Currently Only Building Storage Room... What am I forgetting

12 years ago

We built our house as general contractor based on the wonderful advice we got here. We moved in October 2010. We have no internet out here other than my cell phone so I haven't been on here much since then.

Now we're getting ready to work on the basement some. My husband was in a very serious motorcycle accident this summer and it has limited our funds and we're way behind on our to do lists in general now as he was unable to walk for more than 3 months. We're only looking to put in the storage room at this point to build in the shelving units. This will allow us to organize and clean up everything so the rest of the basement is clean and ready when we are. Also, we have a few other projects that need to be worked on. For example, we were midway through the front porch when the accident happened, but the winter has limited that work. I got it finished to the point of only needing the gingerbreading and some more paint.

We have planned out the design of the basement prior to construction of the house. The plan is to just build two partition walls at this time. We were not going to finish, frame, or insulate the exterior walls in the storage room. Our basement has never seemed hot or cold in the last year and we haven't conditioned it at all yet (though it has all ducts and zoning done, we didn't turn any of it on) Is there any reason to do more than frame up the walls so I can creat my shelving units? I can add wiring, insullation, etc... to those walls from the other side when we are ready to finish the rooms on the other side of it.

Thanks in advance. I've been enjoying reading up on this forum, including ceiling options etc...

Comments (3)

worthy
12 years ago
We have no internet out here

Sure you do: Satellite internet.

Our basement has never seemed hot or cold in the last year

That's because, for the winter, you have an effective heating system and basements are naturally cool in the summer.

I could say the same thing for the 1965 home we're in now with a finished basement and zero insulation. Even in sub-zero it's toasty warm--courtesy of two natural gas guzzling 30-year old furnaces. But this house is being razed to the ground so there's no payback. Yours is new. Spend a little more for insulation and save on heating bills.

_____________________
(I hope your husband has cut back his bike time. A friend's son heads up a motorcycle club--no, not the Sons of Anarchy though at 6'2" 280 with a blackbelt in karate he looks tougher than any of them--and even he saves the riding for summer weekends only. And that's a guy with Harley-Davidson tattooed across his chest.)
midwestmama
Original Author
12 years ago
Hi Worthy,
I planned on insulating the finished areas of the basement, but was hoping it wouldn't matter for the storage room. Some of this room houses the two water heaters and furnace and they are relatively close to the wall, it'd be very difficult to insulate behind them already. We have geothermal heat and the system is really large plus our 400 amp service panels and all of the pipes coming into the walls come through that same area. We planned on insulating the walls from the storage room into the finished area for sound reduction purposes. Almost the entire basement is underground so the ground is providing most of the protection already too. If not insulating that one room didn't make a big difference, I would not. However, basements are certainly not my knowledge base.

As for the biking, we don't know if he'll ride again. He's still in physical therapy 3 times a week for walking. The bike was totaled. He received a traumatic brain injury and hasn't fully recovered from that either, but he's getting very close to back to normal now. The recovery has been amazing. He rode every day in riding weather. (Iowa isn't always riding weather) Fortunately, we built this house to be our forever home. The bedroom is on the main floor, shower was a walk in, nearly 4 foot space around kitchen island, etc... Simply had to build a ramp in the garage and he could come home when he did. If we lived in our previous house he would have had to go to a nursing home for two more months! I miss riding, it was something we did together and lots of our friends do too. Because it was in the 60s today the bikes were out like CRAZY! I was so jealous.
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worthy
12 years ago
very difficult to insulate behind them already.

That's why I insulate them first thing. But if you can't, you can't.

Almost the entire basement is underground so the ground is providing most of the protection already too.

Only below the frost line. And even then, it's economic to continue to the floor. See Department of Energy ZIP code insulation site at link.

________________
Good luck with that recovery! We've been rearended six times in two years in various cars and trucks. Both my wife and daughter are in rehab and on painkillers. Nothing compared to your trauma. But a taste is bad enough.

Here is a link that might be useful: ZIP Insulation Program