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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

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