Easiest DIY Basement Subfloor

back in 2020 a new kind of basement subfloor panel appeared in the market and i've been getting a steady stream of homeowner questions about it ever since in this video i'll recap the four most common questions i see and offer insights into the all foam dry core insole armor panels that i've been discussing with people by email for most situations insular is the best i've seen so far for creating the foundation of a warm mold resistant finished basement floor on concrete and as i mentioned insular armor is an all foam panel that's what makes it unique and this single feature leads to the most common question that i get about the product is this foam really strong enough to walk on yes insular armor is strong enough when installed properly as part of a hard surface flooring system it's denser and stronger than most rigid foams on the market so much so that you don't even need a second layer of plywood on top of the foam as is required if using regular foam as part of a floor with insole armor you can apply a hard surface floor such as laminate or vinyl directly on top and both are excellent options for basements by the way regardless of what's underneath of it numbers show the higher strength of dry core insulin two and in the world of rigid foams density is one measure of firmness and strength so regular sheets of extruded polystyrene and expanded polystyrene foam that's the two kinds that are most common out there and you'd find this stuff from building supply outlets they all have a typical density of one pound per cubic foot and sometimes two pounds for heavy duty foams insular armor by contrast has a density of three pounds per cubic foot and this makes a big difference the moment you pick up a piece of this stuff you know it's no ordinary foam insole armor has a rated compressive strength of 3 650 pounds per square foot so what does this mean well imagine you cut a 12 inch by 12 inch piece of plywood you set it on an insular armor panel that's on the floor then you took a mid-sized car and stood it up on end resting entirely on this piece of plywood even this extreme loading will not crush the foam or leave a dent and while it's not exactly practical to do this kind of test seeing is believing so take a look at the test i ran for exploring just how supportive insular armor is under a lot of weight in the real world watch me drive on some insular armor panels in various situations right now with my pickup truck and let's see what happens so this is the test setup i've made to actually test the dry core insulin armor under something like real conditions i mean this is far more rigorous than you'd ever encounter in a basement but i just wanted to explain what's all all about here i got a piece of quarter inch plate steel i didn't want to put the foam right on the road it's kind of rough i didn't think it was too accurate that way so we got the the smooth base these ramps on and off the steel are hot melt glued in place because it wouldn't really be fair to drive up over the edge we want to get get up before we start on the flooring this is some engineered click flooring right here of the kind that would be great for a basement and then this is the insular armor panel underneath so i'm going to drive over this then we're going to take it apart and see what happens so i really don't know for sure how this is going to turn out let's take a look so far it looks okay let's see wow look at that absolutely no compression whatsoever yeah that's that's what i would have expected from the numbers and it and it looks like it's worked out that way let's try driving over it again without the flooring on just for fun let's see if we can damage this stuff driving directly on the foam [Music] well i'm even more impressed with this strength than i was before i mean even driving over the bare foam except for just that i don't know if you can see that tiniest little compressions here from the tire treads really very irrelevant and you're not gonna be driving over this stuff bare in your basement anyway but there's nothing like taking something to the extreme to just show what it's capable of and as i said this this stuff is is hard and strong for sure can't i just put regular foam sheets on my concrete basement floor than finished flooring on top no not exactly the higher density of insulin armor means it can support hard surface flooring directly without the help of another layer of plywood the numbers you've seen now just show how regular sheets of foam have only one to two-thirds the density and compressive strength of insulin so these regular foams need the help of plywood or osb on top before the finished flooring goes down you can certainly use regular foam sheets in this way as part of your basement subfloor but you will need to put a second layer of something on top first before the finished flooring goes down and as i explained to people who inquire about this insular has other unique strengths and benefits too first the product has a raised bottom profile and this creates an air space so the product can tolerate small amounts of leaked water that make it into your basement without this air space even the tiniest basement leaks can rise up and ruin your finished flooring the presence of an air space creates a kind of grace zone if you will that makes all the difference with small leaks the same leak without a raised subfloor could mean tearing out and replacing all your finished basement flooring when you might not otherwise have to if you had the air space on your side another advantage is the smaller size of insular armor panels compared with the size of regular foam sheets regular sheets of foam are typically two feet wide and eight feet long and that's pretty big to wrestle into your house insular armor is half the size which is just about the limit for convenient carrying downstairs is insular suitable under all types of flooring no it's not if you have your heart set on carpet in your basement and i don't recommend it you'll need to put down a layer of plywood or osb on top of the insular armor first followed by underlay and carpet if you insist on installing carpet in your basement then you'd be better off using one of the more traditional osb and plastic subfloor panels because these don't need additional wood on top also any kind of flooring that needs to be fastened down as opposed to click edge glued or loose lay flooring is not convenient for use over insular armor and to be honest this isn't the handiest thing to do over any kind of foam insulation simply because the foam doesn't offer anything strong enough to anchor to this is why free floating options such as luxury vinyl plank and tile laminate and engineered click hardwood are the best options to use over insular and they just happen to be the best for basements in general too is insular worth the extra money insane armor costs 10 to 20 percent more than the typical osb panels for a given floor area and for most situations i think this extra is more than justified because of the advantages of the product at r 4.1 insular armor offers the most insulation value of any commercial basement subfloor panel that i've seen it's also much lighter in weight than traditional osb subfloors and that means easier to carry downstairs and by a long shot by the way insular armor also comes in panel sizes that are twice as large as osb panels so you cover ground more quickly during installation i also know from my own experience that the tongue and groove edges on insole armor come together super easy with no need to use a mallet protective edge blocks or anything like that cutting couldn't be easier either with insular armor it's so dense and rigid you just score a line with a utility knife and straight edge then snap the panel over your knee to break it you can't do that with osb panels nor regular foam it's getting easier to finish basements properly and this comes down to the availability of innovative products that address the unique conditions found when finishing a basement do your homework choose the best products then enjoy the kind of warm dry comfortable and enduring value of an inviting and properly finished basement space

Channel: Bailey Line Road

Views: 36,943

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Id: HtYoDYL-fy0

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 10 2021