basement insulation

What kind of insulation is the best to insulate house floor from the basement (between joists, 10"h)?
Basement is not finished, used for storage, utility and workshop areas.
Please help !

 

Is the basement heated? If so insulating the ceiling will prohibit heat flow from the basement to the main floor and could actually make your tile floors a little cooler. If you dont heat the basement, The you could put r-19 or r-30 insulation in the ceiling.
I would go with unfaced, the reason being you may want to finish that basement someday, or the future homeowner may wish to.

Good Luck

Jim

 

Hey Jim, another related question for you. I'm remodeling one of our basement rooms as well. There are three heating vents in this room, so you could "technically" say "yes, it's heated". However, despite this, the basement is really cold during the winter months (live in MA), so even though it's technically a "heated" basement, it really isn't "heated" though I suppose it could be cold because all the heat is rising up to the floor above. Is it still OK to insulate between the overhead floor joists above the basement room? I will use unfaced batting (wanted to go with higher R rating i.e. 30, for added sound proofing as well as heat insulation) since no vapor barrier would be needed between heated levels/floors. No tile floors above the basement just carpet and wood. Also, the other basement room, separated by a partition wall, is the same, technically heated but still pretty cold. I wasn't redoing that room or insulating it at all, so should I use vapor barrier or faced batting insulation inside the partition wall that separates these two rooms since one room will be insulated and thus warmer than the other? When I say it gets cold, I mean like maybe mid to low fifties or so perhaps, though I've never actually checked the actual temperature down there. Thnx.

Jim

 

You could use the R-30 unfaced for sound insualtion between floors. Is your bond area insulated around the perimeter of the house? If not install R-19 unfaced batts in those areas. It probably shouldnt make a difference in the basement walls what type of insualtion you use.

Also you have your heat runs in the basement floor joist, is there an actual vent off those to allow heat to flow freely into the basement? If not you might consider installing one.
Jim

 

Thanks for the quick response Jim. There is a main trunk/heat duct that actually runs perpendicular to the joists in this room; therefore the duct is mounted below, along the bottom edge of, the overhead joists. Four smaller round supply ducts branch off at varying points, stretching off to the far edges of the room in opposite directions, these are recessed between the joists since they branch out of the top side of the main trunk and run parallel with the joists. Two face up for the rooms above, two are face down for heating this particular basement room. Also, the very end of the main trunk has a down facing vent into the room as well. All vents are open, and a fairly strong amount of wind pressure can be felt from the vents when the furnace is blowing. The room is a partial below grade room, three concrete foundation walls plus the partition wall to the other side of the basement. The basement was never insulated, just paneled with furring strips 25 years ago, which I tore down exposing the concrete foundation walls.
Sorry, not sure what the "bond" area is, would that be like the sill or top surface of the concrete foundation wall where the ends of the wood joists rest upon? If so, no, even that area has not been insulated, though I plan on doing so, at least for this room anyway. I suppose I should insulate at least this perimeter area on the other side of the basement as well since I'm sure we are losing a lot of heat. Thanks for the advice Jim, I appreciate it.

Jim

 

The following sentence was taken from your last post.

Sorry, not sure what the "bond" area is, would that be like the sill or top surface of the concrete foundation wall where the ends of the wood joists rest upon?

yes this is the area I am refering to as bond, I would insulate the entire perimeter with R-19 unfaced insulation, so that it fills the entire cavity, cutting the insulation slightly oversized is a good idea for these areas, you might also caulk or foam seal the plate at the bottom where it meets the poured walls on the inside.

Good luck

Jim

 

Thanks a lot Jim, appreciate the info. By the way, so did you think vapor barrier in the partition wall separating the two basement rooms would be unnecessary, even though one room will be cooler than the other since I am only insulating one side of the basement (except for the bond area which I will do along the entire perimeter)? Basically I am finishing one of the two basement rooms, so the unfinished room really won't change.
The unfinished room is exposed concrete foundation walls, no framing (always been that way, that side was never paneled like the side I am now finishing over), so there won't be any insulation in the walls on that side. I'm thinking even though the finished room will be warmer due to wall and ceiling insulation, the unfinished room won't get cold "enough" to cause condensation if the warmer room air meets the cooler air from the unfinished room.

Jim

 

I would only used the unfaced, but it doesnt really matter. once you insulate that bond area, and seal off any air penetrations I think you will find the whole basement being warmer overall.

Jim

 

Cool. Thnx Jim.

Jim