The Best Way To Finish Your Basement

so today i'm going to share with you my system for how to finish your basement we're going to talk about minimum building code what your builders have done for you with the fact that this is designed to work in older homes and right up to very modern construction okay i don't care if it's a concrete wall or cinder block this system is going to work for just about every basement on the planet and that's why i'm sharing this one video because there's a lot of information out there there's a lot of confusion we're going to simplify it down and at the end of the video you're going to be able to know how your house is built what your requirements are how you can finish yours and depending on how new it is all the cheats that you can do on your assembly so you can save some money and just create a simple space remember basements get a really lousy return on investment unless you go all in and spend an absolute fortune on it so we're going to go through the system so that you can figure out once and for all get rid of all the noise out there have a system that's going to work perfect every single time so first of all let's talk about what you can use your basement for right the living spaces a theater room somewhere just for the kids to hang out so that they can play hockey in the summertime this is the kind of stuff that goes on so depending on how you're going to finish if you're going to go something luxurious like a soundproof theater room then you've really got to make sure that your investment which is the theater room is protected with good technology that you aren't going to see behind the walls and under the floors if you're just looking for a simple finish at the end of this video we're going to have all that information for you let's get into how modern construction is finishing houses today and all the modifications you got to make before you can finish it i get asked all the time in the forum from our membership and if you haven't joined that yet you're going to do a major construction program then you might want to consider joining our membership program you can send me pictures we can email back and forth and i can help you specifically with your situation but i get asked all the time how do i finish my basement they've got blanket wrap insulation all over the walls right have you seen this it's just insulation behind plastic and it's just stapled to the wall okay and people ask me legitimately can i just frame in front of that and finish no and here's why that is satisfying the minimum code for a thermal barrier in your basement and if you leave your space unfinished it will help to mitigate heat loss through your wall and that's all it's doing okay it's actually trapping a lot of moisture as well so if you want to finish a basement and you've got that blanket insulation step number one is rip it out okay it's no good to you if you're doing a basement and you've got framed walls and insulation in the wall already might i suggest that in a lot of cases you're going to want to start over again i know it sounds disappointing but that sort of a system doesn't really work very well let me show you how minimum building code on new construction is you've got a concrete wall they usually use two by four framing and they leave a couple of inches of space between the concrete because the code now says that in especially northern climates you'll see this the installation the basement has to be the same as the insulation on the main floor and up upstairs so we're using r20 insulation and anywhere where it's going to get snow in the winter time so what they do r20 requires five and a half inches of cavity so what they're doing is they're framing way off the wall and then they're stuffing your insulation in that cavity all right and then making direct contact with the concrete okay what it's not doing is it's not filling the stud bay between here and the concrete there's so there's a couple of major problems with this insulation and we all know what's happening but they haven't changed the code to apply this yet and here's the problem insulation is packed right against the concrete wall and in a new home construction it takes two to three years before the majority of the water that's in that concrete to cure the concrete now what's happening is if you're in a new house and you've got a wall like this and the plastic you can cut the plastic and reach in behind the insulation and it'll be soaking wet all right remember fiberglass wet loses its r value and so you end up with a really cold house it also the studs aren't very good r value at all and the gap in behind creates a lot of thermal bridging all right so you've got decent to worse to decent to worse and it's all wet the whole thing is just a disaster and if that's what you've got in your house you're going to want to tear that out okay and then you're going to want to reframe because you don't have any drywall on this framing and after the first or second year of all that moisture being trapped all of this framing has gotten twisted and warped it's a mess try to finish your drywall on that and you're going to be cursing yourself you're going to be like i wish i just changed the two by fours i know they're not as cheap as they used to be but it's better to build from the beginning and build it right let me show you the right way to do it the older the house the more important this this step is this is what we're calling our subfloor system if you've seen my old video i did a video back in the day a few years ago we did a basement i showed you my subfloor system it's dimpled membrane plastic with 5 8 osb sheets tap conned into the concrete that is a very good system but now that they've got the panel out with an insulated backing on it that also has the grooves for any moisture to mix with the air it can travel underneath the floor i'm going to suggest that this is now the best diy solution to your house you put the panel on the floor and just like i have demonstrated here you bring it up to about a half an inch from your concrete wall you're going to get all kinds of different moisture events in your house for a lot of different reasons and we're going to do that video next week so we can go through all the different things and the reasons why you're going to want a subfloor system even in a new home okay just because your house has got a vapor barrier underneath the concrete doesn't mean you don't need a subfloor if you're protecting your investment of your renovation right so let's talk about subfloor it's only a couple bucks a square feet you bring it half inch from your concrete now any moisture event that happens in your house has the ability if it comes through a window well or through a crack or through some force of nature that pushes the water up through the concrete from the floor that air underneath this floor is now shared with the air along the wall okay that's really important because water has this incredible ability to manage itself and to balance out and to move where it's dry so if it's wet under the floor and is dry here having this airspace will allow that water to travel into a dry area eventually it'll be drier outside and it'll all end up going there that's why we have a subfloor system the way we deal with the thermal issue is now we want to put insulation on the entire wall this is built like tetris pieces they overlap each other all right and you can actually jigsaw puzzle the entire wall with this stuff the secret here is how you install it so that you maintain an air space between your insulation and your concrete for that you're going to want to use the pl but this is not the premium