Brain Teaser for Finished Basement

Have lovely finished (knotty pine) basement; old house 50yrs, tiled floor, fireplace , bar, & colored flood lights at the top, like from the 50's?

Is there some way I can insulate the space between the knotty pine and the concrete walls. Concrete walls have been painted with water proof paint 30 years ago, and could possibly be peeling.

There is a space at the top of the knotty pine where I could throw in insulation; this may sound like a crazy idea to some of you, but could I throw some styrofoam packing pebbles into that space to insulate it???? I would not have adequate access to put in a vapor barier, other than the paint that's already there. I do not want to rip up the basement to insulate, for one thing , the wood is very dry and brittle, but still looks great and the workmanship would cost a fortune; there is no leakage, but a dehumidifier is necessary in the summer; I took one of these styrofoan pebble an put a flame to it and it caught right away, and I didn't even wait long enough to smell the fumes; could I use vermitculit? What can I do??

Grateful for any advice or ideas.

jj

 

Its been a few days and no one else has answered, so I'll put in my 2 cents worth.

I say leave it alone. For one thing you do not want vermiculite. That is used in soilless potting mixtures to help hold water.

BTW - using vermiculite has come up several times in different forums...where did you here about using vermiculite?

You are better off leaving the air space as is. Others will jump in here to correct me, but most insulation products may draw moisture from the walls. Only rigid foam would be of use and you don't want to get access to install it properly.

 

Isn't there a product they pump in as a liquid/spray and it turns to foam?

Don't know how expensive it is.

 

Yes, abNORMal, there is a spray that does the job. I would have a pro do that- the stuff expands so much that if you don't know what you are doing the stuff can destroy the wall.