ironspider
Member
Greetings all, my brother recently bought a house and the basement has basically 2x2 walls everywhere. When we removed the fake wood paneling, there is nothing under it except a 6mil vapor barrier tacked to the 2x2 "studs". So I've gotten advice on my basement remodel before I did that but my space was not as big as his so I've got a question about the XPS insulation (we're going to put XPs on the wall and then tape and foam it).
He went through the winter without much issue temp-wise down there so it doesn't appear to get that freezing down there (maybe the soil is regulating it to some extent?) so we're trying to decide what thickness of XPS to put against the walls. Around here (Michigan) you can get 1" 4x8 XPS for about $18 a sheet (SSE or T&G). Or you can get 1.5" for TWICE that (~$36) or 2" for again, twice that (~$36). Since we need a lot of this stuff, we're interested in knowing if there is some law of physics or chemistry or astrophysics that says 1" is not going to work for us?
For example, I know that some people put in the XPS and seal it, then do some fiberglass between the studs, with the XPS as a vapor barrier. I think we're undecided on if we're even going to put fiberglass in between the studs but if we do, and there's some law that states that 1" XPS is not thick enough to "count" as a vapor barrier, we obviously don't want to have potential mold/moisture problems with that fiberglass!
I think he'd like to go 1" with no fiberglass (since, with nothing, the space seemed decent in the winter) since that would maximize the remaining finished space, and be the least costly.
But I thought I would kick it to the pros for your opinions!
He went through the winter without much issue temp-wise down there so it doesn't appear to get that freezing down there (maybe the soil is regulating it to some extent?) so we're trying to decide what thickness of XPS to put against the walls. Around here (Michigan) you can get 1" 4x8 XPS for about $18 a sheet (SSE or T&G). Or you can get 1.5" for TWICE that (~$36) or 2" for again, twice that (~$36). Since we need a lot of this stuff, we're interested in knowing if there is some law of physics or chemistry or astrophysics that says 1" is not going to work for us?
For example, I know that some people put in the XPS and seal it, then do some fiberglass between the studs, with the XPS as a vapor barrier. I think we're undecided on if we're even going to put fiberglass in between the studs but if we do, and there's some law that states that 1" XPS is not thick enough to "count" as a vapor barrier, we obviously don't want to have potential mold/moisture problems with that fiberglass!
I think he'd like to go 1" with no fiberglass (since, with nothing, the space seemed decent in the winter) since that would maximize the remaining finished space, and be the least costly.
But I thought I would kick it to the pros for your opinions!