Properly Insulating a Basement Wall: E2 Basement Finishing

hey guys what's up I'm Travis and this is how I do things I'm about to show you how to finish a room in your basement I'm just getting started on my new basement office and in this episode I'm going to show you guys how to install insulation and fire blocking so what the heck is fire blocking in the event of a fire holes and gaps in the wall and ceiling cavities provide ventilation of the fire and allow it to spread faster here's a diagram I made to show the situation I'm trying to improve here you can see the sill plate ceiling joist insulation and the foundation wall you can also see a nice little fire that started at an outlet inside of the 2x4 wall the drywall contains a fire within the wall but any air being allowed in will feed this small fire and make it a large fire pretty quickly at the top you can see the fire blocking sealing up the cavity and slowing the burn as well as containing poisonous gases from melting plastic and foam and now that you know why fire blocking is so important let's install it spray foam is great but if your Builder used it you may need to whittle some of it away so your material goes all the way back to the sole plate if you don't see any insulation here then either have expanding foam insulation installed or install two inch foam board using foam board adhesive and then caulk around the edges it's much easier to do this before you install your fire blocking now measure from the sill plate to where the top plate will end so you know how wide to cut your material I'm going to cheat a little bit by using some of my previous work as an example mine needs to be eight inches over here you might have noticed that I use three quarter inch OSB for my fire blocking well I don't have any more of that but I do have this half inch piece of drywall and it'll be super easy to cut so I'm going to go ahead and use that all I need to do to cut the drywall is Mark my cut and use a straight edge to score the paper with a knife then break it and cut the paper on the other side to install I'll put it all the way against the sill plate and then screw it to the ceiling joist with drywall screws in my area you can use either three quarter inch wood structural panel or half inch drywall and it needs to be nailed or screwed to solid wood any gaps need to be backed with the same material then I'll use fire resistant expanding foam to ensure the fire blocking is sealed at the sill plate in addition to adding all this fire blocking when I get to my framing and electrical I'm also going to be filling all the holes in my top plate with the same fire resistant foam adding all this fire blocking is actually a nice safety feature but in my local area it's required by the building code I'm leaving my ceiling exposed to be able to access things later while drywall or drop ceiling would have improved my fire blocking most of the electrical is in the walls and I have at least improved that now that all of our fire blocking is in place let's work on some insulation this is an interior wall so it's perfectly fine but in the past people have used fiberglass bat insulation on their Foundation walls covered with a clear plastic Vapor Barrier don't do this this allows moisture to get Wicked up into the fiberglass insulation and then is actually held there by the clear plastic Vapor Barrier more than likely you're going to have a mold issue in that situation when my house is being built my Builder actually used foam board insulation on the outside of the foundation walls this is actually the best way to insulate your basement because it keeps your wall warm but also allows it to breathe but I want just a little bit more insulation in my basement so I'm going to be adding some more on the inside you should only do this if you have a very dry basement and I know my basement is dry because I tested my walls and floors in episode one of this series I'll be using this rigid foam board insulation mostly because it's super easy to install yourself but you could also use spray foam which you might need a higher Pro for that whatever insulation you choose for your basement I recommend using closed cell foam for its moisture resistance and vapor barrier to install this foam board insulation take a measurement from the floor to the fire blocking and then cut the foam board a quarter inch shorter than that length with a straight edge and then just snap it off do a test fit to make sure you cut it right then apply foam board adhesive to the back of the board now put it in place and apply pressure all over the surface you may need to put something heavy against it to hold it in place until the glue dries repeat these steps to cover the rest of your wall you should only be using this foam board in areas that will be covered by drywall then use polypropylene sheathing tape to seal the gaps between each board I'm using this tyvac tape finally seal any remaining gaps with either caulk or spray foam depending on the size of the gap personally I caulk the bottom edge of the foam board but I've seen varying opinions on this if you have more information please leave a comment below I want to point out one more time that most building codes require you to cover this rigid foam board with drywall so don't put it anywhere you don't intend to have drywall if you liked any of the products I use in this video be sure to check the video description for any of those links I hope you guys enjoyed this video if you did please click subscribe and that little notification Bell in my next episode I'm going to be moving around some plumbing and some HVAC and you're not going to want to miss it but in the meantime click like and leave me a comment and don't forget to check out one of these videos up here where I'm going to teach you how to build something cool we'll see you guys

Channel: How I Do Things DIY

Views: 39,920

Keywords: how i do things diy, basement finishing, how to finish a basement, finishing a basement diy, basement insulation, finishing a basement, basement, basement renovation, basement wall insulation, basement remodel, diy basement finishing, finishing a basement start to finish, finishing a basement from start to finish, how to finish a basement cheap, basement finish, how to insulate a basement wall, finished basement, Foam board insulation, Insulation, fire blocking, foam insulation

Id: HPLhXrwQQck

Length: 5min 31sec (331 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 03 2023