strangely feel warm, which feels odd since they are uninsulated? My thought is to remove the insulated walls and just plaster them instead, but still maintain a comfortable indoor temperature for a living room. What do you think about this? Or do I risk a significant cold draft in some way? I just don't understand how the basement can feel so warm when only two short walls are insulated?
Heating is provided by geothermal heating and water radiators.
Ventilation is an FTX system from 1981. (with rarely cleaned ducts, but regular filter changes).
It should be mentioned that the cold storage room in the drawing is kept cold through a vent in the wall.
The concrete slab looks like this from the inside out:
150 concrete
50 ground sheet RW 389 (anyone have more info on this? Too little insulation is possible)
200 drainage gravel (minimum)
I will likely have more questions about this house and its drawings. Hope you bear with me
See the attached very simple drawing of the basement. Here I have indicated which walls are insulated and where the radiators are. As you can see, only two walls are insulated. According to the house plans, these walls look like this, from the outside in:
10 plaster
250 lightweight clinker
50 mineral wool RW 331
45x45 frames
01 plastic foil
13 plasterboard
The other walls in the house strangely feel warm, which feels odd since they are uninsulated? My thought is to remove the insulated walls and just plaster them instead, but still maintain a comfortable indoor temperature for a living room. What do you think about this? Or do I risk a significant cold draft in some way? I just don't understand how the basement can feel so warm when only two short walls are insulated?
Heating is provided by geothermal heating and water radiators.
Ventilation is an FTX system from 1981. (with rarely cleaned ducts, but regular filter changes).
It should be mentioned that the cold storage room in the drawing is kept cold through a vent in the wall.
The concrete slab looks like this from the inside out:
150 concrete
50 ground sheet RW 389 (anyone have more info on this? Too little insulation is possible)
200 drainage gravel (minimum)
I will likely have more questions about this house and its drawings. Hope you bear with me
We have no insulation at all in any basement wall but have no problem keeping the heat up because of it. We have 2 living rooms, a laundry room, a bathroom, an "innebandyrum," storage heated with radiators or underfloor heating. You won't get any cold drafts through the walls if you remove the insulation; I would think the windows account for the majority of energy loss, not the walls.
Thank you very much for the quick and informative response! As I mentioned, I'm a new homeowner, so of course, I'm unsure about most things. But how can lightweight expanded clay aggregate insulate so well anyway? Or is it simply "heating for the crows" because you need to have a higher energy consumption to achieve a good climate in the basement?
Go outside and see how much snow is left outside the house. If you have any snow, that is. The worst I've seen was probably about 1.5 meters snow-free out on the lawn while the neighboring houses had basically nothing snow-free. It was, however, a bit unusually warm inside that house.
I would think that the lightweight clinker walls insulate reasonably well on their own. Maybe you're lucky that the outside is also well-drained and filled with good material, which should help as well. The insulation in the family room isn't particularly thick, only 50mm, so it probably doesn't make a big difference.
If your basement is of the dry variety, which is admittedly rare, maybe you don't need to remove the insulation. Though I assume you're worried about hidden mold. In that case, I'd also check under the needle felt carpet, as it likely has a dense rubber underside, and the vapor pressure (rising moisture from the ground below) usually isn't insignificant... But you might have an unusually dry basement and if so, congratulations
If your basement is of the dry variety, which is admittedly rare, maybe you don't need to remove the insulation. Though I assume you're worried about hidden mold. In that case, I'd also check under the needle felt carpet, as it likely has a dense rubber underside, and the vapor pressure (rising moisture from the ground below) usually isn't insignificant... But you might have an unusually dry basement and if so, congratulations
Thank you Rip! It's clear that a meticulous gentleman designed and built the house, but the knowledge in 1981 wasn't what it is today. As I see it, there are two significant risk constructions in the house, and it's these two studded walls that I would like to take down and inspect internally. It would be strange if nothing has happened there. The felt carpet has been there since 1981, shouldn't something have already been noticed? Smell, mold, or something?
The idea that I might have an unusually dry basement sounds too good to be true. I would be overjoyed if that turns out to be the case
The idea that I might have an unusually dry basement sounds too good to be true. I would be overjoyed if that turns out to be the case