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jallred350

Building walls in basement

jallred350
14 years ago

I live in Minnesota and am having a really hard time finding consistent advice on how to build basement walls that are near my foundation walls. My basement has a beaver system that collects water around the base of the foundation walls and directs it towards a floor drain. We are installing new cabinets in our laundry room and when I pulled the old ones off, I noticed a lot of water damage to them and the drywall. As I took more of the old material away I found mold as well, but only near the bottom of the walls (i.e. near the beaver system). I'm 90% sure that the water isn't from a leak, but from condensation from the beaver system. With that in mind, here is my plan for installing new walls next to the beaver system. Please tell me where I am wrong. I want this to be a good solution.

1) Frame walls ~6 inches away from the beaver system (which is ~9 inches from the foundation walls). I'll use treated lumber for the base of the framing (where it hits the basement floor).

2) Insulate the foundation walls with rigid board insulation.

3) leave a gap between the insulation and the walls to allow air flow.

4) use moisture resistant drywall.

5) I'm also thinking of putting in a couple of vents, just to facilitate air flow.

I guess that's it. I really want to avoid any more water damage and, of course, I don't want mold at all.

Thanks in advance.

Jake

Comments (3)

  • sniffdog
    14 years ago

    listen to worthy. hopefully he will reply to your post.

  • jallred350
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Any thoughts on this? I think I'm going to go with the plan I outlined above. The only part I'm not sure about is where the insulation should go. Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Jake

  • tiberius
    14 years ago

    Hi Jake,

    I think you're not receiving much response because this topic has been covered extensively in these forums before. I would recommend doing some searching / browsing and you can get lots of info.

    As well, most of the advice is based off of the recommendations of the Building Science Corporation. They have a great site with lots of information about how to properly finish basements, including those with beaver drains such as yours. Their compilation of information on basements can be found here: http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-103-understanding-basements/view?searchterm=foundations

    Good luck!

    Here is a link that might be useful: BSD-103: Understanding Basements