Hello,

I have a house built in 2013 in Rogers, MN with an unfinished lookout basement. The basement is sealed and insulated on the exterior, so I've been told that I can just frame on the interior leave a 1/2 inch gap so the studs aren't touching the concrete and I don't need any vapor barriers or insulation on the inside.

I started framing this weekend, but I'm wondering what to do with the above ground portion of the wall. We want to avoid the shelf running at ground level that a lot of lookout basements have, so I'm intending to frame floor to ceiling, covering up the above ground portion of the basement. See the attached pictures for a better explanation. My question is, do I need to put something directly on the plastic before framing in front of it? Or can I just close it up in the wall?

In the second picture you can see there's a bump out in our basement. I'm planning to put some built in bookshelves on top of a half wall in that portion. When building book shelves, would I still need to put drywall over the plastic? Or would I use some other backer for the shelves?

Thanks in advance!

 

i'd close it up,,, on the other issue, i'd also use sheetrock

 

I agree, build walls all around, build jamb extension for the window(s), but for shelving, I would use sheetrock with a wooden overlay, like luan or something a little more substantial. Sheetrock will not take punishment like wood will in a shelving situation.