this is the 300 series okay this is designed for foam board because it's a different formulation that's not going to melt the foam board let me just show you how to apply it you get the idea okay now this is the big secret ah once you've seen this you're gonna be like well that makes a lot of sense okay the foam board is gonna be set on top of this concrete okay you gently press this against the foundation wall standing right against the subfloor done now your air space is continuous all the way up until it gets to the the floor joists and it can find its way outside and all of that moisture that can come into your house is never going to get past the subfloor or your insulation rigid board so that keeps your basement nice and dry you're never going to have to deal with mold now we're talking thermal barrier here in this technology now you can take your wall framing and you set it on top of your osb in front of your your rigid board insulation which is r10 i'm going to recommend that when you're framing a basement you frame them 16 inch on center because that'll give you better performance for your drywall finishing you can go 24 but if you're gonna do 24 then i would recommend you have to use a stronger drywall like a fire rated half inch that's a lot of money you're going to spend on the drywall in order to avoid using studs so go 16 inch on center get r12 installation r12 plus the rigid foam which is r10 gives you a 22 wall which is now better than what the code requires okay and that is your finished assembly remember rigid foam is a closed cell foam which means it acts like a moisture barrier to the degree where your insulation is now protected from the curing process of your concrete so if you have a new house this is going to protect this insulation from getting wet it also is going to give you an r22 insulation value which is insane all right the biggest challenge we have in basements is air movement and keeping it dry you're going to get water at some point from a lot of different sources this assembly is going to protect you no matter what happens because the water can go underneath the floor and it can travel in behind your insulation in the form of water vapor and it will dry out that is why we do what we do now when you're building your basement you're going to have two inspections early on one of them is going to be the electrical inspection once you get your framing done in front of your your your board okay you can do all your wiring get your electrical inspected once you've passed your rough-in electrical you can go ahead and do all of the insulation all right you're going to want to um have one place where there's a piece of insulation out to demonstrate that you assembled it with the with the rigid foam board okay so the inspector can see that and after that you're gonna be fine because once your electrical inspection is done you can add the insulation you can cover everything up with a vapor barrier and as long as you've demonstrated one space so he understands how you've done this you're going to pass like flying colors now people are going to say well jeff what about my home what about the age of my house let me go through all the different features and benefits of this assembly for all the different ages of homes and what your different cheating options are okay so that you can you can nail this down for yourself first of all any home built before 1990 does not have a vapor barrier underneath we're going to use that as an excuse okay you need a sub floor the older the house the more dramatically you're going to need a subfloor if you're not sure just take a garbage bag and some tape down to your basement tape it onto the concrete and let it sit there overnight if there's a vapor barrier underneath the concrete then you won't get a wet spot the next morning if it's wet you need to make sure you use a subfloor to protect your investment to find out if your walls have got waterproofing technology you can just go outside and look for the black dimpled membrane it usually sits about two inches higher than the ground around the outside of the foundation okay usually covered up with little drainage rocks and that sort of thing now finishing the basement from here is simple right vapor barrier drywall and you can put vinyl plank directly on this product right here all right now make sure you find one has a cork backing or buy an actual underlayment that goes separate from your flooring i haven't found a floor on the market yet that has a foam backing that is thick enough to do it provide any value all right so let's talk about the cheats if you have a newer house okay if you have a newer house you still have to maintain your thermal barrier system so rigid foam framing then installation it's the best system on the market what you don't need is a subfloor system if you have a new house okay the bottom plate of your framing though if you're going to put this directly on concrete you have to two options you have to put a plastic sill between this and the concrete even though there's a vapor barrier in the concrete the building code hasn't changed on that or you can use pressure treated lumber just for the bottom piece all right then you don't need a subfloor and then you can take your vinyl with your cork backing put it right on the concrete if you so choose that's about the only thing that you can do to cheat why i don't recommend that is because you're going to see in next week's video is all the different water problems that you can have in your house and how the subfloor system protects you from it remember when you're renovating a basement you're trying to create a living space that you don't want to have problems down the road the difference between building it this way and and trying to save a couple corners is a couple bucks a square foot it's not worth it because next week we're going to do that video we're going to see all the different potential water problems that you can run into you can't protect yourself from all of them but you can definitely protect your investment so just a quick recap in this system we have a thermal break all across the floor okay underneath our osb we have a thermal break all along the foundation walls we have a secured guaranteed air space underneath the floor connected to the air space behind our insulation because we're dabbing it to install it and letting it dry before we frame we have a more than sufficient installation for the building code for our walls we've got 16 on center brand new wood so we don't have any problem with our installation and our drywall work and we've got a really nice dry living space that's completely protected by our thermal break here now you can just drop a floor on without investing a lot of extra money on an underlayment there is no better way to renovate your basement end of discussion all right and if you want to learn how to do installation properly i'm going to suggest you watch this video don't forget to subscribe to the channel and you don't want to miss next week's video about all the different potential water hazards that you can run into owning a home cheers until next time

Channel: Home RenoVision DIY

Views: 459,333

Keywords: homerenovision, jeff thorman, homerenovisiondiy, basement renovation, how to finish a basement, home renovision basement, basement remodel, how to finish a basement cheap, finishing a basement diy, basement renovation | a to z, basement renovation diy, home renovision basement framing, basement remodeling ideas, basement insulation, basement subfloor, basement flooring, rigid foam insulation

Id: M3jwVa7MiEQ

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Sat May 21 2022