Basement insulation

[rodger.]

I know there are some talented professional renovators on here (like @shaneymackand @Tom King ) as well as people who have finished their own basements.

I have been playing with the idea of finishing a room in my basement.  I am struggling with the insulation decision though.  I live in a climate that is very cold in the winter, and very hot and humid in the summer.

The current insulation is a builders wrap (fiberglass and poly to the floor, nailed to the bare concrete wall).  I have seen some people just leave this up and frame in front of it.  I have seen others take it down, frame, and insulate/poly the framed wall.  Mike Holmes says to use ridgid foam board instead of roxal or fibreglass.

Anyone care to offer some suggestions or ideas?  

[Tpt life]

Foam offers some great R values per inch. Foam board is easy to manage for smooth and relatively square spaces. Basements typically stay well conditioned. You often just need a thermal break. This means an inch or two of foam decreases your space less with a higher rate of return. 

PS, I think polyisocyanurate is a top performer. 

[SawDustB]

I went with spray foam for our climate here in Nova Scotia. No regrets, it's a huge improvement over the batts that were there before. The big thing is the perfect air sealing you get with it, and no chance for condensation (the reason I had to rip it out in the first place).

[Isaac]

I went with rigid foam, but as SawDustB suggests, you have to pay attention to condensation and water. Any risk of flooding or moisture coming through your wall? Check for staining streaks. If so, you've got to watch out, you don't want to be trapping moisture behind your insulation and may want to fix your drainage situation before thinking of insulation.

[PWRFULZ3R0]

I just bought 64 panels of Owens Corning Insulpink for my garage. It has a precut edge to accept a 1x3 furring strip. I wanted the thinnest wall solution possible and this is it.

Pay attention to your vapor drive. You don't want to use vapor barrier if you're entire basement is below grade (mine is partially exposed). Rigid foam is semi permeable to water vapor so it can breathe to your interior space and not get trapped behind the wall.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk