Insulating a Basement with Foamax Foam Board in East Hampton, MA
Challenge
These home owners in East Hampton, MA had contacted us about humidity and cold basement issues in their home.
The first thing we need to know about basements and the basement walls is frost line. Frost line is the depth in the ground at which the temperature stays 55 degrees year round. In New England, the frost line is at 48 inches or 4 feet deep. So in the basement, half of the wall is below the frost line and half is above it. Above the frost line the temperature changes throughout the seasons. In the summer, we have hot and humid air infiltrating our basement. When that hot air comes in contact with the walls, it hits the spot where the frost line is (at 55 degrees) and creates condensation. This brings the relative humidity up in the basement. Once the humidity reaches 70% mold will start to grow and that is exactly what we don't want happening because not only can it smell, but it can be dangerous for a person's health. Also in the winter, we have the cool temperatures from the pores concrete conduct through the wall making our basements cold and practically unusable for that season.
Solution
The good new is, we can fix this problem with one treatment. We install our Foamax polyiso board on the basement walls using 3 inch fasteners to connect the sheets to the wall. A basement is considered a combustible space because it have things like furnaces and boilers. By code we have to use a fire rated insulation board and that is exactly what our Foamax is!
By doing this treatment in this home owners basement, we have reduced the humidity by not letting that hot humid air come in contact with the cold basement walls. We have also made the basement more comfortable year round by not allowing that cold dry air to conduct through the concrete walls. Now this basement is warmer and dryer and ready to be utilized this winter!
