An insulation problem...

Did I mention that my basement used to be a crawl space?  Hmm...maybe I didn't.

The guy across the street is actually the one who bought this house in the late 90's and converted the crawl space to a full basement.  He's a builder with an awesome house and a large pickup that leaves at 6:30 every morning like clockwork.  He called me over one day and showed me a couple pictures of the project.  Impressive.

Anyway, his work left me with an insulation dilemma.  Because the first 4-6' of the basement is new, there is a "step" around 3/4 of the basement, where the new cinder blocks meet the old bricks.

So you notice how I have the rigid foam board on the top and the bottom, but nothing in the middle?  I considered laying insulation batts over that space, but quickly abandoned the idea when I imagine them  turning into sponges.

I first learned about the perils of basement insulation when...who would have expected it...when reading Amazon reviews for the best basement remodeling book available: Remodeling A Basement Revised Edition.  Everyone loves the book, except for a couple guys who disagreed with the author's approach of using insulation batts directly against the concrete wall.

These reviews sent me on a wild Google-based research project about basement insulation techniques.  It seems like a really controversial subject.  I mean, how many times have you been in a finished basement that smells like a basement?  The standard approach is to put the studs right against the basement wall, fill the center with insulation batts, and then cover the inside with a vapor barrior.  Some people think it works, others think it's crazy.  Apparently the batts wick the moisture from the walls and the vapor barrier holds the water in place.  The result is that the batts lose a lot of R-value and become a nesting ground for mold.  This whitepaper (pdf) on the US Dept of Energy's website helped confirm this line of thinking, along with a bunch of other articles.  It just made sense to me.  So I decided to go with the foam board / spray foam plan against the wall.  I also plan to fill the stud cavities with batt insulation, so I'll have all three!  The triple play!

Back to the spray foam...YouTube has a few videos showing their awesome power.  Julie can attest to the fact that these videos got me a little too excited.  I think I just wanted to wear one of those suits and watch the foam fill in all the cracks! I could watch those videos over and over again.

In the next post, I'll tell you about my experience with the stuff...

Read more...

I caved in

Hey, remember back when I used to blog?  Wow it's been a while.  I can't say that I've picked up a hammer in a while either.

While I haven't been busy constructing anything, I have been busy planning.  It's these slow parts that are hard...the times when I need to step back and think about what I am doing.  It's much more fun to see it coming together, setting insulation  in place, building walls, etc.  But I would much rather sit in front of my computer planning than have to dismantle a mistake (or sit in my finished basement wishing I did something differently).

I've been blessed with a couple helpful fellows from my church.  One is an architect (Brad) and the other is a seasoned general contractor (Gary).  I walked through the basement with Gary, explaining my stairwell dilemma and the potential solutions from Brad.  Gary reviewed my ideas, gave me a couple alternatives, warned me about   my lack of fire blocking (more on that later), and encouraged me to "go for it".  I think I am going to do it!

Gary, with his background and experience with township inspectors, came up with a new alternative Option 1.  It's the same as the existing option, except that 1) I won't dig out and pour a new basement floor under the support walls, 2) I'll execute the plan before I apply for the permit, making it an "existing structure" and greatly simplifying the permit process.  He also suggested how I could use a steel plate to support the bedroom wall above (the part that was a little fuzzy in my design).

Then Brad came over to take a look.  We crawled into the attic to see how the attic joists run and on which wall they rested.  Luckily they didn't rest on the bedroom wall that is resting on the steel beam we are going to remove.  If they did, the wall would be supporting more weight than we planned, requiring us to provide extra supports to replace the removed section of the beam.  Brad really liked Gary's idea to fix the stairwell problem and then apply for the permit.  The biggest concern is that we aren't going to dig and pour a deeper basement slab.  We think that we can convince the inspector to look at the entire solution, and that he'll like the overall result.

For completeness, here is the new, adjusted, solution:

1. Fix the cantilever problem
1. Weld all the support columns to the steel I-beams
2. Weld cantilevered I-beam to the other beam that butts up against it
3. Build load-bearing walls on either side of the bottom of the stairwell, each about 2' 6" long.  These sections will support 3 joists, allowing me to remove a portion of the cantilevered beam. 
4. Cut back about 2' 6" from the cantilevered beam.  In the webbing of the cut-back beam, weld a 3 inch angle clip that will eventually secure (with 2 3/8" lag bolts) to a wood "header" that rests on the 2' 6" wall. 
5. Since the joists currently overlap on top of the existing steel beam, lag bolt the two joists together with 4 1/4" lag bolts on each overlap.  
2. Fix the stairwell height
1. Drill holes every 4' through the other steel I-beam in order to bolt (3/8" lag bolts) the wood plate to the beam.  
2. Secure the joist to the wood plate using brackets.  Steps 1 & 2 will secure the I-beam and house laterally after we completely remove 3' from the center of the beam. 
3. Remove the 3' section of the I-beam that is above the stairs
4. Remove the plate and header that is on top of the I-beam
5. Remove a 3' section from the 8" joists that are closest to the bottom of the stairwell.  We can support the floor above by adding a piece of 2x lumber that runs along the joist and rests on the new 2' 6" support walls.  Interesting point....Brad taught me that it's best to avoid cutting 90 degree angles as I form this custom fit, since 90 degree angles create weak points.

Two stud bearing walls replace steel beam

View from above

Read more...