Basement Insulation | Spray Foam Installation Video

View Comments

• I HAVE A 12" BLOCK BUILDING, A FORMER RETAIL SPACE OF 1600 SQ FEET. I WANT TO CONVERT THE SPACE INTO AN APARTMENT I NEED TO INCREASE THE R VALUE TO 19,ON THE INSIDE OFF THE EXPOSED OUT SIDE WALLS. WHAT WOULD BE THE MOST REASONABLE WAY TO DO IT
  R.H.PENSKY

  • Metal stud framing set off the block, then spray foam insulation.

• Hey, I've been using your site for my basement it's been very helpful - thank you.

  Question - french drain around perimeter of basement with a gap around perimeter as well (guessing that's where water drains into) and if spray foam insulation is used do you spray wall top to bottom and even into the gap of the french drain?

  Thank you in advance.

  • Danny - I'd spray top to bottom, but I'd protect the drain and not spray it. Good luck.

    • Thank you

• Is there any possible way for a homeowner to do their own spray foam insulation?

  Where I live (the wonderful middle of no where) the only drawback is people do not like to come out this far - we don't get USPS out here and FedEx/UPS don't provide the same services as in town - like I said, middle of no where. Anyway, the problem we've learned is the only people willing to come out here are usually the ones with out better options in town (read: the ones no one else will hire). So we've done many things ourselves - and quite well based on inspections. Last week we found mold in the 8foot tall 'crawl space" in our walk out "daylight" basement. When we had the house built 15 years ago we knew there would eventually be a moisture problem in the crawl space (not encapsulated, just black poly) so we put two dehumidifiers down there and it seemed to work well for 14 years. Then we got lazy and stopped checking on them for a year or so. Last week I asked my husband to install something that required him to go down there and move a small section of insulation and that is when he found the mold. It's on most of the plywood (not osb) and it'll all external walls (condensation) but it doesn't look that bad and it's not 'crazy' so if I had to guess it's either grown incredibly slowly or it's because.... when we found the mold we looked at the dehumidifier and realized it said 70%....yea...village idiot over here. We're also in the PNW so it's not like we didn't know mold is lurking everywhere just waiting for a chance to grow (we also farm moss in the yard in our spare time....if only there was a market for moss we'd be rich and we have more mushrooms than Smurf Village :). So, given our pristine mold growing conditions and the amount of mold I am guessing it's been growing on the wood for a year or so - but who knows. We did have kraft backed insulation installed (we pulled it all out that day) and maybe 15 years ago that was the standard, not sure, but that part of the "crawl space" wasn't finished living space, obviously. We also have finished area in front of the crawl space (if you can picture this - we have concrete footings, then 20 feet wide and 8ft tall "crawl space" and then a smaller concrete wall then living space beings so... sheet rock, then the living space that opens to the outside). So kraft backing was used which sounds like it that was a good thing but then that poly liner wasn't sufficient to keep the moisture content down once those dehumidifiers broke but with the moisture levels our densely forested area of the Pacific Northwest it'll always be a battle - we've had two dehumidifiers running down there for 15 years and normally we'd keep it around 50% but clearly at least one of them isn't working very well. So, we'd like to encapsulate, fill with gravel, then concrete for a floor, then insulate stud bays with spray foam, sheet rock, paint and then create a "trap door" from the upstairs so we can use the space as storage. I was also thinking it would be a good idea to tap in to our heat pump (which is in crawl space hung form the ceiling sideways...funky but when they suggested it all those years ago I was in my 20's, a little stupid and figured it would save space. So far I haven't seen any harm putting in there but....hindsight will tell). If the heat pump size allows for it I was thinking we put even one or two air vents in there. It's a big area - probably 20 feet wide, about 8 feet tall, higher in some areas and about 60 feet long - so I just realized I have an area bigger than my first house that is completely unused potential storage space...yea, like I said, I was a little "young and stupid" when we built the house. So, that is my hope and assuming my husband is on board since - let's be honest...I am more of a "foreman" than a "laborer"...I tell him it is because I am smarter....though he learned how to drive heavy equipment so when we do anything of that sort I get stuck in the mud (and rain) while he's in the nice dry cab basically playing a video game....guess I need to rethink who is smarter and got the short end of the deal :) Plus, some how I always end up cleaning...inside, outside and now under the house...always cleaning :) Anyway, any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful. We've learned that of the guys who are willing to come out this far, we are able to do a better job than they are willing to do. I've honestly whined when my husband as wanted to hire people and said we always end up fixing things and ultimately he fixes things so they are better than when they were originally done...so it just became not worth it or reasonable to hire someone to do a 'shotty' job. We've even offered more money when we really needed a pro and only once did that work, the other time we ended up finding a different DIY solution we could do. We're both well educated "white collar" workers in sales (it's funny when the guys at the stores assume my husband doesn't have a clue based on his dress) so we're used to solving problems and typically smart enough to figure out what we need to do (in other words we don't see those warnings that say don't eat the caulking and think we'll try it anyway). We educate ourselves and so far have been happy with anything we've done...to be more accurate, I've been happy with anything my husband has done after I've cleaned up his "construction mess" :) I guess it's fair - he works, I clean :) Since only the least qualified guys are willing to come out here if we can't do something ourselves we usually just find an alternative that we can do ourselves, but I'd really like to do spray foam. Given how easily mold can grow in our area (it is always wet...always, we got 13 inches of rain the first week in Oct and now it won't stop raining until July...always wet) plus we live on a river so even if it's dry the air isn't dry so I feel like spray foam would be the best option since I don't want to be constantly checking to see if mold returned and if we do sheet rock then checking behind any insulation won't be practical. Our plan is to clean it up and if we can't get someone to come out here to encapsulate we were thinking we'd replace the black poly liner that is down there with a new black poly liner and cover with 12-18inches of compacted gravel then lay a concrete floor, 4-6 inches? (we'll install a man door for easy access) then use drylock paint on the new concrete floor (it is already on the concrete "walls") and then lay down tile or linoleum to further keep that moisture down - it's just seeping through the ground. There is no water intrusion we're certain of that but when the ground is very wet 9 months out of the year moisture isn't going to be stopped by a bit of black plastic :). Again, any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated, especially if you can tell us how we can DiY the foam insulation....though I suppose I could just buy a truck load of the great stuff foam and go at one can at a time :) I am kidding...mostly :) Love your site, very informative.

  • I haven't found any good sources of DIY foam, there are many reasons from health and safety to the logistics of having enough product. Spray foam contractors show up at our jobs with a HUGE truck filled with product.